Ravanan - one of the most fascinating characters among Hindu legends. His ten heads are quite mesmerizing and brings vivid memories of Ram leela celebrations. When I visited Cambodia I was stunned to see how Ravanan's ten heads were depicted. Instead of the familiar Indian style of depicting the ten heads one after the other in a straight horizontal line, it was a vertical depiction with 4 heads at the bottom (like Brahma's), 3 on top of that, 2 above that and finally 1 at the penultimate top. Fascinating. Also made me realize, with a deep sense of pride, how versatile Hindu legends are. Nothing is cast in stone. The fundamental essence in these legends are simple, so everything beyond that is left to our imagination. Human imagination truly has no bounds. So we see multiple versions and diverse depictions of the Ramayanam, especially in South East Asia, lending itself to a variety of art forms, each so rich and colourful.
Ravanan or Dasanan, a person with ten heads. For a long time now I have understood that the ten heads does not literally mean that there existed a person with 10 heads but an allusion to the fact that Ravanan was an highly talented and accomplished person. So talented and accomplished that this one human being was as good and capable as 10 of us. Hence ten headed. You are not one person man, you are ten persons combined in one!
Ravanan is till date considered to be Shiva's biggest devotee and is said to have built a palace exclusively for him. So architecture was something he was well versed in. The highly beautiful Siva Tandava Stotram is credited to have been composed by him. He knew classical Indian music quite well and is said to have defeated many experts with his knowledge. Played the Rudra Veena, quite a complicated string instrument to master. Ravanan, thus, had every right to be extremely proud of his accomplishments. Arrogance however is different. There is only a thin line between pride and arrogance. To rejoice in one's accomplishments is pride. To however believe that only I and I alone can accomplish this and none else in this world is capable - is arrogance. 'Only I' is the root cause for all evil in this world. It always has been, still is and will be. The goal then is to get out of this need to be arrogant. Unfortunately, despite all his talents and accomplishments, Ravanan failed to achieve this thereby bringing his own downfall.
Ramayanam is extraordinary not only because it highlights how even an highly talented and accomplished person can fall into the trap of arrogance and bring his own downfall. It is great because it also highlights what it means to be a good person. It not only answers the question what is evil but what is good as well. This is where it stands out. Ram was that good person. So good that he is said to be an ideal human being that we all should aspire to be. A role model worthy of worship. A personification of God himself i.e. if we were to visualise the Supreme Consciousness (Parabrahmam) as a human being, then Ram it would be.
Ram, the prince of Ayodhya. For 26 years he lived a privileged life in a palace as a prince. What more can one ask for. Then he was asked to leave the palace and live a life of an ascetic in a forest for 14 years. What a contrast! From having all the comforts one could think of in this world to having none in a matter of seconds and this was also because it was his step-mother's wish and not because Ram did something bad! To further show what a big deal this was, the day he was asked to leave was the eve of his crowning ceremony. At day break, in a few hours, he was to become the King of all of Ayodhya. But not anymore. His step mother calls him the night before and says his father wishes him to leave for the forest and live there for 14 years as an ascetic. Ram just says yes I shall do so and walked out of the palace with only a piece of saffron cloth and his bow. No questions asked! Wow! What a person! What strong character, what emotional strength he must have to be able to do this. Not even an iota of ego here. To have even a small percentage of that emotional strength, I would consider myself blessed!
It was not that Ram always blindly followed the dictat of elders. He stood his ground when Dassarath insisted he take another wife. Tradition requires Ram to have more than one wife and his father wished the same. But no, Ram refused. I vow to have one wife and one wife only, said Ram. Eka Patni vrat. 'Vrat' - penance, it was called. Ram's sense of dharma - that which is intrinsic or is one's true nature - is seen throughout the Ramayanam. Be it the time he says no to come back to Ayodhya, even after everyone including Kaikeyi, the step mom who wished his departure, regrets her mistake and apologizes or when he embraces Guha or eats at Sabari's house or the respect he gives to Hanuman, a monkey or when he accepts Vibeshana as a friend. 'Hey Monkey!', how often is this used derisively. We only have to look at Ram to know what an ideal behavior should be! Traditions, cultural practices, elderly respect, class differences, discrimination - nothing is of any value. Dharma alone counts.
Even in the, now controversial, incident of Vaali vadham, Ram sticks to Dharma. Vaali, who has defeated Ravanan before in battles had every right to stop Sita's kidnapping or rescue her after he got to know of that. The kidnapping happened in his territory, he was the king ruling those parts at that time. Ravanan trespassed and committed a crime. Vaali should have acted to enforce Dharma but he did not. So in a way Vaali becomes an indirect accomplice to Ravanan's crime and hence Ram agrees to unite his cause with that of Sugreeva and support him in his quest to take his kingdom back from Vaali. That he did this shooting his arrow from behind, hidden and unknown to Valli ie. the latter did not know he was facing Ram as an adversary - all adds to the controversy and raises the morality questions. Was this is a fair fight? justified? Even if Vaali held the boon that he would gain half his opponents' strength, which rationally explains why Ram could not take him on face to face, still, was it honorable? Does the end justify the means? Aah...the most pertinent question, for all times...still relevant for our time too.
