Ravana: Half-Brahmin Half-Demon, The Legendary Emperor of Sri Lanka

Ravana is remembered as a demon king with ten heads and twenty hands. According to Hindu mythology, Ravana kidnapped Sita whom Rama defeated and killed in a battle at Lanka. The real name of Ravana is Dasamukha. His parents were Visravasa and Kaikasi.

Technically, Ravan was Brahma's great-grandson.

Ravan's father was the famous rishi, Visravas, who himself was a son of Prajapati Pulastya, one of Brahma's ten 'mind-born' sons.

Ravan’s father Vishrava had two wives Ilavida and Kaikesi.

Ilavida was the daughter of the great rishi Bharadwaja who was impressed with Vishrava. A scholar par excellence, Vishrava earned great powers through Tapasya, which in turn, earned him great name and fame amongst his fellow Rishis.

Now Ilavida gave birth to a son, Kubera, the Lord of Wealth and the original ruler of Lanka.

Ravana is depicted as the king of Rakshasas. He is said to have ten heads. But not many people know that he was not born with ten heads. Let's unravel the mystery...

Ravan did not actually have 10 heads. He used to wear a necklace made by his inventor father the great sage Visharava, which when worn reflected light and made an illusion of ten heads. He actually had an infinite number of heads, which is the reason lord Ram kills him in the end by piercing his navel with an arrow instead of beheading him 11 times.

Also, Ravana performed an intense penance - tapasya - to Brahma, lasting several years. During his penance, Ravana chopped off his head 10 times as a sacrifice to appease Brahma. Each time he sliced his head off, a new head arose, thus enabling him to continue his penance. At last, Brahma, pleased with his austerity, appeared after Ravana's 10th decapitation and offered him a boon. Ravana asked for immortality, which Brahma refused of course, but gave him the celestial nectar of immortality, which we all know was stored under his navel.

Ravana's 10 heads symbolise the six Shastras and four Vedas, making him a great scholar and the most intelligent person of his time.

Namely:

    Sankhyashastra (Mathematics)
    Yog Shastra (Yoga as a way of life, meditation)
    Nyayashastra (Law and administration)
    Vaisheshik Shastra (Physics, astronomy, mechanics)
    Purvamimansa (Philosophy, Justification)
    Uttar Mimansa Shastra
    Rigveda
    Yajurveda
    Samveda
    Atharvaveda.

While Ravana was dying, Lakhsmana ran towards him so that he can learn the knowledge of diplomacy, since nobody in this planet had better knowledge and experience of administrative diplomacy over Ravana. His 10 heads represented a mammoth pool of knowledge and experience as a ruler, king and as a Brahman.

From another perspective, the 10 heads signify the 10 negative forms of love.

    Ahamkara – Ego
    Moha – Attachment
    Krodha – Anger
    Ghrina – Hatred
    Paschataap – regret
    Irshya – jealousy
    Lobha – Greed
    Kama – Lust
    Jaddata – Insensitivity
    Bhaya – Fear

Fight with Bali of Ravana

He was defeated by Bali, and was assaulted and imprisoned in his armpit for 6 months. The story goes like this: One day, Bali was worshiping God Sun as usual. Ravana, boastful of his powers, after getting a ‘vardana’ by Lord Shiva challenges Bali. Bali, initially pays no heed, but after getting irritated grabs Ravana, tucks Ravana’s head under his armpit and flies like that. He releases Ravana only after 6 months, having taught him a lesson.

Ravana was a Learned Person

He was a great Scholar in Ayurvedic medicine. He was the person who invented “Arka Shastra”. The book “Arka Prakshaya” reveals this truth to the present world. As his willing to research in Ayurvedic medicine he wrote several books revealing the cures for many diseases. In one book he wrote “Eating beef cause to infect ninety eight new diseases to human beings”.

The book “Kumara Tantraya” which reveals the treatments for infant diseases was written by him accepting the request of his pregnant queen Mandodari. He also invented the bow of Violin. He also narrated very first Raagas, the musical compositions of Eastern classical music known as Lanka Dahana. “Siva thandawa” is one of the great devotional compositions done by him, which is still being in use in India.

The Veena maestro

It’s a known thing that Ravana was also a very good scholar and studied the Vedas, but the reason of having the instrument veena as a symbol in his flag is that he was also an excellent player of veena. Though much of consideration was not given to this art in him, he liked playing this instrument.

Ravana and Ganesha - The story of Mahabaleswarar (Gokarnam)

Ravana, the king of Lanka was an asura, but he was an ardent devotee of Lord Siva. He reached mount Kailas & prayed to Lord Siva, that his Lanka should never be destroyed. Lord Siva gave him an Aathma Lingam, with the condition that he should go back on foot to Lanka & that he should not put down the Lingam at any point. If he were to put the Lingam down, the Lingam would remain rooted at that spot.

The Devas were worried that the Aathma Lingam would add to the might of Ravana & that he could never be destroyed, if he succeeded in taking the Aathma Lingam to Lanka. They prayed to Lord Ganesha for help. Lord Ganesha caused Ravana’s stomach to be filled with water. Ravana grew desperate to answer nature’s call. Ganesha appeared before Ravana as a small boy. Ravana handed over the Aathma Lingam to the boy.

Ganesha declared that he could not wait for long & when he grew tired, he would call out Ravana’s name thrice & if he did not come & take the Lingam, he would place it on the ground & go away. Ravana agreed. Soon Ganesha called out Ravana’s name thrice, and since Ravana could not come and take the Lingam, he placed it on the ground. The enraged Ravana tried to remove the Lingam from the ground.

