Ahirāvaṇa Vadha in the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa

After Meghānāda fell, Rāvaṇa remembered his son Ahirāvaṇa, who ruled in Pātāla. Bhagavān Śiva tells Devī Pārvatī the strange history of this son. Ahirāvaṇa was born with twenty serpents, thrown away by his father, raised by Siṃhikā, and named by Śukrācārya. He did tapas for fourteen thousand years and won a boon that only Hanumān and Hanumān’s master could kill him. He took Rāma and Lakshmaṇa to Pātāla, and Hanumān went down alone, rescued them and killed him. This account is from the Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa.

Birth and abandonment

Rāvaṇa had many sons, and one of them was born in a very strange way. The child came into the world with twenty serpents, and Rāvaṇa was alarmed. The royal astrologers and Śukrācārya studied the matter and said that if the child grew up in the house, he would bring death to his parents. Rāvaṇa was frightened. He gave the infant to a trusted rākshasa named Śvāsānana and ordered him to put the child into the earth below the south-west edge of Laṅkā.

The child had great life-force and lived through this. He gnawed through the earth and tunnelled for a full month, and he came out on the sea shore.

Raised by Siṃhikā and named by Śukrācārya

On the shore Siṃhikā found the infant. She is the rākshasī who was the mother of Rāhu. She took him in and raised him with care. One day Śukrācārya came to Siṃhikā’s home and saw the child. By his divine sight he knew at once that this was Rāvaṇa’s son, thrown away by his father but kept alive by divine will. Śukrācārya gave him his name, Ahirāvaṇa. He told Siṃhikā the story of the child’s birth and of how he had been thrown away.

When Ahirāvaṇa learned the truth, that his own father had cast him out, he was shaken with grief and bitterness. In that pain he plunged into the ocean.

Tapas in the āśrama of Devī Kāmadā

From the ocean Ahirāvaṇa made his way step by step to Vitaloloka, the realm of Pātāla. There stood the city of Bhogavatī-pura, ruled by Darvīka, a kinsman of Vāsuki. In Bhogavatī-pura Ahirāvaṇa heard a talk on the greatness of tapas (austerity), and a strong call to austerity rose in him.

He went to the āśrama of Devī Kāmadā and did very hard tapas there for fourteen thousand years. Devī Kāmadā was moved by his devotion and his effort. She appeared before him and told him to ask for varas (boons). Ahirāvaṇa asked for two things. First, that his father Rāvaṇa would one day be forced by events to come to him for help. Second, that no one in the worlds could cause his death except Hanumān and Hanumān’s master.

The Devī gave both boons and added a prophecy:

“In the Tretāyuga, at its end, the ruler of Laṅkā will come to you for help. Your second boon will also come true. Be at peace.”

Ahirāvaṇa’s kingdom in Pātāla

After he received the boons, Ahirāvaṇa went back to Pātāla. He defeated Darvīka, the Nāga king, in battle. Darvīka saw that more fighting was useless. He gave his daughter Kuṃdanī in marriage to Ahirāvaṇa and made peace. Ahirāvaṇa gave Bhogavatī-pura back to his father-in-law. Near the temple of Devī Kāmadā he built a great city for himself, nine thousand yojanas wide. He lived there with his kinsmen, his family and his large court, and enjoyed every pleasure.

Rāvaṇa’s call

Meghānāda was dead and the other great commanders had fallen. At last Rāvaṇa remembered his lost son Ahirāvaṇa. He went to a Śivālaya (a temple of Śiva) in Laṅkā and worshipped Bhagavān Śiva deeply, thinking of Ahirāvaṇa. Ahirāvaṇa felt his father’s call and came to Laṅkā at once. Rāvaṇa told him all that had happened: the deaths of Kumbhakarṇa, Meghānāda, Akampana, Mahodara and many other heroes. He begged his son for help.

Ahirāvaṇa saw that the war was useless. In his heart he knew that to oppose Rāma could only bring ruin. But the duty of a son was stronger than his wisdom. He agreed to help. He said to Rāvaṇa:

“I will take Rāma and Lakshmaṇa to Pātāla and offer them as bali (an offering) to the Devī. By this I will serve you and win fame. The light you see when I leave will tell you that I have taken them.”

The taking of Rāma and Lakshmaṇa

That night Ahirāvaṇa used his māyā (power of illusion) to spread thick clouds and deep darkness over the whole camp of the vānaras. Hanumān sat at the entrance to the camp in vīrāsana (the hero’s seat), watching for any rākshasa. Ahirāvaṇa was a master of māyā. He took the exact form of Vibhīshaṇa and walked into the camp, and no one stopped him.

