SPECIAL POST:ON THE RAKSHAS, ANCIENT INDIAN HISTORY,VOICES FROM THE PAST. DESIGNED BY Sanchari Bhattacharya Rakshasa fight with Vishnu.: Malyavan, told his brothers, that the Devas now had Vishnu, the slayer of Hiranyakasipu, on their side and he was prepared to fight for them. But his brothers would not be dissuaded. They decided to carry the war into the enemy camp and along with Jambha, Vrtra and other powerful Rakshasas, they attacked Amaravathi the capital of the Devas. Garuda : Photograph by Satya Sarada Kandula : All Rights ReservedVishnu mounted Garuda, his vahana, and there was a terrible battle. Garuda also fought bravely in the battle. The dark Vishnu wielded his bow, which was called the Saranga and killed the Rakshasas in thousands. Then he blew his mighty conch, the Panchajanya. (Yes, it is the same one, that Sri Krishna blew in the Mahabharata war.) He killed Mali with his discus. (Yes, again, it was the same Sudarshana Chakra). Sumali and Malyavan retreated to Lanka, with such forces as they had left with them. Then, out of fear of Vishnu, Sumali and the other Rakshasas abondoned Lanka and went to Rasatala. (Is Rasatala a magical world or is it someplace in Africa (Somalia) or Thailand or Assam or Malaysia., we do not know at this time. We know for certain that the had boats, and we know by Valmiki’s Ramayanam., that they had planes (vimanas) as well. So we will just take rasatala as rasatala and we will suspend our judgements about its location for now). Sri Lanka from Kubera to Ravana: Lanka was now given to Vaisravana, Kubera to live in and rule and he lived there with the Yakshas. Kubera himself is often described as a Yaksha, but his father Visrava was a brahman and his maternal grandfather Bharadwaja was a Brahman Rishi. Kubera had not a drop of Yaksha blood, he was merely the ruler of the Yakshas. Visrava was the son of Rishi Pulastya who was the son of Brahma. In Sri Lanka there is a place called Polonnaruwa where there is a statue of Rishi Pulastya. There is also a cave of Visravas’s great-grandson with a Brahmi Inscription.Sumali wondered what he could do to improve the future of his race. At that time he saw Vaisravana, the son of Visrava, whom we now know as Kubera, the lord of North and the lord of wealth. Kubera was flying in the Pushpaka Vimana and had come to visit his father. Sumali thought that if his beautiful daughter married Visrava, then he would also have such wonderful grandsons. So he asked his daughter Kaikasi to approach Visrava. It is said that Kaikasi was as beautiful as Lakshmi and devoted to her father.Visrava blessed Kaikasi with 3 sons, Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Vibhishana and 1 daughter, Soorpanakha. Visrava was a brahman and the son of Pulastya and the grandson of Brahma. So Ravana and the other were half brahman, 1/32 rakshasa, 3/32 deva, 3/8 gandharva. So they were more brahmana than they were rakshasa genetically, anyway. It is said that Ravana was made ambitious by his mother, that Kumbhakarna was cannibalistic and that Vibhishana was pious. But all of them did learn the Vedic rituals and did perform yajnas and other such practices when they ruled Lanka later.Ravana and his brothers did tapas to please Brahma, their great grand father, at Gokarna, which is on the west coast (near modern Mangalore). Brahma ruled other than manavas and vanaras no one would kill Ravana.With that boon, Ravana asked Kubera to leave Lanka and took his Pushpaka Vimana. (Kubera resettled in Alakapuri, modern Nepal). Ravana defeated the Devas, including Yama, who was held back by Brahma’s word. At a later time, his son Meghanatha defeated Indra and became Indrajit. Compare the head gear worn by this person of an Indian Tribe with horns on the rakshasa image in the previous photograph Ravana’s father as a brahmana did yajnas and offered havis to the Devas. Ravana fought with the Devas and won. His father married women who had been given to him by their fathers. Ravana was disrespectful of the wishes of women and attempted to force his attentions on them, even when they did not like him. Ravana specifically earned the dislike of Valmiki and of thousands of generations of Indians because he carried our gentle mother Sita Devi away by force and made her life miserable. Even though Sri Rama forgave him at the time of Ravana’s death, the rest of India still does not and his effigy is still burnt every year. In India, it is still common to call someone Rakshasa or Rakshasi if they do something bad. At one time, though, they could fly planes, sail boats and create music and beautiful literature.Sri Lankans, then and now respect him as a good ruler and king, who made one mistake and even name children after him. There are some Sri Lankan groups who believe that Ravana was a student of Kapila, an incarnation of Buddha, and that he never carried Sita away. They maintain that Sita’s proven chastity also proves that Ravana was innocent. They hold a low opinion of Vibhishana and see him as a traitor who invited invaders. The ten heads are considered 10 crowns of Ravana. Children in Lanka (Sinhala) are named after Ravana, but not after Vibhishana. Some Sri Lankans hold Ravana lived 5000 years ago. Other sources say that there were 3 Ravanas in Lanka, all at different time. Sri Lankans say that Rakshasas and Yakshas came there from Nepal along the east coast. But Uttarakanda of Ramayana indicates that Yakshas went to Nepal from Sri Lanka and that Rakshasas went to Rasatala when defeated by Vishnu. This supports the “Out of India” theory of human migration.“In India, the origin of Violin is traced into the Ravanastrom.This instrument is said to have belonged to a sovereign of India 5000 BC. Again, it also replicates the ancient instrument called Ravan Hatta which is found even today in Rajasthan. Mythology credits this creation to the Rakshasa king Ravana from Ramayana. The Ravan Hatta was played on one string which was 22 inches long encompassing the 3 Octaves. Whereas the Violin encompasses the 3 octaves on 4 strings with a finger board which is 5 1/4th inches long. This 5 1/4th when multiplied by 4 is 22 inches which was the size of the Ravan Hatta. Both are played with a bow.”
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 16:31:11 +0000
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