Having taken the Pushpaka Vimana from his defeated brother, Ravana flew it at his will. But on reaching the region of Saravana, the aircraft came to a halt and would not move further. As Ravana wondered why, Maricha guessed: "Perhaps the Pushpaka would obey the commands only from Kubera?"

While they were discussing this, a Vanara appeared and told Ravana that the area was reserved for Lord Shankara to frolic and to perform his Tandava dance. No one else was allowed there, and Ravana was told to turn back at once and not to bring his arrogance to that place.

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The Vanara who stopped Ravana at Saravana was none other than Nandi, the attendant of Lord Siva, who had taken that form. Ravana laughed at him with contempt and said he would spare his life only because Nandi had a boon from Brahma. Nandi replied: "Since you laughed at me because I am in the form of a Vanara, I curse you. You and your clan will face destruction due to a Vanara. Your death is sure because of the cruelties you have been inflicting on Devas and Brahmanas."

Ravana did not even hear the curse. His mind had already moved on and he was thinking, "Who is this fellow, Shankara?"

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Enraged, Ravana tried to lift Mount Kailasa with his twenty hands and the mountain wobbled. Siva’s attendants were alarmed and Parvati ran to her Lord in fear and embraced him. Shiva pressed the mountain back into place with his toe — crushing Ravana’s hands underneath it. The whole world felt Ravana’s pain, and he realised there was no way out except to please Mahadeva himself. So the penance that followed was directed at Siva, not at Brahma as in his earlier Tapas at Gokarna.

Ravana made a lute out of his own trapped hands and sang Sama hymns, continuing his penance for a thousand years. Siva relented, appeared before him and said: "There is no one as powerful as you in the three worlds! Your voice (Ravam) filled the three worlds, and you will be known as Ravana from now onward." The name Ravana thus comes from Ravam — a roar or a cry that resounds. Shiva gifted him the mighty sword Chandrahasa and assured him that he would face no defeat as long as he kept the Lord in his mind.

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In the forest near the Himalayas, Ravana came upon a beautiful young woman performing austerities in a hermitage. She introduced herself as Vedavati, daughter of Sage Kushadhwaja and granddaughter of Sage Brihaspati, a scholar of the Vedas. Her father had refused all suitors because he wished Lord Madhava to marry her. Vedavati was doing Tapas to obtain Madhava as her husband, and she asked Ravana to leave her alone.

Ravana mocked her, said her Madhava was not as powerful as he was, and caught hold of her by the hair. Her curse came as an outburst: "Since you touched me with the wrong intention, I should be killing you, but I am not doing that, lest I lose continuity of my penance. I am going to leave my body now and I will be born on earth to cause a painful death for you. Your family also will perish with you!" She then entered the fire.

She was born again as Sita Devi — and Rama, whom she sought as Madhava, is Lord Narayana Himself. Ravana’s abduction of Sita was therefore not the beginning of his downfall but the fulfilment of a curse he had earned long before.

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Marutta was a celebrated emperor of ancient times, remembered in the Puranas as a Chakravarti of extraordinary wealth and piety, famous chiefly for the magnificent Yagna he conducted with Samvarta as his chief priest.

When Ravana arrived at this Yagna, the Devas present chose disguise over confrontation. Indra became a peacock, Yama a crow, Varuna a swan and Kubera a lizard. Marutta himself stood his ground and was ready to fight, but Samvarttaka, the chief of the Yagna, ruled that nothing should divert attention before the rite to propitiate Mahadeva was complete. Ravana strutted away believing he had won the argument.

Once he left, the Devas resumed their forms and blessed the creatures whose shapes had sheltered them. Indra told the peacock its feathers would carry charming blue eyes like his own and that it would feel exhilarated when he sent the rains. Yama blessed the crow with freedom from illness and old age — it could die only if killed — and gave it the power to carry food offered to the forefathers. Varuna blessed swans with a stark white colour and a happy life among lotus roots. Kubera blessed the lizard with a golden crown upon its head.

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Kartavirya Arjuna, the thousand-armed king of Mahishmati, felled Prahasta, routed the Rakshasa force and struck Ravana down with his mace. He tied up the unconscious Ravana, sent him to prison and took the sword Chandrahasa. Maricha then suggested approaching Sage Pulastha, Ravana’s grandfather for rescue. Pulastha came to Mahishmati, was received with honour, praised Arjuna and asked for his grandson’s release. Arjuna complied at once, feasted the sage, and returned the sword. Ravana stood with his ten heads lowered in shame, and the Rakshasas left the city as fast as they could.

Picture Credit: Arjuna felling Ravana, Wikimedia Commons

Smarting from the shame of having been freed by his grandfather, Ravana went to Kishkindha looking for someone to defeat. Vali was away completing his daily oblations in all four oceans.

Ravana crept up behind Vali, who was facing the sea. Without turning, Vali twirled his tail around Ravana and tightened the grip. The Rakshasas dared not approach. Vali then went on to the Eastern, Northern and Western seas to finish his rituals, all the while with the king of Lanka dangling from his tail. Back at Kishkindha he ate, rested, and only then remembered the creature hanging behind him. Ravana admitted it was his karma, sought friendship, and the two entered a pact with Agni as witness — Kishkindha and Lanka being, as he put it, quite compatible. We all know how Rama later killed this mighty Vanara king with a single arrow to protect dharma in the world.

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Narada visited Lanka and was received with honour. He told Ravana that killing human beings — already subject to illness, old age and death — earned him nothing but needless sin. Ravana took the point readily and declared he would fight the Rakshasas of Patala and the Devas instead. Narada then observed that the road to Patala passes through Yama’s realm, and Yama would never permit it. Ravana said he will win over Yama as the first business.

Narada then proceeds to meet Yama to warn him. Narada’s counsel was true on its face — the killing of ordinary humans was indeed pointless sin — but its effect was to point Ravana’s arrogance at Death itself.

Picture Credit: The court of Yama, Wikimedia Commons