Pratāpabhānu Kathā (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)

Pratāpabhānu was a proud and powerful king of Kekaya. In the Bāla Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Śiva tells his story to Pārvatī as one of the lesser reasons for the avatāra of Bhagavān Rāma. A defeated king in the dress of a muni (seer), and a rākshasa, cheated Pratāpabhānu. A śāpa (curse) from brāhmaṇas then brought ruin on him and his whole family. In his next birth he and his kinsmen were born into the rākshasa line of Pulastya Brahmā, as Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Vibhīshaṇa and their clan.

The kingdom of Kekaya

Satyaketu was the king of Kekaya. He had two sons, Pratāpabhānu (the elder) and Arimardana. When Satyaketu went to the forest for tapas, he made Pratāpabhānu king. The good Arimardana helped his elder brother in every way, and the wise minister Dharmaruci guided them in the work of government. Pratāpabhānu made a dik-vijaya (a conquest of all the directions) and became the sole ruler of the whole world.

The hunt and the false muni

One day Pratāpabhānu mounted his horse and rode into the Vindhya forest to hunt. Deep in the wilds he saw a great boar and gave chase. The boar led him far into a thick, trackless jungle and then vanished into a cave in a mountain. Lost, alone, tired and thirsty, the king wandered until he came upon an āśrama.

A king lived at that āśrama. Pratāpabhānu had beaten him in his conquests, and he had lost his kingdom. Now he wore the disguise of an ascetic. He knew Pratāpabhānu at once, but the king did not know him. This false muni (kuhana-muni) welcomed the king warmly and gave him cool refreshment. With honeyed words he won Pratāpabhānu’s trust.

The boar was in fact the rākshasa Kālaketu in disguise. He had led Pratāpabhānu into the forest as part of a plot made with the false muni.

The vow and the trap

The two talked long into the night, and the king’s trust grew. The false muni let it slip that his yoga-power gave him knowledge of all things, even Pratāpabhānu’s true identity. The king was awed. He spoke his wishes openly: he wanted to be unconquerable for a hundred kalpas (ages) and to rule the whole world. The false muni said he could grant this, with one condition. No power under the sky could undo his promise except the power of brāhmaṇas. So the king must never earn the anger of the twice-born.

Pratāpabhānu objected. How could a king keep brāhmaṇas pleased all the time? The false muni had an answer. He would come to the palace as the royal purohita (household priest) and cook the food the king chose. At the royal feeding he would secretly give it to the brāhmaṇas. The food would be mixed with something that made the brāhmaṇas obey. He would come in secret, without the purohita knowing. The king was delighted with this plan and agreed. He bowed three times before the false ascetic and went to rest for the night.

As soon as the king slept, the rākshasa Kālaketu appeared at the āśrama. He and the false muni made their plot final. By Kālaketu’s māyā, the sleeping king and his horse were carried back to the royal city, and nobody knew. Then Kālaketu took the form and place of the purohita.

The brāhmaṇas’ śāpa

On the set day Pratāpabhānu gave a great feast for a hundred thousand brāhmaṇas. Everything was ready, and the brāhmaṇas sat in rows. On the orders of Kālaketu in the purohita’s form, many dishes were served. But the food had been mixed with brāhmaṇa-flesh. Just as the guests were about to eat, an ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky) rang out. This was the signal Kālaketu had arranged. It said: “O brāhmaṇas, do not touch that food. It has been mixed with brāhmaṇa-flesh!”

The brāhmaṇas leapt up in fury. They turned to Pratāpabhānu and spoke a terrible śāpa:

“O worst of kings! You, your wife, your children, your servants and all your kinsmen, may your whole line perish within one year and be reborn in the rākshasa family!”

A moment later a true ākāśavāṇī rang out: “The king is blameless. You have been deceived.” But the brāhmaṇas answered that a śāpa, once spoken, could not be taken back, not even by Brahmā. They left in sorrow.

The fall of the kingdom

The cunning false muni at once spread the news of the disaster in every direction. Enemy kings had been unhappy under Pratāpabhānu’s rule. Now they saw their chance and attacked Kekaya from all sides. In the terrible war that followed, the whole line of Pratāpabhānu was destroyed.

Rebirth as Rāvaṇa and his clan

Because of the brāhmaṇa śāpa, Pratāpabhānu, his younger brother Arimardana and his minister Dharmaruci were born again in the line of the great brāhmaṇa ṛshi Pulastya. Pratāpabhānu became Rāvaṇa, Arimardana became Kumbhakarṇa, and Dharmaruci became Vibhīshaṇa. Pratāpabhānu’s sons, servants and other kinsmen were born as the rākshasas of Laṅkā. They were born in the line of Pulastya Brahmā, but the brāhmaṇas’ śāpa gave them natures ruled by tamoguṇa (the quality of darkness), and they lived as rākshasas.

The rebirth of these enemies of the divine order as Rāvaṇa and his kin, in the line of Pulastya, is one of the lesser reasons why Bhagavān Vishṇu came down as Rāma. Bhagavān Vishṇu himself must slay those Jaya and Vijaya ātmās in each birth, so that in the end they may reach moksha (liberation).

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Pratāpabhānu Kathā