Most of the people who have read Kambaramayana or have heard the story of Ramayana in Tamil tend to believe that Ravana was a true Dravidan King. That being the case after Dravidian movement many people felt, Ravana was wronged and killed by Rama an Aryan King. So how true is the Aryan- Dravidian conflict in Ramayana ? Why did Kamban introduce such conflict of cultures in his work? This essay is intended to probe through the two questions and try to present the answer.
To analyze this subject we should understand some important events in history of Tamil Nadu. The essay would first discuss the moral and ethical rules of indigenous traditions of Tamil Nadu and of the northern Brahmanical religion. Then the essay would focus on the conflict of interest between the two orders(indigenous and northern traditions) and formation of new order which has prevailed till this day. Then the essay would analyze how Kamban has used history of Tamil Nadu in his work and what modifications he has made to the Sanskrit Ramayana.
Maram and Aram :
I would like to quote a very important poem from Purananuru.
362. உடம்பொடுஞ் சென்மார்!
பாடியவர்: சிறுவெண்டேரையார்
திணை: பொதுவியல் துறை: பெருங்காஞ்சி
ஞாயிற்றுஅன்ன ஆய்மணி மிடைந்த
மதியுறழ் ஆரம் மார்பில் புரளப்,
பலிபெறு முரசம் பாசறைச் சிலைப்பப்,
பொழிலகம் பரந்த பெருஞ்செய் ஆடவர்
செருப்புகன்று எடுக்கும் விசய வெண்கொடி
அணங்குஉருத் தன்ன கணங்கொள் தானை,
கூற்றத் தன்ன மாற்றரு முன்பன்,
ஆக்குரல் காண்பின் அந்த ணாளர்
நான்மறை குறித்தன்று அருளாகா மையின்
அறம்குறித் தன்று; பொருளா குதலின்
மருள் தீர்ந்து, மயக்கு ஒரீஇக்,
கைபெய்த நீர் கடற் பரப்ப,
ஆம் இருந்த அடை நல்கிச்,
சோறு கொடுத்து, மிகப் பெரிதும்
வீறுசான் நன்கலம் வீசி நன்றும்,
சிறுவெள் என்பின் நெடுவெண் களரின்,
வாய்வன் காக்கை கூகையடு கூடிப்
பகலும் கூவும் அகலுள் ஆங்கண்,
காடுகண் மறைத்த கல்லென் சுற்றமொடு
இல்என்று இல்வயின் பெயர ; மெல்ல
இடஞ்சிறிது ஒதுங்கல் அஞ்சி,
உடம்பொடும் சென்மார், உயர்ந்தோர் நாட்டே,
Purananuru 362
Across their chest the necklaces are swaying as if they were
Half moons inlaid with the choice gems which resemble suns!
The royal drum to which sacrifices are offered resounds
Within the camp and throughout the army on that multitudes that looks
as if Anangu has been provoked – the white flags of victory raised up
high in lust for war, the warriors whose feet are monumental
spreading across the earth ! Brahmins listen to the uproar
produced by the assault, its force as hard to withstand as death himself!
This has nothing to do with four Vedas ! this not the matter
for Arul(mercy). It has nothing to with Aram(righteousness) but rather Porul(acquisition)!
Abandoning bewilderment, throwing delusion aside,
giving away lovely towns surrounded by paddy fields,
so that the ritual water flows down like the ocean
from their hands, giving away heaps of cooked rice,
giving away finely fashioned ornaments because they feel sure
that they should not stay at home where the chatter
of their relations obscures the existence of burning ground-
that broad place where on the wan ,salty earth stretching out and covered
with tiny white bones, the strong voice crow and owl shriek
even in the broad day light - they slip away to escape from home,
fearful of being confined to this
small world,so that they may reach heaven with their very bodies!
Poet: Ciruventaraiyar
Translated by George L Hart
Here the poet addresses to a group of Brahmins. Brahmins were the representative of new order (Aram- Dharma). He describes that the soldiers of the king were ferocious in battle and would seek death in battle so that they can attain the paradise after their death rather than live in this world. The most important lines of the poem are‘Brahmins listen to the uproar produced by the assault, its force as hard to withstand as death himself!This has nothing to do with four Vedas ! this not the matter for Arul(mercy). It has nothing to with Aram(righteousness) but rather Porul(acquisition)!’. These lines show that the people of Tamil Nadu had indigenous moral and ethical codes which were different from Brahmanical Dharma.
