Devas Pray to Vishṇu

The devas were oppressed by Rāvaṇa. They prayed to Bhagavān Vishṇu for relief, and this is the background to the birth of Śrī Rāma. The Bāla Kāṇḍa tells it. Bhagavān Vishṇu chose to be born as a human being. Rāvaṇa had boons (vara) from Brahmā Deva that kept him safe from all the devas and other beings of the higher worlds, but he had not asked for safety from humans.

Rāvaṇa’s vara and his oppression

Rāvaṇa was a rākshasa king of Laṅkā, born of the line of Pulastya. He was one of the most powerful beings in creation. By hard tapas he had won great vara from Brahmā Deva. They kept him safe from death at the hands of devas, dānavas, gandharvas, yakshas, kinnaras, nāgas and all other beings of the higher worlds.

With these vara and his own great strength, Rāvaṇa became a terror to the three worlds. He troubled the devas. He broke up the yajñas of the ṛshis. He harassed the women of the higher worlds. He defied every order of dharma. The devas could not face him directly because of his vara, and they were in deep distress.

What Rāvaṇa had not asked for was safety from human beings (manushyas). In his pride he had looked down on humans as too weak and too short-lived to be a danger. Through this gap in his vara, Brahmā saw that the end of Rāvaṇa could come.

The assembly before Brahmā

The distressed devas, led by Indra, gathered before Brahmā Deva in his own realm and told him of their suffering. They said that Rāvaṇa’s power had made life in the three worlds unbearable. They said his attacks were breaking up the yajñas and shaking the whole order of the world. They prayed to Brahmā: “You gave these vara. You alone know the way to end this terror.”

Brahmā heard them and smiled. He said: “The very vara I gave Rāvaṇa holds its own remedy. He asked for safety from every kind of being, but he never asked for safety from humans. He will be destroyed through a human being.”

After saying this, Brahmā told the devas to go to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu rules creation, preservation and dissolution (sṛshṭi-sthiti-laya) and is the eternal refuge of dharma. They were to pray to him to be born as a human being.

Bhagavān Vishṇu agrees

The devas went with Brahmā to the abode of Bhagavān Vishṇu and prayed with complete surrender. They praised Bhagavān Vishṇu as the one who had taken earlier avatāras to protect dharma, the master of all that exists. They made their request: that he be born into the world as a son of Daśaratha, the king of Ayodhyā in the Solar line, who was at that time performing the great Aśvamedha yajña.

Bhagavān Vishṇu was moved by the prayer of the devas and by his unending compassion for all creation. He agreed. He said he would divide himself into four parts and be born as four princes, from the three queens of Daśaratha:

• Rāma, from the womb of Kausalyā
• Bharata, from the womb of Kaikeyī
• Lakshmaṇa and Śatrughna, from the womb of Sumitrā

He would live in the human world for eleven thousand years. He would destroy Rāvaṇa and the rākshasas and establish dharma on the earth. The devas were glad, and the Rāma avatāra was set in motion.

The creation of the vānaras

As soon as Bhagavān Vishṇu agreed to be born, Brahmā told the devas to share in the work. They were to father strong vānara sons, who would be Rāma’s army. Each deva, each divine ṛshi, each gandharva and each being of the higher worlds begot vānara warriors. The mothers were apsarasas, vidyādharī women, nāga-kanyās and gandharva women. In time this army of vānaras would gather at Kishkindhā and march with Rāma to Laṅkā.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 15
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapter 17