Inside the camp Ahirāvaṇa used a mantra to put the whole vānara army into deep sleep. He went into the tent where Rāma and Lakshmaṇa lay asleep. He bowed in devotion when he saw the two divine brothers. Then he quickly lifted both of them and rose into the sky, and he was lost in the darkness. At that moment a light blazed in the sky. Rāvaṇa saw it from Laṅkā, and it showed him that the deed was done.

When the vānaras woke, the camp was in an uproar. Sugrīva fainted with grief. The real Vibhīshaṇa came and understood the matter at once. Only Ahirāvaṇa had the power to take Vibhīshaṇa’s form exactly. Only Ahirāvaṇa had the mantra that could put a whole army to sleep. Rāma and Lakshmaṇa must be in Pātāla.

Hanumān goes down to Pātāla

Sugrīva, Jāmbavān and all the commanders turned to Hanumān. He took up the task with perfect calm. He said:

“In all the fourteen worlds, wherever Rāma, the ruler of Sāketa, may be, I can find him and bring him back. Give me leave to go.”

Hanumān went down into Pātāla like a thunderbolt entering the earth. He came to the outer gate of Ahirāvaṇa’s great city.

Makaradhvaja, the son of Hanumān

A guard stood at the outer gate. He was a vānara of unusual form. When Hanumān came near, he stepped forward and said:

“Mahātmā! I am your son. My name is Makaradhvaja. When you came back from burning Laṅkā and cooled yourself in the ocean, a drop of your sweat fell into the sea. A great fish, a matsya, swallowed the drop and became with child, and I was born from that. Since then I have been here in Pātāla, serving Ahirāvaṇa. I cannot let you in. That would be to betray my master.”

Hanumān was glad in his heart at his son’s loyalty and fine nature. But there was no other way, and father and son fought a duel. After a hard fight Hanumān overcame Makaradhvaja and entered the city.

The disguise in the flower garland

Inside the city Ahirāvaṇa was making the pūjā of Devī Kāmadā, his own patron, and getting ready for the nara-bali (the offering of a man). Rāma and Lakshmaṇa, still under the sleep mantra, were at the place of the pūjā.

Hanumān made himself very small and hid in the flower garland that hung on the Devī’s image. At the right moment in the rite, Ahirāvaṇa took the garland from the image. Then the Devī herself seemed to sink into the earth. In the place where the image had stood, Hanumān appeared in his true, huge form, terrible and grand like Mahākālī herself.

The rākshasas who had gathered for the rite were overjoyed. They said: “The Devī has given us her darśana! We can go on with the bali!” They brought Rāma and Lakshmaṇa to the bali-pīṭha (the place of offering) and made them stand facing the Devī. The rākshasa priests raised their swords. Then the figure they took for the Devī spoke.

The rescue and the death of Ahirāvaṇa

Hanumān’s voice filled the temple:

“O villains! It is you who should pray to your Devī before you die, not them!”

With that he burst into his full form and leapt on the rākshasas. He took a chandra-āyudha (a crescent weapon) from one of the guards. With this weapon of the Devī he first cut off Ahirāvaṇa’s head, and the head flew to the bali-pīṭha. Then he killed every rākshasa in the temple. He crushed some with his feet, struck others with his fists and tore others with his hands, until the whole gathering was destroyed in a few moments.

Hanumān freed his prisoners. He lifted Rāma and Lakshmaṇa on to his back and rose out of Pātāla as fast as the wind. He came down in the camp of the vānaras. The host of vānaras and bhallūkas saw their masters come back and cried out with joy, like the dead returning to life.

Makaradhvaja crowned king of Pātāla

Before going up to the surface, Hanumān went back to the gate of Pātāla, where Makaradhvaja was still bound. He freed his son and set him on a royal seat. With the blessing of Rāma’s mission he crowned him Pātāla-rāja, king of Pātāla. Makaradhvaja took the kingship with a son’s devotion and bowed before his father.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, section Rāvaṇuḍu Ahirāvaṇuni Sahāyamu Kōruṭa (Ahirāvaṇa’s birth, tapas, kingdom and his father’s call)
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, section Ahirāvaṇuḍu Rāma Lakshmaṇulanu Gompovaṭa (the taking of Rāma and Lakshmaṇa)
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, section Hanumantuḍu Ahirāvaṇuni Saṃhariṃci Rāma Lakshmaṇulanu Viḍipiṃcukoṭa (Hanumān in Pātāla, the rescue, Makaradhvaja)