Kalidas
said “उत्सवप्रिया: खलु मनुष्याः” means all
people love festivals because the celebrations enable them to forget their
miseries and enmity and build new bridges of love and friendship. Festivals
have been around for ages, it gives us relief from our day to day life. It
gives sense of relief & rejuvenation to people suffering for stress. There
is no doubt that we like our festival to be fun & full of enjoyment. If heart
of festivals is fun & enjoyment, soul of the festival would be its
capability to teach us philosophy of life. Celebrations of festivals are done
by all cultures around the world. Preservation of heritage values is one of the
outcomes of festival celebration.
It’s fashionable by one section of our society to
criticise and degenerate our festivals. With advent of social media voice of
such degeneration and ridicule has been amplified. Social media has also given
voice to counter such mindless ridicule of our festivals & deities. But at
the same time there is lot of dogmas which we have in our festival, which our society
has been following without having critical review. Mindless vulgar Bollywood songs
used to celebrate Govinda, Ganpati Visarsan, Navratri or holi is just demeaning
to idea of this individual festivals.
Tomorrow we are going to celebrate Vijayadashmi
or Dussehra. We celebrate the victory of good over evil. There is much
significance of this day. However I would like to talk about Victory of Rama
over Ravana. Tomorrow I expect people to start circulate joke on Rama and
Ravana. Like there will be many jokes coming to your inbox, whatsapp, email
etc. Some of the jokes will try to make hero out of Ravana and make Ram
villain. Usual suspects, including so called feminists might declare their love
for Ravana and hatred for Rama.
In the same of sarcasm and humor, some of us
would like to peddle lie and make hero out of ‘Ancient Pervert’ Ravana.
रावण के १० सर, २० आखें, पर नज़र एक ही लड़की पर,
आपका एक सर, दो आँखे, पर नजर हर लड़की पर,
अब बताओ असली रावण कौन?
I have no issues with second line of the joke,
may be intention of the joke is to do introspect and change the way we look at
the women. Yes we should change the way we look at women and make India better
place in terms of women safety. However I have problem with propagating lie,
which is to say Ravana was only committed to one woman. With my limited knowledge
I have tried to find some reference to perversity of Ravana.
Ancient Pervert ‘Ravana’
There are many stories and
sources about Ravana, from most authentic source as Valmiki Ravana to various other puranas. I
have reproduced some of reference of Valmiki Ramayana and some of the known texts in this posts. Valmiki Ramayana projects
Ravana as most pervert guy. Let us start with his conversation with Sita in
Lanka, where he tries to persuade Sita to marry him. Ravana while trying to
reason with Sita in Sunderkand says
"O
one with fear! Obtaining women belonging to others or abducting by force is the
righteous deed for ogres by all means. There is no doubt in this."
Will any of the
self-respecting women accept a guy like Ravana? I guess answer will be quite
clear. I don’t think so even by todays context such guys deserves to be hero.
Let us look at some women,
apart from Sita, who became victim of Ravana. Valmiki Ramayana and Uttar kand
has references of perversion of Ravana.
Vedvati was daughter of Kushdhwaj. It has been
described in Uttar kand that Vedvati was quite brilliant and beautiful lady. At
very young age she started vedic recitation. Ravana out of impulse of lust
first proposed marriage, but when vedvati refused his proposal, he raped her. Vedvati
could not bear this transgression on her mind and body, hence Vedvati burned
herself. But she cursed Ravana that she will be cause of Ravana’s death. It is
also said that Vedvati was reborn as Sita.
Punjisthala
In Yuddha kand(Valmiki
Ramayana), when one of rakshasha “Mahaparsva” provokes Ravana to rape Sita. This is what
Ravana said in
महापार्श्व निबोध त्वम्
रहस्यम् किंचिदात्मनः
|
चिरवृत्तम् तदाख्यास्ये यदवाप्तम् पुरा मया || ६-१३-१०
चिरवृत्तम् तदाख्यास्ये यदवाप्तम् पुरा मया || ६-१३-१०
“O, Mahaparsva! Know a little secret
about me. I shall tell you an incident, which occurred to me long ago."