The Tamilians followed the code of Maram . Maram is often translated as ‘Martial Courage’. The aim of every man was to die in the war. If a person died in war it was believed to be a good death and it was believed he would reach the Paradise after his death. To die in a bed was considered as bad death. So if any King died in bed, people would cut the dead body into pieces with swords, as they believed only if a person died by sword, they would reach the paradise. This practice was performed even on dead children and new borns. To the Tamil people, war and agriculture was nearly the same. Agriculture was practice or art of cultivating food which to feed man to live. War was sport /art which helped to feed man to attaining the higher objective of reaching the paradise. War was a duty, for every king /soldier/man wanted to die in a battle. No solider worries that he has killed a person in battle for he has helped the dead solider do his duty and also helped him reach the paradise.
On the other hand Aram is often translated as righteousness. It means ‘order of the world’. Aram – Dharma is connected with Brahmins and upper class land non militant landholders who believed in four Vedas.
During Sangam era, the land was divided into self sufficient food producing units called Naatus. Each had its own army and a chieftain/king. There were constant wars between these Naatus. Most of the time these war was not waged to acquire or conquer the land and rather the victorious king just wanted his supremacy to be acknowledged, hence just wanted the defeated king to pay him tribute. The kings and soldiers were expected to fight with bravery and reckless disregard of death. There were no big empires though Chera ,Chola and Pandiyas had bigger share of land. For the people, King was the most supreme person and a connection between the divine world and this world. King had loyal followers who would take their life to save him. Religion and state were never combined.
An important change happened in the North which influenced history of India thereafter.
The Guptas were the ruling dynasty in the North India. The Guptas called themselves devotees of god. They took name of gods(Skanda Gupta,Kumara Gupta etc). They inscribed Varaha(boar) and Lakshmi in their coins. They made mythology a state concern and enlisting Vishnu and his heroic incarnations for their politics. The Guptas sponsored god and they almost believed god sponsored their kingdom. Not only were the first Hindu temples built and first Hindu icons were sculptured during this period but the official forms of Hindu myth were put down during this period. By end of 5th century each god had his/her own family, minions and enemies like a real human dynasty. Skanda the warrior god, one of the favorite gods of the Guptas was integrated to the family of Shiva and Krishna as a god with his own legends and sub cults also developed in Gupta Period.
The religion and the State were now integrated and dependent on each other.
This was situation in North India when Pallavas came to the South. Pallavas were the first empire builders in Tamil Nadu. They wanted to have a stable rule, unlike the prevalent conditions in Tamil Nadu where each Naatu was waging war against another one constantly. The Pallavas wanted to remove the chieftains and armies out of the Natus as the Chieftains always waged war and caused insecurity to their Kingdom. So the Pallavas transferred their land which they conquered from chieftains to non militant landlords or Brahmins. Sanskrit, Brahmins and temples were part of imperial designs of Pallavas. The Sanskrit language gave much needed dignity and resonance to the upstart kings , Brahmans blessed and legitimized them and also gave genealogy to them if they lacked one. Temples and towns assured the presence of the king and his patronage to the popular religion and deity. All three of them were related with god. The Pallavas followed the model of Guptas in integrating religion and state.
The same model was followed by the upper caste non Brahmin land lords. They allied themselves with the Brahmins and adopt a Hindu life style. They patronized the central king of the big kingdom and in return gets protection from war waging chieftains.
In later Pallava period and Chola period the land was directly given to the Brahmins and Brahmins were the landlords. In later period the lands were donated to the Temples and all domestic works like digging tanks and wells and irrigation was taken care of the Temple administration. The power of chieftains was slowly and steadily removed.
Kamban and his Ravana:
Kamban was a poet well versed in Sangam poetry and Vaishnava Bakthi literature Divya prabandam. He has portrayed the character of Ravana as an Ideal Tamil king of the old order. His main concern is power and he is prepared to go to any extent to preserve it. He has a great army which can never be conquered and he himself is a great warrior in war.
