Ravana- Hindu DemonDemon"King of Lanka"

Birth and Heritage

Ravana was born to the sage Vishravas, grandson of Brahma through the line of Pulastya, and the rakshasi princess Kaikesi. His half-brother Kubera, god of wealth, originally ruled Lanka as a prosperous kingdom. Kumbhakarna, Ravana's full brother, was a giant of such appetite for destruction that the gods tricked Brahma into granting him near-perpetual sleep. Vibhishana, the youngest, was righteous from birth and would one day defect to Rama's side.

From childhood Ravana displayed extraordinary intellect. He mastered the four Vedas and all subsidiary sciences, excelled in medicine, governance, and music. His technique on the veena had no equal.

The Terrible Austerities

Ravana performed tapas of astonishing severity to obtain divine boons. He stood on one leg amid five fires under the scorching sun for thousands of years. When Brahma did not appear, Ravana began severing his own heads as offerings, one after another, each regenerating as he cut the next. After he had offered nine of his ten heads, Brahma finally appeared.

Ravana asked for immunity from death by gods, gandharvas, nagas, yakshas, and every celestial and demonic being. He did not request protection from humans or animals. They were beneath his concern.

Conqueror of the Three Worlds

Armed with Brahma's boon, Ravana launched a campaign of conquest across all three worlds. He overthrew Kubera, seizing Lanka and its treasures, including the Pushpaka Vimana, a flying chariot that could travel anywhere at the speed of thought. He invaded Indra's heaven, defeated the king of the gods, and captured him. He challenged Yama, god of death, and when Yama raised his staff to strike, Brahma himself intervened. The boon held.

Ravana conquered the Nagas in the underworld and subjugated the gandharvas. He pressed the cardinal gods into menial service: Agni cooked his food and Vayu swept his floors. Heaven, earth, and the netherworld trembled under his rule.

Yet his conquests were not without humiliation. The thousand-armed king Kartavirya Arjuna overpowered him and locked him in his capital of Mahishmati. Ravana was released only through his grandfather Pulastya's intervention. When he tried to challenge the vanara king Vali during evening prayers, Vali seized him, tucked the ten-headed demon under his arm, and carried him through the sky like a child before releasing him with a laugh and a pact of friendship.

Lanka under Ravana nonetheless prospered. Its walls were gold, its buildings studded with gems, its gardens filled with celestial trees. His tyranny was directed outward; within his kingdom, order and wealth prevailed.

Devotee of Shiva

Ravana was a devoted worshipper of Shiva. He composed the Shiva Tandava Stotram, a hymn to Shiva's cosmic dance whose thundering rhythms capture the grandeur and terror of Shiva's nature.

In his most audacious act of devotion, Ravana attempted to uproot Mount Kailash itself to carry it to Lanka so that Shiva would always be near. He lifted the mountain, causing it to shake, terrifying Parvati and the other residents. Shiva pressed down with his toe, trapping Ravana beneath the mountain's weight. Pinned and in agony, Ravana sang and played his veena for a thousand years. The hymns were so beautiful that Shiva released him and gave him the divine sword Chandrahas.

The Abduction of Sita

Ravana's downfall began when his sister Shurpanakha, disfigured by Lakshmana after she threatened Sita, returned to Lanka demanding vengeance. She described Sita's beauty in terms calculated to inflame Ravana's desire. Despite counsel from his ministers and his own knowledge that taking another man's wife violated dharma, pride and lust overwhelmed judgment.

Ravana dispatched the demon Maricha disguised as a golden deer to lure Rama away from the forest hermitage. When Rama gave chase and killed Maricha, the dying demon mimicked Rama's voice crying for help, drawing Lakshmana away as well. Ravana approached Sita disguised as a wandering ascetic. When she offered hospitality, he revealed his true form and demanded she become his queen. She refused. He tore her from the earth and carried her through the sky.

The aged vulture king Jatayu attacked Ravana in mid-flight. Ravana severed his wings, and Jatayu fell dying, but lived long enough to tell Rama which direction Ravana had flown.

In Lanka, Ravana installed Sita in the Ashoka grove, surrounded by rakshasi guards ordered to break her will. He visited her repeatedly, alternating threats with offers of queenship. He did not force himself upon her. A curse from Nalakubara, Kubera's son, had decreed that if Ravana ever again touched an unwilling woman, his heads would shatter.

The War for Lanka

Rama's alliance with the vanara king Sugriva produced an army that built a causeway across the ocean and invaded Lanka. Before the invasion, Ravana's own brother Vibhishana counseled him repeatedly to return Sita. Ravana refused each time. His pride would not permit him to yield to a mortal.

The war was devastating. Kumbhakarna, awakened from his enchanted sleep, devoured monkeys by the thousands before Rama killed him with celestial weapons. Indrajit, Ravana's son and a warrior who had defeated Indra himself, used weapons of illusion that rendered Rama and Lakshmana unconscious. Only Hanuman's journey to fetch healing herbs from the Himalayas saved them. One by one, Ravana's champions fell: his sons, his generals, his brother. He would not surrender.

When Vibhishana defected to Rama's side, he revealed the secrets of Lanka's defenses and Ravana's vulnerabilities. Ravana, betrayed by his own blood, faced the final battle alone among his dead.

Death and Liberation

The final battle raged for days. Ravana, wielding divine weapons with his twenty arms, proved a formidable opponent. Each time Rama severed a head, it regenerated. Vibhishana revealed that Ravana's life force resided in a pool of nectar in his navel. The sage Agastya appeared and taught Rama the Aditya Hridayam, a hymn to the sun god that restored his strength.

Rama fired the Brahmanda astra, an arrow consecrated by Brahma and carrying the force of wind, fire, sun, and sky. It struck Ravana's navel and drained his immortal essence. The demon king fell. The earth shook.

Rama ordered a funeral with full vedic honors befitting a brahmin and a king. The Bhagavata Purana records that Ravana achieved moksha through dying at Vishnu's hands. He had been Jaya, one of Vishnu's own gatekeepers, cursed to three births as a demon. The term was fulfilled. The gatekeeper went home.