Kekasī

Kekasī was the mother of Rāvaṇa, the great rākshasa king of Laṅkā. She was a rākshasī (a female rākshasa) of high birth. She became the wife of the brahmarshi Viśravā, a son of Pulastya Maharshi.

Kekasī and Viśravā had four children: Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Vibhīshaṇa and Śūrpaṇakhā. After the war of Laṅkā and the death of Rāvaṇa, Bhagavān Rāma came to Laṅkā, and Kekasī came before him with humility and devotion.

Family

Kekasī was a rākshasī who married the brahmarshi Viśravā, the son of the great Pulastya Maharshi. Their children were Rāvaṇa, Kumbhakarṇa, Vibhīshaṇa and Śūrpaṇakhā. Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa took the rākshasa nature. Vibhīshaṇa took the dharma-loving nature of his father.

Mother of Rāvaṇa

Kekasī watched her son Rāvaṇa rise in power and grandeur. She also saw his adharma (wrong conduct) and, in the end, his death at the hands of Bhagavān Rāma. The Purāṇas present the loss of a son as true grief, whatever the son did.

Bhagavān Rāma and Kekasī after the war

After the war, Bhagavān Rāma visited Laṅkā with Bharata and Sugrīva. Kekasī came before him. She was the mother of his greatest enemy, the rākshasa whose abduction of Sītā had led to the great war. Even so, she came to Rāma with humility.

Rāma received her with fitting honour. He showed her no hostility for what her son had done. He held to his dharma of kindness toward the defeated and their families, and he did not hold a mother responsible for the acts of her son.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Sṛshṭi Khaṇḍa, Chapter 38