Rāvaṇa Vijaya

The Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa gives a full account of Rāvaṇa: his birth, his hard tapas at Gokarṇa, and his conquests of the earth, of Svarga and of pātāla. It fills Chapters 220 to 223 of the Poorvārdha. In the Bharata Vaijayantī account, Nāḍāyana tells these chapters to Śailūsha as history. He tells them to show that the power of the rākshasas, which stands against the divine order, has always fallen in the end before Bhagavān Vishṇu and his descents.

Rāvaṇa’s birth: the ill-timed visit (Chapter 220)

Rāvaṇa was born of a break in the order of time. His mother Kaikasī was the daughter of the daitya Sumāli, and so she came of the rākshasa line. She came to the great ṛshi Viśravas, the son of Pulastya, who was the son of Brahmā. She came at a raudra muhūrta, an ill-omened moment when tamas and rajas rule.

Viśravas was at his holy evening meditation. He saw Kaikasī coming. From her manner and from the unlucky hour he knew at once that she had come with desire. He told her plainly: “You have come at an ill-omened time. The son born from this union will carry the marks of this moment. He will be rākshasa in nature and temper.” Even after this warning, the union took place.

From this birth at the raudra hour were born:

• Rāvaṇa (Daśagrīva, with ten heads and twenty arms), the eldest, who had the rākshasa nature most fully
• Kumbhakarṇa, born with a nature of sleep, huge and strong but always drowsy
• Vibhīshaṇa, born righteous, who kept the brāhmaṇa qualities of his father
• Śūrpaṇakhā, born as a rākshasī

Tapas at Gokarṇa and Brahmā’s vara (Chapter 220)

Rāvaṇa was born a rākshasa, but he was also a grandson of Brahmā through the line of Pulastya and Viśravas, and he had great power of mind and spirit. He turned this to the hardest tapas. He went to the holy place Gokarṇa on the western sea and did austerities for ten thousand years. Each year he cut off one of his ten heads and offered it into the sacred fire as the highest offering of himself. After nine years, when nine heads had been offered and his hands were reaching for the tenth head, Brahmā appeared before him.

Brahmā was deeply moved by this great tapas and said: “Ask for a vara.” Rāvaṇa asked to be safe from all devas, asuras, yakshas, nāgas and every other being beyond the human world. He left out humans and animals on purpose, and with scorn, as foes not worth his notice. This very scorn was the weakness that let Bhagavān Vishṇu come down as a human, Rāma, and kill him.

Rāvaṇa also received from Bhagavān Śiva, who was pleased by his devotion at Gokarṇa, the famous Candra-hāsa sword. It was a divine blade that could cut through anything.

Conquest of the earth: King Anaraṇya and Vedavatī (Chapter 221)

With Brahmā’s vara of safety, Rāvaṇa set out to conquer the earth. He marched through all the kingdoms of the world, beat the kings, took their lands and set up his own rule. The kings who stood against him fell.

One who faced him was King Anaraṇya of the Ikshvāku line. Anaraṇya fought bravely but fell before Rāvaṇa’s great power. As he lay dying, Anaraṇya gave Rāvaṇa a śāpa (a curse): “You have killed a king of the Ikshvāku line. Know this: a descendant of the Ikshvāku line will cause your complete destruction.” This śāpa planted the seed of Rāma’s birth in the Ikshvāku line.

During this conquest of the earth Rāvaṇa also came upon the tapasvinī Vedavatī in her forest āśrama and wronged her. This act brought about the second means of his destruction.

Conquest of Svarga: Indrajit captures Indra (Chapter 222)

After he had beaten the earth, Rāvaṇa marched on Svarga itself. The battle with the devas was fierce, but because of the safety Brahmā had given him, Rāvaṇa’s forces could not be stopped. His son Indrajit, also called Meghanāda, was the hero of this campaign. His name Meghanāda means “one whose thunder is like Indra’s”. In the great battle in Svarga Indrajit used the Brahmāstra in a form that bound Indra with snake-bonds and took him. Indra, the ruler of Svarga and the wielder of the vajra, was brought to Laṅkā as a prisoner.

