Ravana
Now we come to Ravana. Many know him from Valmiki’s enthralling story, the Ramayana. Portrayed as the Demon King of Lanka, Ravana is the villain throughout the entire story. The Ramayana, however, is a story about Rama’s journeys while ours is a story about Jaya and Vijaya. Therefore, we will start with the birth of Ravana and follow him through the years as the avatar of Jaya. Of course this is only until he meets Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu.
Ravana, the ten-headed demon
Even before Ravana’s birth to Kaikesi and Vishrava, it was known he would be a demon. Vishrava had said to Kaikesi, “All of those born to us will be rakshasas, but the last will be noble.” Of course, Kaikesi went forward and requested to have Vishrava’s children. Along with Ravana, the couple had three other children: Kumbhakarna, Shoorpankha and Vibhishana.
Just to interject really quickly if anyone is wondering, Kumbhakarna is actually Vijaya’s avatar. If anyone is really really confused, Ravana is Jaya’s avatar.
Ravana and Kumbhakarna were mischievous and arrogant. They were royalty as sons of Vishrava and half-brothers to the King of Lanka, Kubera. The rakshasas always longed to rule Lanka for their own (a thought instilled in them by their grandfather, Sumali) and trained to get there. Ravana sought out the favor of Brahma through penances where he sacrificed a number of his ten heads into a fire. As he was preparing to relinquish his last head, Brahma appeared to Ravana.
“Enough! Do not cast another single head into the flames. Ravana, your will and dedication to me is evident from these trials. Because of this, I am pleased. Now I grant you a single boon. Please choose wisely.”
“Give me the power of immortality, to not be harmed by any creature. Not God or man!” demanded Ravana.
“I cannot grant that for you. It is too powerful of a blessing. Ask for another.”
Exhausted, Ravana agreed. “Make me mortal to any man as I am too powerful and not afraid of any mere mortal. Simply give me protection against those of the gods, or your creation.”
Satisfied, Brahma agreed.
Wow, penances … where have we seen that before? Jaya continues his arrogance as he attempts to become immortal. Just as Hiranyakashipu gained his boon from penances so that he would be protected from man and beast, now Ravana has gained his own. However, it will prove to be just as futile.
With his newfound power, Ravana headed to Lanka so that Kubera could be driven out with the support of his boon and his brothers. When the rakshasas reached the throne, Kubera and the court kindly received them.
“Brothers! What brings you to marvelous Lanka? It’s so great to see you all,” bellowed Kubera from the throne.
“Kubera, it is time for us to take our place in leading Lanka.” Powered by his boon, Ravana drove out Kubera from Lanka and took his chariot, the Pushpak Vimana. Kubera fled Lanka as he knew defeating Ravana was impossible, but he could still save himself, so he travelled to Mount Kailash. Ravana now had control of Lanka and its resources while still possessing the power of his boon.
Those gifts from Brahma sure did seem to help out Ravana and gave him incredible power and resources. If you ask me, it seems like there may have been a reason that Brahma awarded this powerful boon to Ravana. If Ravana was able to fend off Rama for a long time, this would also force Jaya and Vijaya into staying as mortals longer. Maybe Brahma was trying to enforce the initial punishment by the Kumaras, his children, as much as he could without granting god-like immortality. Oooh, conspiracies!
Ravana was wandering the jungle when he soon ran into a gorgeous woman, Vedavati. He was enamored by her and he had to marry her. It was almost strange in a way, how much he loved her and how fast, almost simultaneously, his feelings came to him.
“Come with me, woman, for I am Ravana, the great king of Lanka,” requested Ravana.
“No, I am waiting for my one true love, my lord Vishnu,” Vedavati sternly replied.
“Why wait for something lesser when you can have a king right now?’
“Vishnu is the strongest in the whole world. There is no one better than him to be my husband.”
With this, Ravana angrily grabbed at Vedavati.
“No! Let me go! I would rather die than be without Vishnu!” Vedavati wrung free of the demon’s grasp and jumped into a fire. Ravana was enraged and all he could think about was Vishnu. A hatred for Vishnu grew in his stomach and he vowed to destroy Vishnu's devotees.
Sita in Ravana's captivity
Many years passed and Vedavati had appeared reborn to King Janaka who raised her as his child. She became a beautiful woman and was named Sita. She found her way to Rama of Ayodhya and was married, but they were soon exiled to the forest. Shoorpankha, Ravana’s sister, alerted Ravana to Sita’s presence in the forest as a beautiful woman. When Ravana went and checked, he saw her. Instantly he was overcome with emotion just as he had been with Vedavati, but this time he stole Sita away to Lanka.
Rama built his army quickly to defeat Ravana and save Sita. He rallied the support of Hanuman, Sugriva and their monkey army. As they met on the battlefield of Lanka, Kumbhakarna decimated Rama’s troops until the avatar of Vishnu appeared. He swiftly dispatched Kumbhakarna and headed towards Ravana. The two adversaries took to the air in their vimanas, Ravana in the Pushpak and Rama in a loaner from Indra, and fought valiantly. Rama fired volley after volley of arrows which took out Ravana’s heads. Eventually, Ravana and the Pushpak Vimana crashed to the ground. Rama looked over Ravana and said, “Jaya, you are one step closer,” before he released his arrow.
There you have it. Another of Vishnu’s avatars using Jaya’s real name. As Kumbhakarna and Ravana were killed, they were released and the score became 2-2. Next we will witness Shishupala and Dantavakra.
Author’s Note:
Everyone (or most people) knows the classic story of the Ramayana so they know about Ravana and his conflict with Rama. This makes my story a little bit different from the others in the storybook as those are less known. While the Ramayana talks about Ravana, it only does so through the context of Rama. As everything that Ravana does is linked to Rama, it doesn’t highlight the actual life of Ravana as Jaya (also Vijaya as Kumbhakarna). Because of this, I read The Lord of Lanka comic book to get more backstory on Ravana. Many of the events before Rama were kept the same from the comic to my story but I did need to omit some things as they were less relevant to the Jaya story’s angle. The comic portrayed things differently than Narayan’s version of the Ramayana, so I tried to use a mix of both versions in my retelling. Again I used myself as the narrator and tried to butt into the story to either explain things or just provide some interesting commentary. I really like the idea of Vishnu’s avatars knowing who Jaya and Vijaya are, which is also a deviation from the original stories. I would have liked to add more to the epic battle at the end, but it would have made the story super duper long.