Surya Vamsa, Ravana's lineage and Srilanka's history!!.. Part 2

Now lets look at Ravana's lineage. Much of it is taken from "Uttara Ramayan" where Sage Vishwamitra tells Lord Rama and others about Ravana's lineage.

One of Lord Brahma's sons is Sage Pulasthiyar and his great grandson is Ravana.

Ravana's father Vishravas, had 2 wives, one was Devavarnini whose son is Lord Kubera, the god of wealth.

Long ago, Srilanka was ruled by 3 demon kings Malyavan, Maali and Sumaali. It is told that Lord Vishnu displaced them from throne and they ran for their life. Demon Sumaali's daughter Kaikasi enamored Sage Vishravasa and got 4 kids - Raavanan, Kumbakaranan, Soorpanaka and Vibhishanan.

In Kamba Ramayana, Lord Rama asks Soorpanaka - tell me who are you? and she replies as follows:

பூவிலோன் means Brahma, புதல்வன் means Son, மைந்தன் again means son,  புதல்வி; means daughter..

பூவிலோன் புதல்வன் மைந்தன் 

     புதல்வி; முப்புரங்கள் செற்ற 

சே-வலோன் துணைவன் ஆன செங்கையோன் 

     தங்கை; திக்கின் 

மா எலாம் தொலைத்து, வெள்ளிமலை 

     எடுத்து, உலகம் மூன்றும் 

காவலோன் பின்னை; காமவல்லி ஆம் 

     கன்னி' என்றாள்.

• So Ravanan and Kubera are co-brothers having same father, different mothers.
• Ravana's great grand father (Sage Pulasthiyar) and Lord Rama's first ancestor (Sage Marichi) are brothers. So Lord Rama and Ravana are distant relatives. :).
• Celestial architect Mayan's daughter is Mandodari. Ravana married her, captured Sri lanka and chased out Kubera.
• Mayan was based out of Kumari Kandam aka Lemuria and you can read more about it here.. 

http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.in/2012/01/mahamuni-mayan-was-father-in-law-of.html

This Mayan and South american Mayan with the famous 2012 calander are the same and you can read about it here... http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.in/2012/01/time-space-series-part-13-south.html

• Architect Nalan is the son of Mayan and helped Lord Rama to build the bridge to Sri Lanka.
• Lord Rama takes Vibheshana as a brother along with Guha, Sugreevan. You can see that there is no contradiction and they are designed that way.

That's all about lineage and relationships. Lets come to few info bits on Ravana's history:

• Kubera establishes his kingdom at Srilanka (it is said that there was a mountain called  Trikoota then). It is also told that the country is one of the best designed places and looks lovely like heaven.
• Ravana when born was named as Dasagrivan since he had 10 heads and 20 arms.
• After taking boons he started his demonic activities he troubled the entire universe and became a terror to everyone.
• Then comes the well known story, Dasagrivan reached Kailasa and was trying to lift the mountain but Lord Shiva subdued him. In the process Ravana's hand got stuck under the mountain.
• He writhed in pain and his cry was heard in all the 3 worlds. Lord Shiva pardoned him and named him "Ravanan". Ravanan means one who cries loudly, continuously.
• Ravana was making fun of Nandi Deva's looks just before this event and Nandi Deva cursed him that he shall die fighting the ugly creatures of this world - the monkeys! This is why the devas were born in the form of monkeys! This is Curse No. 1.
• Ravana misbehaved a lady called Vedavathi, daughter of Sage Kusathvajar. Unable to stop Ravana's advances she cursed him that she will kill him in her next life and jumped into fire. This is curse no.2. It is believed that she came as Ma Seetha and if you notice Seetha was not born out of pregnancy but she came out of earth when King Janaka was ploughing.
• Ravana fought with Anaranyan, (king No.6 in Surya Vamsa) one of the ancestors of Lord Rama and killed him in the battle field. While dying the king cursed Ravana that one of the sons of my dynasty shall come and kill you. This is curse no.3.
• Lord Kubera's daughter is Ramba. She was forcefully raped by Ravan despite she begging that she is like his daughter. Ramba's husband NalaKoobaran cursed Raavan that his head shall burst into 7 pieces if he tries to rape any lady / woman without her consent. This is curse no.4.
• Finally, during one of the wars Soorpanaka's husband was killed by Ravana and it is told that Soorpoanaka was bent upon bringing ruins upon Ravana. Read the Kambar's words here... 

நீல மா மணி நிற
     நிருதர் வேந்தனை
மூல நாசம் பெற முடிக்கும்
     மொய்ம்பினாள்,
மேலைநாள் உயிரொடும்
     பிறந்து, தான் விளை
காலம் ஓர்ந்து, உடன் உறை கடிய
     நோய் அனாள்,

This is one of my favorite songs. Kambar describes Soorpanaka as "Like the congenital disease which is born along with us, but waits for the right time", the meaning goes that she came as if she was a congenital disease for Ravana and was bent upon uprooting him. The beauty of this song and the depth of the meaning is simply amazing! You can consider this as Curse no.5

So Ravana's future was firmly linked to his past deeds and the same is true for all of us. These 5 curses would partly explain the questions like why Devas came as monkeys, Why Ravana could not force his way with Seetha or just the number of people who were earnestly waiting for his demise!

We will continue in the next part.

Happy reading!