Point of view:

Immortal saga of Ravana, Rama and Sita

Premil Ratnayake

A group of foreign journalists was visiting India and Banglore. A guide was showing them around. The group was perplexed when they suddenly saw a huge effigy of a human set ablaze.The puzzled journalists asked the guide what was all about. Almost with unconcealed pride the man replied “Ah, they are burning the Ragamon.” Ragamon, it seemed was the local Indian name with which King Ravana of Sri Lanka was identified. The only Sri Lankan in the group who was Wijitha Nakkawita throwing his arms up jubilantly and exclaimed “Even after thousands of years you people (Indians) still fear our Great Ravana.” The guide was not amused but the other journalists broke into laughter.

Indian Hindus considered Ravana whom they pilloried as a “demon king” their bete noire. Although Ravana nearly vanquished Rama in the great battles fought between them the betrayal of Vibheeshana, Ravana’s brother who turned traitor to seize Ravana’s kingdom and throne thwarted Ravana from achieving final victory over Rama. Vibheeshana joined forces with Rama and fought his brother.

Ramilila actor in the role of Ravana

While Ravana was reigning king of Sri Lanka a mishap occurred in the family. Ravana’s sister Surpanakha was allegedly molested by Rama. Infuriated Ravana vowed to punish Rama and with the intention of drawing him to war abducted Rama’s beloved Sita and brought her to Lanka in his redoubtable aircraft Dandumonara. Ravana incarcerated her in some place, now known as Sita Eliya, Sita Male. Ravana’s palace and the harem were situated in a place which is known among villagers as Ravana Kotte and Ravana Goda. If Ravana’s intention was to seduce Sita there was no reason why he should have detained her in a place outside his harem. His intention was to wreak vengeance on Rama for the wrong he did to his sister. He wanted to drag Rama into war and it happened.

Rama and Lakshaman arrived in Lanka and the war between Ravana and Rama went on for years. Rama arrived for the war reinforced by an army of war veterans belonging to the monkey tribe. Rama could not even defeat Ravana’s son Indrajit and the monkey army went into disarray. It was at this stage of the war that Ravana’s brother Vibheeshana defected and joined Rama. Vibheeshana’s sole ambition was to wrest the kingdom from Ravana with the help of Rama. In the course of further fighting Lakshaman killed Indrajit and Rama slew Ravana. The Ravana dynasty ended. Vibheeshana became king of Lanka.

According to the chronicle Rajawaliya, the reign of King Ravana dates back to the 19th Century BC - that is as far back as 1844 years before the arrival of Vijaya in the island of Lanka. But the more reliable source appears to be the Ravana Rajavaliya. According to Ravana Rajavaliya which also contains references to the times of the king named Irani (Hiruniya Kasubu or Hiranya Kashipu) and Golu Aba or Maha Kalasena who had ruled at Mathia Nuwara in the Ruhuinu rata, Ravana had ruled during the period 545 - 582 in the Kaliyuga Era. Historians say “although the story is in the Rajavalia states that Ravana had lived in the Dwapura Era the reference could well be to the earliest ruler of the “Ravana” lineage. If we are to go by the more reliable source the Ravana Rajavalia, the King Ravana who figures in the Rama-Ravana War (2529 - 2570 BC) could be considered to have ruled during the period C 2554 - 2517 BC)”

Evidence available in the Ramayana and our own ancient national chronicles and works of literature shows that Ravana belonged to the “Pulath” lineage of kings. The king referred to as “Pulasthi” in works such as the Ramayana is King Pulath, the grandfather of Ravana Polonnaruwa was his capital city named after himself.

Vishrawas (Visvas) was his son. Vishrawas’ eldest son was Vaishrawana (Vesavunu). Ravana was the eldest among several sons of King. Vishrawas born of a lesser wife of his. Ravana usurped the Kingdom of Lanka from his elder half-brother Kuwera. Thereafter Kuwera left the kingdom to Ravana and went over to Northern India with a considerable following and having settled down there turned the territories Kuru and Kinnara into two flourishing Sinhala settlements King Kuwera and King Dassaratha (25 - 29 BC) who respectively in the North Indian Kingdom of Uturu Kuru and Ayodhaya, King Saka Apra (25-20 BC) of Egypt and King Chaohow of China were among the contemporaries of King Ravana of Lanka.

The meaning of the term “Ravana” is one that belongs to the Solar Lineage (Ra=Sun, Wana-Lineage). While the Aryans of India named this Sinhala king “Ravana” coining the term following the Sanskritic grammatical rules of derivation,the Dravidians named him “Iravanan”, coining the term according to the grammatical rules of derivation of the Tamil language.

Sri Lankan scholars believe that Ravana had earned the honorific “Dassagriva” or “Dassahis” because he had ten crowns symbolizing his rule over ten countries. Another honorific of his was “Tunlojith” meaning “Conqueror of the Three Worlds.” These three worlds could be taken to mean either three large countries or nations.

It is believed that Ravana conquered the three large communities Naga, Dewa and Pishacha of India.

Ramayana gives the abduction of Sita as the cause for the Rama-Ravana war. But it is more probable that this was a war engineered by Ravana’s brother Vibheeshana to wrest the throne from his brother.

In the story of Ravana what was known as “Dandumonara” was a kind of Aircraft. In the Ramayana this machine is referred to as “Pushpaka.” The “Pushpaka” first belonged to Ravana’s brother King Kuwera who went over to India after his kingdom was usurped by his brother Ravana. Since during the time of Ravana scientific knowledge had attained great heights in many fields,the invention of some mode of air travel at that time cannot be considered an impossibility.

Ravana also enjoyed great fame as a physician. There are seven ancient works on medicine whose authorship is attributed to Ravana. They are the Nadipariksha, Arkaprakasha, Rasarathnakara, Uddissa Chikitsa, Oddisa Chikitsa, Kumara Tantara and Vatika Prakarana.

Sinhala scholar Munidasa Cumaranatunga says that these which originally had been Sinhala works on medicine, had later been translated into Sanskrit.

It is said Ravana composed his work on children’s diseases called “Kumara Bhrith Chikitsa” in order to satisfy a yearning expressed by his wife as an expectant mother. This is an evidence to his deep humanity. The legend about him that he employed “Rakshas” to set free the animals kept tied down by Brahmins for sacrificial offerings speaks of his deep compassion for living beings.

It is said that he himself as a physician treated and restored to health his adversaries Rama and Lakshman wounded in battle with him. It is, indeed, difficult to find another instance in all human history, where magnanimity and nobility of human conduct attained a greater height than this.

Some Indian scholars themselves have stated that Ravana had been a Master Musician and he created a musical tune called “Ravana Raga” and a violin called “Ravana Veena.” The “Shivathandawa Sthotra” composed by him shows that he was a composer of great talent.

Rajavaliya, Saddharmalankaraya and Vittipota make it clear that “Lankapura”, the capital of Ravana and the greater part of ancient Sri Lanka had long been submerged. The sinking that had taken place in Ravana times was the second major submergence that had taken place in known history. The first had taken place in the Tharaka Era (110th century BC), the second during the reign of King Kelanitissa, that is, in the first century BC. It is certain that the Sri Lanka of the Ravana times had been several times larger than the Sri Lanka of today. It is most probable that some day the ancient Lankapura lying at the sea-bed would be discovered just as the ancient Troy was discovered by the German explorer Climan.