Ravana History - In Brief

First let us look at what sources we have that tell us of Ravana’s History. He was the son of a Brahmin called ‘Vishrava’ and a princess called ‘Kaikesi’. When Kaikesi came of age to be married, her father ‘Sumali’ the king of the Daityas, wanted her to marry the most powerful and noble man in the world. He refused a lot of offers made by a number of prices and went to Vishrava instead. He agreed to marry Kaikesi. Yet, he told that Kaikesi approached her in the wrong time, and the children that were to be born to them will be bent towards evil.

Ravana was the eldest of the sons that they had. He was named “Dasagriva” or “Dashanana” since it is believed that he had ten heads. But this may be because he had the power and strength of ten men. Some say the ten heads were due to the reflections of a crystal necklace gifted to him by his father at the time of his birth or he had the mental strength of 10 people. Ravana had two brothers, Vibhishana and Kumbhakarna and one sister, Meenakshi (Later named Shoorpanakha). 

During Ravana’s time, the kingdom “Lanka” was divided between three rulers by the queen Mandratha. Namely Tharaka; who ruled from a location near the current day Kelaniya, Surapadma; who ruled from the southern parts near Tissamaharama. The third, Sinha - Mukha did not have a city to rule from. Thus he called upon the greatest architect and engineer of all time, Maya-Asura (Known to some as "Vishwakarma" to build him the city “Lankapura”. (Legend says this is Atlantis itself)

But soon, the king Surapadma had a dispute with a foreign king and takes him into custody and brings him to Lanka. This triggers an event that shapes the history of the country. A prince named Kathira (Later renamed “Mahasena” because of bringing a great army), comes to Lanka (The place he set his armies is currently known as “Katharagama” – Kathira - Gama broken down–) and rescues the abducted prince by killing Surapadma. Unfortunately, during this time, Tharaka and Sinha-Mukha leave their strongholds and escape from the country. The country goes to the hands of a king named Kuvera (AKA Kubera), also known to be a son of Vishrava. (Ravana’s father)

It is then; Ravana overthrows the attacker Kuvera and secures the country and most importantly, the “Pushpaka”, the flying machine. Kuvera might not have known to use it, but Ravana who had much knowledge given to him by his father and his studies of the Vedas might have had an idea how to fly the thing. From the stories that are told about queen Devayani (Mentioned later) showing off the battle capabilities of the Pushpaka, Ravana might have figured out that it would be a great advantage to have such a craft.

He took the country into a period of utmost prosperity. It is rumoured that the poorest of the houses in the country had golden pots to feed from. The people knew not the meaning of hunger. It is this prosperous culture, did Rama decided to bring down, and it all happened because of a single female. (We still don’t know whether this abduction story is true)We think that was a some type tragedic incident.

Ravana's lastreferences are in the war that he made with Rama. He was quite an adversary to Rama. Given the fact that his knowledge of science and warrior tactics, Rama was no match for him. But the inside help Rama got from Vibhishana seems to have worked for him. If not for that, the story would have been told in a different manner.

Some argue that the abduction story is a setup done by Vibhishana himself to overthrow Ravana from his empire. The Ramayana states that Rama even winning his queen in a war, did not trust Seetha to be pure. But Seetha proved that she was pure and this fact also says that Ravana never even touched the woman when she was in Lanka. Why abduct her and then keep her till she says “Yes” when you can always do what you want by force. This is a serious question that we must seek answers to. We have seen political scandal stories all our life and of all the countries in the world, we must know how bad politicians become when they want power. Perhaps Vibhishana was overcome by his greed of the empire to force him into such an action.

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