पितामहस्य भवनम् गच्चन्तीम्
पुञ्जिकस्थलाम् |
चञ्चूर्यमाणामद्राक्षमाकाशेऽग्निशिखामिव || ६-१३-११
चञ्चूर्यमाणामद्राक्षमाकाशेऽग्निशिखामिव || ६-१३-११
"Once I saw a celestial nymph,
Punjikasthala (by name) flashing like a flame, concealing herself in the sky
and proceeding towards the abode of Brahma."
सा
प्रसह्य मया भुक्ता कृता विवसना
ततः |
स्वयम्भूभवनम् प्राप्ता लोलिता नलिनी यथा || ६-१३-१२
स्वयम्भूभवनम् प्राप्ता लोलिता नलिनी यथा || ६-१३-१२
"She was made unclothed by me
and was enjoyed forcibly. Thereafter, appearing like a crumpled lotus, she went
to the abode of Brahma."
तच्च
तस्य तदा मन्ये
ज्ञातमासीन्महात्मनः |
अथ सम्कुपितो वेधा मामिदम् वाक्यमब्रवी || ६-१३-१३
अथ सम्कुपितो वेधा मामिदम् वाक्यमब्रवी || ६-१३-१३
"I think that the matter was
made known to the high soled Brahama and then the enraged Brahma spoke to me
the following words:”
अद्यप्रभृति यामन्याम् बलान्नारीम्
गमिष्यसि |
तदा ते शतधा मुर्धा फलिष्यति न संशयः || ६-१३-१४
तदा ते शतधा मुर्धा फलिष्यति न संशयः || ६-१३-१४
"From today onwards, if you
revel with any other woman forcibly, your head then undoubtedly will break
asunder into a hundred pieces."
इत्यहम् तस्य शापस्य
भीतः प्रसभमेव
ताम् |
नारोहये बलात्सीताम् वैदेहीम् शय्ने शुभे || ६-१३-१५
नारोहये बलात्सीताम् वैदेहीम् शय्ने शुभे || ६-१३-१५
"Fearing the curse given in
this manner by Brahama, I am not violently making Sita the daughter of Videha,
to mount on my beautiful bed forcibly."
Curse by
Brahma was main reason why he could not rape Sita. Curse was given by Brahma
because he was serial rapist/offender. I will not talk about whether punishment
given by Brahma is appropriate or not, because that’s not point I want to
highlight here.
Rambha[4]
Rambha was one of apasara,
who also was raped by Ravana. Rambha was wife of Nal Kuber. Nal Kuber was son
of Kuber. Kuber and Ravana were step brothers. Rambha pleaded before Ravana he
should spare her because she is was his daughter in law. However Ravana went on
with his perverted act and he raped her. It is also said that Nal Kuber also
cursed Ravana.
Vaidyanath
Jyotirling Story[5]
Ravana got jyotirling as
ashirwad from lord shiva, he wanted to take this jyotirling back home in lanka.
Condition of giving jyotirling by lord shiva was that jyortirling should not
keep on earth. Once it is kept on earth no power in universe can remove it from
that place. While on journey he wanted to urinate, at that time lord ganesha came
in garb of shepherd and offered him help. Ganesha informed him that he can
carry ling but he will call for Ravana if Jyotirling becomes too heavy for him
to hold. He will call for Ravana three times. If Ravana will not appear after
three call, Ganesha will put down jyotirling on mother earth. Ravana agreed
with this and went for urination. On the bank of river he sees beautiful Bhil lady
and here again he goes after Bhil Lady and pursues her. While Ravana enjoying
Bhil lady at the bank of river, Ganesha shouts his name three times and put
Jyotirling at Vaidyanath. Thus we have one of the Jyotirling at Vaidyanath.
Summary
There are more proof/references
in Valmiki Ramayana and other puranas that Ravana was indeed pervert and
rapist. While I agree that current onslaught of assault on women’s dignity and
honour must stop. But making hero out of Ravana for rape jokes and Dushera
wishes we are making irony of our ignorance and idiocy.
Festival are meant to celebrate
our heritage, we owe our next generation to pass on the festivals which were
celebrated by our forefathers in its original and pious form. We have to stop
pollution which is taking away original intent and joy of celebration.
I hope this Dussehrra
brings victory of good/truth over evil/ignorance.
विजयादशमी की हार्दिक सुभेच्छा