He is perfect king and everything is in order till he sees his sister mutilated. The only possible mistake Ravana committed was his live sickness towards Sita whom he seized by carrying a portion of ground (by Tamil ethics one wasn’t supposed to touch an unwilling women). Now Ravana’s perfect world is challenged by Rama who is representative of Dharma and the god himself. Finally Rama defeats Ravana and Dharma prevails all over the world defeating the old order.
Kamban models the character of Rama based on the life of kings during the Sangam age and what ever indigenous Tamil elements which he feels doesn’t fit into notion of Dharma he assigns it to Ravana and he assigns all characteristics of Dharma and associated northern elements of Hinduism to Rama. He includes many of the philosophies reflected by Nammalvar’s poem. One of them being that god was not only source of good but also source of evil. So the imperfect acts of Rama are just play by god which sets off sequence of events so that at the end of the play Dharma prevails.
The power of Kamban’s Ravana makes most of us forget , Ravana was a Brahmin by birth.Ravana was born to the Brahmin father and Daitya mother. He was half brother of lord of wealth Kuberan. Kamban’s words make us believe Ravana was a true Dravidian king.
Kamban’s Ravana and Dravidian movement:
After the start of Dravidian movement, most of the Dravidian leaders questioned the work of Kamban. They felt Ravana was the true hero for the work and was unjustly defeated by Aryan forces who felt jealous about the much superior Dravidian culture. The also criticized the character of Rama who had various moral fallicies(eg. his behavior towards Sita after rescuing her, killing of Vali etc.). A Tamil poet Kulanthai Pulavar composed an epic ‘Iravanan Kapiyam’ where Ravana was the hero of the epic. R.S.Manohar a popular theatre person also made a very popular stage play titled ‘Lankeswaran’ where Ravana was the hero of the Drama. He also went on to make that stage play as a movie with same title, with Rajesh as the Ravana and Revathi as Sita.
There are so many versions of Ramayana and Kamban’s is a popular one, since he has adopted the story from North to typical characteristics of South, taking elements from Sangam and Bakthi literature.
It is said there were 11 Ravana found in Sinhalese history such as Nala Ravana, Manu ravana, Punu ravana and Dasis Ravana. The most famous Ravana is the king who fought with Indian hindu prince Rama. He is called Dasis Ravana which means the king with 10 great talents. The Dasis Ravana lived lived nearly 5000years ago in Sri Lanka. He was a descendant of Surya Wansha and Hela Raskshasa tribe. (Ancient Sinhalese tribe) He was one of the best fighters in Angampora, the traditional martial arts of ancient Sinhale.
King Dasis Ravana was a great Scholar in Ayurvedic medicine. He was the person who invented Arka Shastra. The book Arka Prakshaya reveals this truth to the present world. As his willing to research in Ayurvedic medicine he wrote several books revealing the cures for many diseases. In one book he wrote “Eating beef cause to infect ninety eight new diseases to human beings. The book “Kumara Tantraya” which reveals the treatments for infant diseases was written by him accepting the request of his pregnant queen Mandodari.
He has children and the eldest one was Indrajith also known as Meghanada who followed his father’s steps. There are some hints in Sri Lankan rock inscriptions about the daughter of king Dasis Ravana.
King Ravana’s kingdom was Lankapura. The kingdom is almost disappeared today. But If you keen on Sri Lankan folklore and ola manuscripts there you can find some remaining sites of Lankapura today known as Seegiriya and Trincomalee.
King Ravana invented the bow of Violin. He also narrated very first Ragas, the musical compositions of Eastern classical music known as Lanka Dehena and Sinhala. Siva thandawa is one of the great devotional compositions done by him, which is still being in use in India.
He was the first king flew over the world with his aero plane, known as Dandumonaraya or Vimanaya, Kashtawahana.
Some evidence of Dandumonaraya the aeroplane is found in Rock inscriptions, Jataka Stories and Ola manuscripts. The Sinhalese folk stories are enriched with Ravana Stories.
King Ravana was continuing a vegan oriented life style and was a real nature lover. According to Lankavatara sutta he was Buddhist and worshipped Kashyapa Buddha. Once he invited Kashyapa Buddha to visit Lanka and deliver his sermon to Sri Lankan citizens who practice yoga and follow Buddhism.