(to be continued)
Ravanan or Dasanan, a person with ten heads. For a long time now I have understood that the ten heads does not literally mean that there existed a person with 10 heads but an allusion to the fact that Ravanan was an highly talented and accomplished person. So talented and accomplished that this one human being was as good and capable as 10 of us. Hence ten headed. You are not one person man, you are ten persons combined in one!
Ravanan is till date considered to be Shiva's biggest devotee and is said to have built a palace exclusively for him. So architecture was something he was well versed in. The highly beautiful Siva Tandava Stotram is credited to have been composed by him. He knew classical Indian music quite well and is said to have defeated many experts with his knowledge. Played the Rudra Veena, quite a complicated string instrument to master. Ravanan, thus, had every right to be extremely proud of his accomplishments. Arrogance however is different. There is only a thin line between pride and arrogance. To rejoice in one's accomplishments is pride. To however believe that only I and I alone can accomplish this and none else in this world is capable - is arrogance. 'Only I' is the root cause for all evil in this world. It always has been, still is and will be. The goal then is to get out of this need to be arrogant. Unfortunately, despite all his talents and accomplishments, Ravanan failed to achieve this thereby bringing his own downfall.
Ramayanam is extraordinary not only because it highlights how even an highly talented and accomplished person can fall into the trap of arrogance and bring his own downfall. It is great because it also highlights what it means to be a good person. It not only answers the question what is evil but what is good as well. This is where it stands out. Ram was that good person. So good that he is said to be an ideal human being that we all should aspire to be. A role model worthy of worship. A personification of God himself i.e. if we were to visualise the Supreme Consciousness (Parabrahmam) as a human being, then Ram it would be.
Ram, the prince of Ayodhya. For 26 years he lived a privileged life in a palace as a prince. What more can one ask for. Then he was asked to leave the palace and live a life of an ascetic in a forest for 14 years. What a contrast! From having all the comforts one could think of in this world to having none in a matter of seconds and this was also because it was his step-mother's wish and not because Ram did something bad! To further show what a big deal this was, the day he was asked to leave was the eve of his crowning ceremony. At day break, in a few hours, he was to become the King of all of Ayodhya. But not anymore. His step mother calls him the night before and says his father wishes him to leave for the forest and live there for 14 years as an ascetic. Ram just says yes I shall do so and walked out of the palace with only a piece of saffron cloth and his bow. No questions asked! Wow! What a person! What strong character, what emotional strength he must have to be able to do this. Not even an iota of ego here. To have even a small percentage of that emotional strength, I would consider myself blessed!
It was not that Ram always blindly followed the dictat of elders. He stood his ground when Dassarath insisted he take another wife. Tradition requires Ram to have more than one wife and his father wished the same. But no, Ram refused. I vow to have one wife and one wife only, said Ram. Eka Patni vrat. 'Vrat' - penance, it was called. Ram's sense of dharma - that which is intrinsic or is one's true nature - is seen throughout the Ramayanam. Be it the time he says no to come back to Ayodhya, even after everyone including Kaikeyi, the step mom who wished his departure, regrets her mistake and apologizes or when he embraces Guha or eats at Sabari's house or the respect he gives to Hanuman, a monkey or when he accepts Vibeshana as a friend. 'Hey Monkey!', how often is this used derisively. We only have to look at Ram to know what an ideal behavior should be! Traditions, cultural practices, elderly respect, class differences, discrimination - nothing is of any value. Dharma alone counts.
Even in the, now controversial, incident of Vaali vadham, Ram sticks to Dharma. Vaali, who has defeated Ravanan before in battles had every right to stop Sita's kidnapping or rescue her after he got to know of that. The kidnapping happened in his territory, he was the king ruling those parts at that time. Ravanan trespassed and committed a crime. Vaali should have acted to enforce Dharma but he did not. So in a way Vaali becomes an indirect accomplice to Ravanan's crime and hence Ram agrees to unite his cause with that of Sugreeva and support him in his quest to take his kingdom back from Vaali. That he did this shooting his arrow from behind, hidden and unknown to Valli ie. the latter did not know he was facing Ram as an adversary - all adds to the controversy and raises the morality questions. Was this is a fair fight? justified? Even if Vaali held the boon that he would gain half his opponents' strength, which rationally explains why Ram could not take him on face to face, still, was it honorable? Does the end justify the means? Aah...the most pertinent question, for all times...still relevant for our time too.
(to be continued)
