Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik: 3 Read online

  We mostly hear of Ravana’s stories in association with Rama. Are there other stories?

  There are several. These are not very popular but are found in the Uttara Ramayana. Ravana battles with the strong monkeys Sugriva and Vali who defeat him, tie him up with his tail and drag him to Kishkinda. There’s another character called Kartavirya Arjuna who has 100 hands with which he makes a dam to stop the flow of water. In a battle, he defeats Ravana. Vali is defeated by Rama and Kartavirya Arjuna by Parashurama who is then defeated by Rama. Whoever defeats Ravana is defeated by Rama. This shows that Rama was a greater warrior than Ravana.

  Ravana tries to convince Sita to become his queen. He tells her he loves her and would shower her with all his wealth and prosperity. When Sita refuses, he gets angry and says she would never be able to meet Rama without his permission. No one will be able to enter or leave Lanka without his saying so. He says, ‘I am being good by behaving nicely with you.’ Sita scoffs at him and says, ‘Kidnapping a woman is hardly civilized behaviour.’ Ravana tells her that he could easily drag her to a mandap and marry her by force, but he would rather she did so willingly. He could easily have destroyed her beauty that had so attracted him.

  Did Ravana ill-treat Sita?

  No. In the story, he keeps her by force in his house, in Ashoka Vatika, but never abuses her physically. There are many reasons for this. He was cursed that if he were to touch a woman against her will, his head would burst. Another story says that Sita keeps a blade of grass and tells him that if he were to cross that, he would die. So there are many boundaries. In Kamba Ramayana, Ravana falls in love with her and wants her to come to him willingly. That would be the ultimate victory for his ego. In a way, Sita’s heart is a battlefield for him, one to defeat Rama. He does not win here also. He has everything—wealth, power and good looks for which even married women abandon their husbands—and yet it’s not enough. Saam, daam, danda, bhed (negotiation, bribery, force, division)—nothing works. He even uses magic and shows Sita Rama’s head and says he’s dead, hoping that she’ll then come to him. But she turns him down again as she is a pativrata. That hurts his ego. This is to show the psychological battle of egos in tandem with the physical war against Rama. The people, though, don’t believe Sita. When she returns to Ayodhya, they raise doubts about her character, showing society’s dark side. In a way, Ravana destroys Sita’s life.

  Rama is said to feel repentant after he defeats Ravana. Why?

  Karma is karma after all. Even if you are a Kshatriya and have killed your wife’s kidnapper, violence is violence. Moreover, Ravana is a Brahmin. In India, Brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmin) is supposed to be a paap (sin). In ancient times, knowledge was not written down. You had to learn the shastras by heart, which the Brahmins did. To kill a Brahmin was like burning down a library. It was a sin because all knowledge would be lost. This was a kind of protection for them. Rama was guilty of this sin too. He was a Kshatriya, hence lower down in the caste system than Ravana. In the story, Rama asks for forgiveness for killing a Brahmin. By killing the negative side, the positive side has been affected. There’s a famous folk story in which Rama tells Lakshmana to go and acquire knowledge from Ravana because when a man dies, his knowledge dies with him too. When Lakshmana goes to him, he is turned away. Lakshmana tells Rama that Ravana is too egoistical to share his knowledge. Rama asks him where he was standing when he asked; was it at his head or feet? When Lakshmana says head, Rama scolds him and says, ‘How do you expect to gain knowledge by standing anywhere except at the feet of your guru? He may be a villain, but our enmity is now over. He is now a guru from whom we want knowledge.’ Rama sits at Ravana’s feet and says, ‘I have defeated a villain but I respect Vishrava’s son, so please give me your knowledge before you die.’ Ravana breaks down and says, ‘I realize your greatness now. My ego did not let me see this till now.’ He gives him one piece of wisdom—that in life, evil attracts us and we run away from goodness. The backstory is that Vishnu lives in Vaikuntha which has two sentries—Jaya and Vijaya—who are cursed to be born as rakshasas on earth. Ravana is one of them. By killing Ravana Rama is doing his uddhar (upliftment) so that he can return to Vaikuntha. More knowledge gives a story a different perspective. It’s about more than just a hero, Rama, killing a villain, Ravana. In fact, Ravana shows viparita bhakti (‘paradoxical’ devotion). He is a sentry asking Rama to release him from his rakshasa life and to force him, he abducts Sita. It’s not lust that drives him; it’s a form of bhakti. If you see it from another point of view, the same story seems different. This is a very important wisdom from the Puranas. In the light of eternal knowledge, Ravana has negative and positive qualities. He is a bhakt, dwarpal, Lankapati—but despite all his knowledge of the Vedas and his devotion to Shiva, he does not see that Rama is a god. Rama does not hate anybody. He watches calmly as Ravana’s ego-driven actions create a big saga that is the Ramayana.

  I’ve heard that there are many Ravana temples in south India. Is this true?

  Ravana is a veer so he is worshipped. There are small temples in Madhya Pradesh (Ravangram Ravana Temple), Uttar Pradesh (the Ravana temple in Bisrakh) and Rajasthan (Jodhpur Ravana Temple). Some communities claim a relationship with Ravana and believe that Mandodari was their daughter; some believe they are his descendants. There are some Shiva temples believed to have been established by Ravana—Gokarna Temple in Karnataka and Kakinada Temple in Andhra Pradesh. These have Ravana idols. In fact, Shiva temples always have an image of Ravana because he was a bhakt. We should learn from the story of Ravana that one may be educated and capable but still foolish. We don’t respect women. When a woman says she’s not interested, she’s not giving you consent. So no matter how much you love her, you should let her go. Let her live her life. The Ramayana is trying to say that the Ravana inside us, who does not listen to women, should be burnt.

  13

  Khajuraho Temples

  Khajuraho is always associated with erotic sculptures. These temples are cited as examples to show how broad-minded and progressive Indian culture is. What is the meaning of Khajuraho? Has it been taken from the word ‘khajur’ (date palm)?

  Yes. Three possible meanings are ascribed. It is said that there used to be gold date palms here. Some say it is related to the scorpion which was associated with Shiva especially in tantric puja and some mischievous ones say it is a metaphor for male sexual desire.

  When were the Khajuraho temples built?

  The temples are 1000 years old. It must have taken 300–400 years to build them during the period from the ninth to the twelfth century. In India, houses were made of mud. So upon destruction they merged with the earth. Devalaya or the house of god was made of stone and only that is now left behind.

  Whose temples are these?

  There are three or four groups of temples. The biggest temple is called Kandariya Mahadeva. It is a Shiva temple inside a cave. There’s a Vishnu temple, Ganesha temple, Surya temple, Chausath Yogini Temple of Shakt parampara and also temples of Jain parampara.

  Jains were mostly sanyasis. But Khajuraho is generally associated with erotic sculptures. Why?

  Today, we separate the erotic and the ascetic aspects of life. We never did that earlier. Our shastras said that to give life meaning, we need to consider many aspects. The purusarthas (goals of human life) were dharma, artha, kama and moksha. In Jainism, moksha has been given a lot of importance, so they have many idols of meditating monks but there are also idols of dancing girls and sculptures depicting music and dance because they understood that there are all kinds of people in the world. Jainism has both the Shravan and Shramak paramparas—one who has given up life and one who lives in society. So there’s always acknowledgement of the other. In Hinduism, bhog–vilas becomes the central theme where dharma, artha, kama and moksha are all given equal importance. At Khajuraho, sure, there are many erotic sculptures, but maybe one in ten. Why are temples built? For the Jains, the devalaya is for the Tirthankaras. A temple is a symbol of Brahmanda w