Rāvaṇa Tapas and Varas (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa)

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives a long account of the tapas (austerity) of Rāvaṇa and of the varas (boons) he won from Brahmā. It also tells of his earlier meetings with powerful beings: Kārtavīryārjuna, Vāli and Bali Cakravartī. It is told by Agastya to Rāma in Sarga 13, to explain Rāvaṇa’s past after the war has ended.

The tapas

Kaikasī reproached her sons by pointing to the glory of Kubera. After this, Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa began great tapas to win power from Brahmā.

Rāvaṇa’s tapas. He did tapas for one thousand divine years. At the end of each hundred years he cut off one of his heads and offered it into the fire. After nine hundred years, with nine heads offered, he was about to cut off the tenth. Then Brahmā, moved by this great act of self-denial, appeared before him and granted the vara.

Kumbhakarṇa’s tapas. He did tapas at Gokarṇa-kshetra for ten thousand years. The text says he held to dharma and satya (truth).

Vibhīshaṇa’s tapas. He did tapas for five thousand years, standing on one toe (pādāṅgushṭha in the text). His tapas was marked by dharma-rati (love of what is right) and satya.

The varas of Brahmā

When Brahmā came to give the varas, each of the three brothers received one.

To Rāvaṇa. He asked not to be killed by gandharvas, yakshas, hosts of devas, asuras, Śambhu (Bhagavān Śiva), or Mahāvishṇu. He said that humans (manushyas) and vānaras were too small a matter to name. Brahmā granted the vara. He also gave Rāvaṇa ten heads in place of the nine he had offered, and so gave him back his full form.

To Vibhīshaṇa. Brahmā gave him amṛtatva (deathlessness), because of his complete devotion to dharma.

To Kumbhakarṇa. What Kumbhakarṇa first wished for was the throne of Indra (deva-pīṭha). Sarasvatī, the devī of speech, acted to protect the world. She confused his tongue just as he was about to name his vara. So he asked, by mistake, for shaṇ-māsa-nidrā, six months of sleep, with one day of waking and eating in every six months. Brahmā granted this changed vara. The text says this was a divine mercy, because if Kumbhakarṇa had won the throne of Indra it would have brought great suffering to the world.

Meetings before the Rāmāyaṇa

Kārtavīryārjuna

Rāvaṇa once came to Māhishmatī, the city of the thousand-armed Kārtavīryārjuna. The king was away. So Rāvaṇa did Śiva-pūjā on the bank of the river Narmadā. At that time Kārtavīryārjuna was bathing in the Narmadā with his wives. For sport he blocked the flow of the river with his thousand arms. The water rose and flooded the place where Rāvaṇa was doing pūjā, and his meditation was broken. Rāvaṇa saw what had happened and challenged Kārtavīryārjuna. In the fight that followed, Kārtavīryārjuna beat Rāvaṇa completely. He bound him like a tame elephant and gave him to his children to play with. Rāvaṇa was set free only when the ṛshi Pulastya, his grandfather, came and pleaded for him.

Vāli

Rāvaṇa wished to challenge Vāli, the great vānara king of Kishkindhā, to show his own strength. He came from behind while Vāli was deep in meditation at his sandhyā-vandana (the prayer at dawn and dusk) on the ocean shore, and he seized Vāli to take him captive. As the Vālmīki account tells it, Vāli held Rāvaṇa pressed under his arm and flew through all four oceans with him. At last he put him down at Kishkindhā. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa adds a very shaming detail. Vāli’s infant son Aṅgada was in his cradle (ūyala, a hanging cradle). Vāli tied Rāvaṇa upside down to the cradle for Aṅgada’s amusement. The baby Aṅgada passed water on Rāvaṇa’s upturned face. After some time Vāli let Rāvaṇa go, and the two made a pact of friendship (sakhya).

Bali Cakravartī in Pātāla

Rāvaṇa was travelling through the three worlds. He went down to pātāla to find warriors worth fighting. He saw the city of Bali Cakravartī shining with the light of ten million suns. Even the Pushpaka vimāna would not move close to it, because its power dimmed Rāvaṇa’s own radiance. Rāvaṇa went into the city on foot. He found Bali Cakravartī playing dice with his queen. Rāvaṇa tried to impress Bali and was plainly ignored. Bali tossed his dice, and they rolled far away. He told Rāvaṇa to fetch them. Rāvaṇa tried with all his twenty arms to pick up the dice, but he could not lift them. His fingers were crushed under their weight and he cried out in pain. Bali laughed and had a servant fetch the dice with ease. Rāvaṇa was shamed and driven out of the city.

At the gate of pātāla stood the Vāmana form of Bhagavān Vishṇu, as the gate-guardian (dvārapāla). After he was driven out of Bali’s palace, Rāvaṇa appealed to Bhagavān Vāmana. Bhagavān Vāmana struck Rāvaṇa with His big toe (pādāṅgushṭha) and sent him flying upward. He landed far away in Laṅkā, and felt as if he had been born again.

The White Island (Śveta-dvīpa)

Nārada told Rāvaṇa that the greatest warriors in all the worlds were those in Śveta-dvīpa. These were beings who had died in the service of Bhagavān Vishṇu and now lived there, worshipping Bhagavān Vishṇu for ever. Rāvaṇa flew there to challenge them. The light of Śveta-dvīpa was so great that the Pushpaka again would not move close to it. Rāvaṇa went in on foot. Women devotees who were picking flowers caught him. They knocked him from one to another like a ball and struck his face. In the confusion he fell into a cesspit. Rāvaṇa was disgusted and shamed. He decided that those who die in the service of Bhagavān Vishṇu gain such great power that even the women among them could defeat him. So he resolved to make Bhagavān Vishṇu come and fight him. His plan was to carry off Sītā, who is Mahālakshmī.

Anṛaṇya’s śāpa

Anṛaṇya was a king of the Sūryavaṃśa (the Solar dynasty), an ancestor of Rāma thirty-three generations back. Rāvaṇa once struck him down in battle. As Anṛaṇya lay dying he spoke a śāpa (curse): “From my line the eternal Paramātmā will be born as Rāma, and He will kill you together with all your kin.” Rāvaṇa’s death at the hands of Rāma was therefore the result both of the śāpa of Bṛndā and of this śāpa of a king.

Sanatkumāra’s counsel

Once Rāvaṇa visited Sanatkumāra, one of the eternal child ṛshis, the sons of Brahmā. He asked who was the greatest being in all the worlds. Sanatkumāra answered that it was Mahāvishṇu. He said that those who are killed by Bhagavān Vishṇu reach a rare moksha (liberation), which is hard to win even by great tapas. Rāvaṇa heard this and decided that the best way to reach moksha was to be killed by Bhagavān Vishṇu. He deliberately chose to rouse the anger of Bhagavān Vishṇu by carrying off His consort.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Sāra Khaṇḍa, Sarga 13