Birth of a King
"Brother!" Rama cried out. "I think I have found something that may help us." The two boys sat together at the edge of the water and began to read...
Entry # 4
I awoke this morning to yet another nightmare of my dear Kubera. While I understand that what I had done was necessary for the survival, no, the thriving of our kind, I cannot get his face out of my mind. Even in death that dammed face haunts me. But I thank Kubera, as it was his lack of vision that helped me become what I am today.
I still remember it vividly. It was a day like any other, and my half-brother Kubera, my brother Kumbhakarna, my brother Vibhishana, my sister Surpanakha, and I were all walking about Lanka and talking of the future. We all adored Lanka, and the beautiful marvel of a city brought tears to all of our eyes whenever we gazed upon it. I explained to my siblings that what we were creating was so magnificent that we should create more cities like Lanka all over the land. While my plan caught the ear of some of my family, that dammed Kubera laughed and spoke. "What a fine idea, Ravana, but how would you fund such an idea? I love this city as much as the next demon, but to build a city like Lanka all over would be ridiculous!" Kubera laughed at me for a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime. During his chuckles, I began to see red and all I could think about is how perfect Kubera's life was. No wonder he could laugh this off. He already had enough money to sustain himself for five lifetimes. My blood began to boil and I left my so-called "brother" and pulled my other siblings to a secret corner of the palace where none could hear us and spoke to them of a new age, an age where we could bring the demon race to the glory it deserved. I convinced them to travel with me to Gokarna to pray to Lord Shiva. I knew that with the god's blessing I would be able to fulfill my destiny.
After a long trip, we finally arrived at the altar of Shiva. I still remember yelling at my siblings as I was trying to pray, as none of them would take me seriously, and Kumbhakarna kept on complaining about how tired he was. Infuriated, I cried, "Lord Shiva, please bless me with the strength to build up our society and help the rakshasas become a race marveled at by all others. I have worked tirelessly my entire life to become strong enough to crush any enemies that stand in our way. Even the gods fear me. Lord Shiva, if you allow me to, I can guide our kind and create the largest reaching kingdom Earth of Heaven has ever known." And with that, I sliced off my head. It's funny to remember the faces of my siblings at that moment. How shocked they were that I would lose one of my ten heads for "A fun idea to think about, but nothing that could actually happen" as they put it. After hours of silence, I cried out once again, "Lord Shiva, hear my prayers and accept my offering. I will do thy bidding, but I require blessing!" And I cut off another head. Hours passed, and again I prayed and sacrificed at the altar. My siblings begged me to stop, as over half of my heads were now lying at the foot of the altar. "Lord Shiva!" I cried as I sliced the seventh head from my body. "Dost thou not recognize my power and ambition!" I questioned as I cut the eighth head off. "I will not walk away from my destiny!" I yelled as I cut the ninth head off. Again, silence. I knew that I was being tested, and I raised my blade to my last throat. "I am ready to give everything I have to this cause. I beg of thee, wilt thou bless me?" After another hour of silence, I began to move the blade and cut my last head off, but Brahma appeared and stopped me.
"I hear what you ask," said Brahma, "but I cannot give you immortality. You said it yourself, Ravana. No being dares to challenge you, god or demon. I cannot allow you to be overcome with pride, so I will grant thee this: From this point onward, thou shalt not be slain by any being except a human." With that, Brahma exploded in a cloud of smoke and left me kneeling at the altar. I turned back towards my siblings prepared to travel back to Lanka, but I couldn't stop laughing. I am even laughing now as I remember it. A human? I was given immortality but my only weakness was a human? I killed countless humans as a child, and I have never heard of any demon being slain by a small and weak human. I realized that Lord Shiva didn't want the pride to go to my head so I was given a "weakness," but I knew for a fact that my destiny was permitted because if it weren't, I would have received weakness a bit more intimidating than a mere human. So I woke Kumbhakarna from his nap, and my siblings and I returned home, ready for the next step in my plan.
End of entry
"Except a human," Lakshmana repeated aloud. He quickly turned towards his brother with excitement, but to Lakshmana's surprise Rama was already packing up his things.
"Let's go, Lakshmana. We know we have a fighting chance now. Maybe this Ravana might know where Sita is. Pack your things quickly and bring this journal with. Let us search for an entrance into Lanka," Rama ordered.
Author's Note:
In the previous entry, I chose to discuss the origin of Lanka, the land where Ravana resides. In this entry however, I decided to discuss the beginning of the evil reign of Ravana. Granted, this entry doesn't show too many evil deeds done by our antagonist, but I felt that it was important to show the turning point in Ravana's character. In his early life, Ravana wasn't the evildoer that we know and love, but once he developed his jealousy of his brother Kubera, he fell down the rabbit hole of becoming a super villain. I decided to write about " The Lord of Lanka: The Rise and Fall of a Demon King" and more specifically, the section where Ravana and some of his brothers and sister travel to preform sacrifices. I thought that this section was important to include, as it detailed why Ravana was so powerful that even the gods feared him, but he still died to a human in the Ramayana. I thought this was not only important to us, the reader, but also to Rama and Lakshmana who found this journal. This knowledge of Ravana's weakness is what could have given Rama the courage to travel to Lanka and fight the demon king. I decided to have Ravana pay tribute to Shiva, as Shiva is big part of his life and will likely return in later stories. I also chose to make Kumbhakarna fall asleep while Ravana was sacrificing his heads to play tribute to his character in the Ramayana (I also thought it was quite funny.)
Bibliography:
Ravana and his many heads
