Raavan In The World Of Tamils

In the immortal epic Kamba Ramayana, there is a wonderful poem which starts with the words 바카라�Vendrilan Enra Pothum (even though I haven바카라�t won)바카라�. In this poem, Raavan tells his son Indrajit, who pleads with him to leave Sita, that he may not win the war, but his name will stand as long as the name of Ram stands, which is supposed to last as long as the Vedas last.

Raavan is right.

Every time the name of Ram is invoked, the demon with 10 heads springs to our mind. Such is the power of his character. Like Milton바카라�s Satan, Raavan sets himself against God. Like Satan, who says, 바카라�That glory never shall his wrath or might/Extort from me/To bow and sue for grace/With suppliant knee, and deify his power...,바카라� Raavan too doesn바카라�t want to bow before Ram. A study of the evolution of Raavan, especially in the Tamil literary world, where he was first introduced as a callous demon without any sensibilities but, as time passed on, acquired several exceedingly human dimensions, makes fascinating reading.

Raavan in the Sangam Age

The connection between the Ramayana and Tamil is almost as old as the extant Tamil literature itself. Sangam poems, written about 2,000 years ago, speak about the Ramayana and Raavan. He is called 바카라�Valithakai Arakkan바카라�바카라�the most powerful rakshasa (demon). Later in Chilappadikaram, written about 1,500 years ago, the storming of the fortress Lanka and its destruction are mentioned.

Raavan and the Tamil Bhakti Saints

When the Bhakti movement prospered in the Tamil country, Ramayana stories became extremely popular. Raavan, naturally, was the favourite villain, whose destruction is gleefully mentioned in several poems of the Vaishnavite Alwars. Andal, the female poet, for instance, says, 바카라�He severed the heads of the cruel Rakshasa and killed him. We sing of his glory.바카라� On the other hand, the Saiva saints like Appar and Sambandar emphasise that Raavan is a great devotee of Shiva. They not only mention his incredible feat of lifting Mount Kailash and Shiva effortlessly crushing him in several poems, but also speak about Shiva being extremely pleased with his devotion바카라�his knowledge of the Vedas and the skill he displayed at playing the veena. Raavan바카라�s feat made Parvati hug her husband, Shiva, in fright. Shiva, of course, was delighted. He presented Raavan with a splendorous sword. In the iconography of Tamil Nadu, Ravananugraha murti (Shiva who blesses Raavan) starts appearing from the 8th century CE onwards and today there is hardly any Shiva temple in Tamil Nadu which doesn바카라�t have the sculptural depiction of Raavan lifting the Kailash.

Kamban바카라�s Raavan

When we read Kamban, who prospered in the 12th century CE, we find that the few centuries that separate the Tamil Bhakti saints from him have transformed Raavan and made him almost unrecognisable. He is still the demon and he is still the person who lusts after another person바카라�s wife, but he is very much more. In Kamban바카라�s glorious verses, he is a great warrior, a stupendous scholar, a loving father, husband and brother, and an incomparable King whose city of Lanka rivals the city of Indira in its splendour. Hence, his fall, when it comes, is also mighty and worthy of a great hero. V. V. S. Aiyar (1881-1925), the great freedom fighter, describes his fall in his book Kamba Ramayanam바카라�A Study: 바카라�The holy dart of Raghava did drink his three crore years of mortal life, and all the strength of his austerities; It quenched the blessing Brahma bestowed on him that none should have the power to conquer him바카라� So ended the hero of a thousand battles, the most valiant hero excepting Rama that epic poetry has ever created or sung바카라�바카라� And even after he has fallen, the poet would say: 바카라� 바카라�but the hero바카라�s face/Even at that awful moment wore a look of majesty, surpassing far the splendour/Even of days when saints and Rishis had/To flee for safety from his oppressive rule.바카라�

바카라�Mayil Raavanan바카라�

As the story of the Ramayana began to be told and retold, it reached every village of the Tamil country and stirred the imagination of the folktale creators. One such creation is the story of 바카라�Mayil Raavanan바카라�. It was not clear when it was written, but there is evidence that cheap editions of this story were circulating right from the 19th century CE, when printing became common. Mayil Raavanan is the cousin of Raavan and rules the netherworld. When the war is fully on and when defeat stares at the face of Raavan, Mayil Raavanan kidnaps Ram and Lakshman and sets out to offer them as sacrifices to Kali. Hanuman comes to know of this plot and reaches the netherworld. After several twists and turns, he kills Mayil Ravanan and brings back Ram and Lakshman to earth. The battle with Raavan resumes. This story has a delectable twist. Hanuman, who considers himself a bachelor, learns to his surprise that he has a son by the name of Macchavallabhan in the netherworld!