The shame of Indra’s capture shook all three worlds. Brahmā came to Laṅkā to make peace. He told Rāvaṇa that killing Indra would upset the order of the worlds and bring heavy results from karma, and that there were rules of righteous war that had to be kept. Rāvaṇa was Brahmā’s own grandson. He accepted the settlement and set Indra free. But the conquest of Svarga was his, and the devas lived under his rule.

For this feat of taking Indra himself, Brahmā gave Meghanāda the name Indrajit, “conqueror of Indra”. He would be known by that name for ever.

The Kailāsa episode and the name Rāvaṇa

Rāvaṇa also went to Mount Kailāsa, the home of Bhagavān Śiva, meaning to show that he was supreme even there. Nandī, the divine gatekeeper of Bhagavān Śiva, stopped him. Rāvaṇa laughed at Nandī’s monkey-like face. Nandī then gave a śāpa that monkeys would be the means of Rāvaṇa’s destruction. Rāvaṇa then tried to lift the whole of Mount Kailāsa and carry it away. Bhagavān Śiva pressed down lightly with his toe and pinned Rāvaṇa’s arms under the mountain. Rāvaṇa was trapped, with his twenty arms held fast. In pain and submission he roared. His name Rāvaṇa means “one whose roar makes others cry”. The roar was so strong that the mountains shook, and because of this roar Bhagavān Śiva gave him the name Rāvaṇa. Bhagavān Śiva then set him free, and Rāvaṇa composed the Śiva-tāṇḍava stotra in praise of him.

Conquest of pātāla: Vāli’s armpit and Hanumān’s birth (Chapter 223)

Rāvaṇa went down into pātāla to complete his conquest of all three worlds.

Rāvaṇa and Vāli

The great vānara king Vāli was a son of Indra and had extraordinary strength. He was one of those Rāvaṇa wanted to conquer. Their meeting became famous. Vāli saw Rāvaṇa coming to fight. He tucked Rāvaṇa under his armpit and went on with his sandhyāvandana, the worship of Sūrya done three times a day. He travelled to the four oceans as he said his prayers, while Rāvaṇa was trapped and helpless. The most powerful rākshasa in creation was carried under a vānara’s armpit like a small animal. Vāli then let Rāvaṇa go with a careless gesture, and the two made peace with mutual respect.

Hanumān’s birth

The same chapter also tells how Hanumān came to be. He was a child of divine birth, the son of Vāyu and Añjanā, born through Kesarī. As a baby he saw the rising sun and thought it was a ripe fruit. He leaped into the sky to seize it. Rāhu was also coming near the sun at that moment for his regular eclipse. Hanumān and Rāhu reached the sun at the same time. Rāhu found this divine child going after what he thought was his own right. He complained to Indra.

Indra came on his divine elephant Airāvata. The child Hanumān attacked Airāvata. Indra struck Hanumān on the jaw (hanu) with his vajra. Hanumān fell from the sky, unconscious.

Vāyu, Hanumān’s divine father, was filled with rage. He drew all the breath (prāṇa-vāyu) out of every living being in creation. Everything stopped moving, and living beings began to die. The world was frozen. Brahmā came in great haste. He brought Hanumān back to life and gave him immortality and a series of divine varas. Indra gave the vara that the vajra, his own greatest weapon, could never harm Hanumān again. All the devas gave him varas of safety from harm, strength and divine protection.

The name Hanumān comes from hanu (jaw), the jaw that Indra’s vajra struck.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 220 (the birth of Rāvaṇa; tapas at Gokarṇa; Brahmā’s vara)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 221 (the conquest of the earth; King Anaraṇya; Vedavatī)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 222 (the conquest of Svarga; Indrajit; the Kailāsa episode)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 223 (pātāla; Vāli; the birth of Hanumān)
• Bharata Vaijayantī account in the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Nāḍāyana’s words to Śailūsha)