Where Ravana is a hero, scholar, warrior, lover

It is a sight that is etched in everyone’s minds. Every year on Dasera, an effigy of Ravana is burnt to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Ravana had abducted Rama’s wife Sita and kept her captive in Lanka. Accordingly, Dasera celebrates the defeat of Ravana, representing evil, by Lord Rama, a symbol of virtue.

The Ramayana has been told in a thousand different ways over the centuries. In most versions of the Ramayana, Rama is treated as a hero with many good qualities. Ravana, on the contrary, is the demon with negative traits. However, in parts of south India — as well as in Southeast Asian countries — it is Ravana who is worshipped as a hero.

In Kanpur, the doors of what is perhaps North India’s lone Ravana temple, on the Kailash Mandir campus, are thrown open for devotees on Dasera. The 140-year-old temple opens only on this day, when devotees also pay obeisance to Ravana. In Jodhpur, people claiming to be descendents of Ravana, are apparently building a temple dedicated to the demon king.

“In Indian mythology, Ravana is considered a great Brahmin scholar,” explains Devdutt Pattanaik, a mythologist with over 12 books to his credit. “He had one flaw — that he went after a married woman. However, all deities have flaws. In fact, it is believed that Rama even performed penance because he killed a Brahmin in Ravana.”

“Ravana was a great warrior of immeasurable courage. The gods feared him, he had won strategic boons by practising tough austerities, but he had no control over his senses,” says Prof Vidya Vencatesan, who has done a comparative study of the Valmiki Ramayana and the French epic, Le Cycle de Guillaume d’Orange at the University of Sorbonne, Paris. “The character of Ravana travels a long way from Valmiki’s version, where he is a demon king drunk with power. The Tamil Ramavataram composed by Kamban stands out as an exception. Kamban imagines Ravana to be a very erudite scholar, keen musician, a very good looking man with good taste in clothes and jewellery, a much sought-after lover. In fact, he woos Sita in such style — falling at her feet, pleading, cajoling and literally begging her — that Rama pales in comparison,” Vencatesan observes.

There are several instances in literature and the arts where the positive and docile Ravana is brought to the fore. Periyar, the Tamil political leader of the 20th century, made him the ultimate Dravidian hero.

Creole ballads from the Reunion islands have Ravana sing out his love for Sita. During the 1950s, Snehalata Reddy wrote the play Sita, in which Sita is shocked when Rama rejects her after the Lanka war. She reflects on Ravana’s caring attitude and the fact that he never forced himself on her.

In 2002, Realising Rama, a collaborative venture involving ASEAN’s 10 member countries, was performed at the NCPA, Mumbai. The dance presentation was a metaphor for the battle of good over evil within oneself, where the silhouettes of Rama and Ravana merged at the end.

Ravana is unfortunately remembered only for his misdemeanours. Pattanaik rues that “In India, we are able to forgive people. We accept positives along with negatives. However, in the Western scheme of things, heroes have to be perfect. Ravana will always be portrayed as a fallen hero.”