Raavan in the Last Two Centuries

In 19th century Tamil Nadu, the rivalry between the Brahmins and the upper caste non-Brahmin Vellalas, who upheld the Saiva Siddhanta, became acute. Professor P Sundram Pillai (1855-1897), a noted Tamil Vellala scholar, was among the first to express the cultural separateness and originality of the Dravidians. He wrote several articles pleading the cause of the Dravidians and held that there was a period in great antiquity, when the native Dravidian religion (read Saiva Siddhanta) was alone in vogue, and the first foreign influence brought to bear upon the Dravidian worship was that of the Vedic religion. From 1880 onwards, many Vellala scholars began to postulate that the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy was superior to the Vedic teachings. Naturally, Raavan, who was a great devotee of Shiva, caught their attention. M. S. Purnalingam Pillai brought out a book in 1928 titled Ravana the Great; King of Lanka. What sort of a king was he? Let us hear Pillai바카라�s own words: 바카라�The ten faced and twenty-armed Ravana was apparently a very intelligent and valiant hero, a cultured and civilized ruler, knew the Vedas and was an expert musician. He took away Sita according to the Tamilian mode of warfare, had her in the Asoka woods accompanied by his own niece, and would not touch her without her consent.바카라� According to him, Raavan was a physical and intellectual giant, a great administrator, leader of men and a man of his word. Pillai바카라�s Ram, on the other hand, had his specks and he lacked courage and faltered in crises. He says that the various interpretations of the myth of Ram do not affect the historical character of Raavan and that the Dravidians look upon him as a mighty hero and a monarch and, importantly, a fearless 바카라�resister바카라� of the Aryan aggressions in south India.

Periyar바카라�s Raavan

It will not be a surprise to anyone that Raavan was a great hero to Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (1879-1973). He wrote several articles on the Ramayana during his long life denigrating the Aryan 바카라�perfidy바카라� and the Dravidian 바카라�valour바카라�, especially Raavan바카라�s valour. On August 7, 1966, he wrote an article in Viduthalai titled Ramayana in which he made many scurrilous remarks on the Ramayana. But the most shocking of all was that Sita willingly submitted to Raavan and was impregnated by him. He repeated these remarks many times thereafter.

Pulavar Kuzhanthai바카라�s 바카라�Raavana Kavya바카라�

Periyar바카라�s broadsides on the Ramayana inspired many of his admirers to deconstruct the Ramayana. One such major attempt was Pulavar Kuzhanthai바카라�s (1906-1972) Ravana Kavya, which was published in 1946. Kuzhanthai바카라�s main villains are, of course, the main 바카라�Aryan바카라� characters of the Ramayana, but his total contempt is reserved for Kamban for having been a toady of Aryans! He calls Kamban an ideologue of lies, crimes and slavery. It was Kamban who spread the Aryan deception and the unimaginably ugly Aryan speech. The Aryans, Pulavar depicts in his Kavya, are meat-eaters, drunkards and womanisers, while the Dravidians are gentle vegetarians. The characters of his Kavya are consequently transposed. Ram is cowardly and demonic while Raavan is pure, noble and heroic. His book was banned by the government in 1948, but it was lifted in 1971.

Bharati바카라�s Raavan

Not many people know that Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) wrote a spoof on the Ramayana called The Horns of the Horse. The story is told to a king called Reevana by a narrator named Pandit Crooked Face. Reevana wants to know why horses have no horns and the pandit tells a long story which is a sort of a reverse Ramayana. In it, Shurpanaka disfigures Lakshman. Ram abducts Sita. He is also not the eldest and he doesn바카라�t want his elder brother Bharat to be crowned. The pandit tells the king that the horses indeed had horns, but when Raavan heard that Ram was invading Lanka, he laughed so loud that it caused Surya바카라�s horses to lose their horns. Raavan, therefore, ordered Brahma to create henceforth horses without horns and that is the reason why horses nowadays are without horns!

Others on Raavana

One of the scholarly books on Raavan was written by A. S. Gnanasambandan (1916-2002) in 1948. The book바카라�s title was Ravanan Matchiyum Vizhchiyum바카라�The Tragedy of Ravana. In this book, the author seeks to convey that as long as Raavan used his good qualities for greater public good, he was revered by all and his fall came about only because he chose to use his enormous talents for nefarious purposes. He says Raavan realised his mistake when he was about to die and his death was a great tragedy for mankind.

Conclusion

The portrayal of Raavan in the Tamil country has evolved over the last 2,000 years. In spite of the Dravidian aberrations, the image an ordinary Tamil carries about him is that of an extraordinarily accomplished person coming to an inglorious end because of his irrational passion for a woman who detests him. As always, ordinary people do catch the essence of our epics without much effort.

(Views expressed are personal)

P A Krishnan is a renowned writer in tamil and english

(This appeared in the print as 'In The World of Tamils')