But, in spite of using his twenty hands, he could not budge the Lingam. Though the Lingam could not be moved, the pressure from Ravana’s hands had changed its shape like the ear of a cow & hence the place came to be called Gokarnam (Go-cow, karnam-ear). The lingam came to be called Mahabaleswarar since it could not even be shifted by the mighty Ravana (maha-great, balam-power, Eswarar-Lord Siva).

Ravana started chasing the boy to hit him on his head. Lord Ganesha showed his true form & blessed him. The Ganesha statue in the temple has a hollow on the head, where Ravana is supposed to have strcuk him (Kuttu – to hit with folded fists). Lord Ganesha can be pleased by doing kuttu (gently tapping both temples with folded fists).

Ram Setu

Rama needed a bridge to be built across the ocean to reach Lanka, in order to defeat Ravana. The night before they started their preparations, he decided to conduct a Yagna to worship Shiva at Rameshwaram. As he was going to fight one of his most powerful adversaries, he needed the most scholarly priest to conduct the Yagna for him. He was informed that Ravana himself is the most learned scholar of all times.

An invitation was sent to Ravana, who accepted it, arrived at Rameshwaram and conducted a Yagna with all holy rites.Interestingly, the Yagna could be considered successfully completed only when Rama would sit with his wife Sita in the ceremony, who was held captive by Ravana in Lanka. Ravana not only brought Sita to the Yagna, he presided over the proper arrangements and completion of theYagna.

Ravan was so powerful, he could even interfere with planetary alignments.

During the birth of his son Meghnad, Ravan 'instructed' the planets to stay in the 11th house of the child, which would grant him immortality. Saturn, or Shani, refused to do so and stood in the 12th house instead. It irked Ravan so much, it is said that he attacked Shani Dev with his mace and even imprisoned him.

He got the name Ravan later in life, and that too from Shiva.

Ravan wanted Shiva to relocate from Kailash to Lanka, and to make this possible, he tried to lift the mountrain. But Shiva, being who he is, put down his foot onto the mountain, thus crushing Ravan's finger with his one toe. Ravan let out a huge roar of pain, but at the same time, he was so enamored by Shiva's power, he performed the Shiva tandav stotram. It is believed that Ravan plucked out nerves from his own hand to provide accompanying music. Shiva, thus impressed, named him Ravan (the one who roars loud).

Ravan and his brother Kumbhkaran were actually avatars of Vishnu's gatekeepers.

Ravan and his brother Kumbhkaran were actually Jaya and Vijaya, the gatekeepers of Vishnu, which made them a little arrogant. So much so that once when the four Kumaras, mind-born sons of Brahma showed up at the gates of Vaikunth (Vishnu's abode), Jaya-Vijaya mistook them for naked children (a result of their tapasya). This enraged the sages so much, they cursed Jaya-Vijaya saying that they would be parted from their lord. When they asked for forgiveness, the sages said that they could either spent seven lifetimes on earth as Vishnu's avatars' allies or three lifetimes as their enemies. They naturally chose the latter. In one of those three lifetimes, Jaya-Vijaya were born as Ravan and Kumbhkaran.

Some interesting facts:

Vishwashrava had two wives - Varavarnini and Kaikasi.  Kuber, the god of wealth was born to the first wife, and Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Shurpanakha and Vibhishana were born to Kaikasi.

It was Ravana and his brother Kumbhakarana, who performed penance, got miraculous powers  from Lord Brahma and drove out Kuber to occupy the golden kingdom of Lanka. 

Ravana had acquired a boon from Lord Brahma by beseeching that no god, demon, kinnar or gandharva could ever kill him.

He was granted this boon, little knowing that he did not seek the boon for protection from human beings. It was Rama, as a human, who ultimately slayed Ravana. 

Ravana's empire spread over Balidweepa (today's Bali), Malayadweep (Malaysia), Angadweepa, Varahdweepa, Shankhadweepa, Yavadweepa, Andhralaya and Kushadweepa. 

Pushpak Vimana was an aircraft that only few could master it and Ravana learned to control it on its own. Ravana had a number of such airplanes and even had airports to land.

Weragantota in Mahiyangana, Thotupola Kanda at Horton Plains, Wariyapola in Kurunegala and Gurulupotha in Mahiyangana are some of the places in Sri Lanka that are still referred as airports and Ravana used them.

Ravana was a great Aryuvedic physician and Vaidya Shiromani.His wrote valuable book Nadi Pariksha(detailing of pulse-examination).,Arka Shastra(compiling usage and dosage and cures of every herb for complex diseases) Arka Pariksha(work tinctures and extracts.),Kumara Tantraya(Gynecology and Peadetric Medicine), Uddisa Chiktsaya, Oddiya Chikitsa, and Vatina Prakaranaya. Ravana was the founder of SINDHURAM medicine. This medicine cured wounds instantly.

Ravana was a master of tantra vidya and created an optical illusion of thoughts while fighting his enemies. His wrote “ravana samhita” a famous Book which is an excellent compilation of his scholarly works

Ravana was born to great sage Vishrava and daitya princess Kaikesi which made him partly Brahmin and partly daitya.Inspite of he being a mix, Rama had praised Ravana as a Mahabrahmin and hence had to perform Ashwamedha Yagna to kill Ravana.
   

References:

https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/shocking-facts-about-ravana-no-one-knows/ram-setu-347676

https://www.indiatvnews.com/lifestyle/news-11-interesting-facts-you-should-know-about-ravana-351711

https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/10-amazing-facts-about-ravana-1469597380-1

https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/why-did-demon-king-ravana-have-ten-heads

https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/11-important-facts-you-should-know-about-ravana-18313.html

https://www.quora.com/In-Indian-mythology-how-did-Ravan-a-little-known-brahman-from-present-day-Noida-become-the-all-powerful-overlord-of-Lanka

https://wiralfeed.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/facts-about-ravana/