Today the time has changed and many of us do not know the real history of king Ravana and throw our folk tales away without considering any valuable parts of them. King Ravana was one of the best emperors found in Sri Lankan History.
There are more than 300 Sinhalese village names related to king Ravana era. In addition, there are some more places and remains in which the Rama Ravana war took place in Sri Lanka.
There is a epigraph that is located at Yala . Which is described that Buddhist Ravana’s daughter Sohili had donated cavern to Maha sangha under the Kashyapa buddha.
Likewise there is a epigraph at Nuwara eliya which was indicated that Ravana’s chief MInister Makara had donated cavern to venerable Maha Sangga under the Kashyapa buddha.
Besides there are a lot of evidence that we can prove the Ravana is purely sinhala(Siw hela) buddhist king as well as vegetarian. Ravana had indicated one of his medical book that by eating beef , human have to sicken 98 diseases.
Great king Ravana was descendent from Raksha(demon) group who are one major group under the siwhela(Sinhalease.). Tamils are saying that Ravana is demon king. Then we can assure that Ravana is totally sinhala king.
If you would read Lankawathara Sutta , that had indicated clearly that Ravana was buddhist under Kashayapa buddha.
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if ravana was about 5000 yrs ago and buddha about 2500 yrs ago- please expalin how ravana is described as buddhist?
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Yes, "Gauthama Buddha" was born about 2500 years ago. BUT pls read his comment again.
"If you would read Lankawathara Sutta , that had indicated clearly that Ravana was buddhist under Kashayapa buddha."
The names of 28 Buddhas <–
1 Taṇhaṅkara
2 Medhaṅkara
3 Saraṇaṅkara
4 Dīpankara
5 Koṇḍañña
6 Maṅgala
7 Sumana
8 Revata
9 Sobhita
10 Anomadassi
11 Paduma
12 Nārada
13 Padumuttara
14 Sumedha
15 Sujāta
16 Piyadassi
17 Atthadassi
18 Dhammadassi
19 Siddhattha
20 Tissa
21 Phussa
22 Vipassi
23 Sikhi
24 Vessabhū
25 Kakusandha
26 Koṇāgamana
27 Kassapa <——-
28 Gautama
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If ravana was a vegan – then how is it that today vege are more common in north india.
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THE ANCESTRY OF RAVANA // from **Hndu books universe**
A close study of the Ramayana, particularly the last book or Uttara Kanda, reveals that Ravana, the enemy of Lord Rama, was not a Dravidian, but related to the Sri Lanka, who are considered to be Aryans-that Ravana was a migrant to Sri Lanka from the Vedic family of the Yadus, perhaps deriving originally from the city of Mathura south of Delhi. The first wave of migrants to Sri Lanka from the north was from Gujarat and of the Yadu family, which dominated the southwest of India and from the region of Gujarat had access to the sea on which they travelled far in their trading and colonizing ventures.
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Sri Lanka Buddhists, such as predominate in the country today, traditionally held Ravana in respect, perhaps knowing he was one of their own ancestors. The famous Buddhist Sutra, the Lankavatara, looks to Sri Lanka as a holy land and the Sutra is given in honor of Ravana himself, who is styled as the king of the Yakshas, much like Kubera in Hindu thought.
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if the war between ravan and rama was south vs. north – how come again that the north is more vegetarian, and that the oppressive caste system is present in both regions?
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Hence the recent tendency of South Indian politicians to look up to Ravana as a Dravidian hero may be misplaced. Ravana more properly belongs to the peoples of Sri Lanka, whose ancestry derives from the north, as does his brother Vibhishana who was an ally of Rama.
Hanuman, who was Rama's best devotee, better represents the ancient Dravidians (who incidentally were also Aryans, in that they have always been portrayed in Vedic and puranic literature as descendants of Vedic people, including the seers Agastya and Vishvamitra, and traditionally called themselves Aryans). Unfortunately various groups have tried to use the Ramayana for political gain without ever really examining the details of the story! Rama was not the first northerner to come to the south of India.
Reference:
The forest book of Ramayana of Kamban by George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz
The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom by George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz
The Poems of Ancient Tamil by George L. Hart
Smile of Murugan by Kamil Zvelebil
Hymns of drowning by A.K.Ramanujan
History and Culture of Tamil Nadu by Chitra Mahadevan
