Author Archives: pradakshina8

What does Ayodhya Ram Mandir mean to us youngsters ?

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(Nidhi Samarpan Event – 7th Feb 2021 – Panel talk)

Vaishnavi Palreddy

When I was first asked to speak as part of the panel and on behalf of the youth of India, I wasn’t quite sure about what to talk. So, I decided to give my friends a call and ask them what they think of Rama and the Ayodhya Ram mandir. They said he is a great king, one who chose his people over his family. And that the principles of Rama, honesty and self-discipline, are essential for life and success. On the other hand, the Ayodhya Ram Mandir was either an unknown concept or an unseen one between school, exams, assignments, family and friends and of course, who can forget, COVID. Of them all, one line that struck me as particularly odd was ‘how would I know about something I’ve never seen?’ 

In this global world, we do many things and hashtag and re-share many more while being on opposite ends of the globe. So maybe the reality is that we couldn’t care less. That it isn’t a priority. After all, why should we know of a place that doesn’t exist, hasn’t for a very long time? A place that we never heard of before, a place that we will probably never see unless we are dragged to. Because it is an integral part of our  region, an integral part of the foundation of the society we live in. A piece of land with hundreds of millions of stories. A piece of land for which lakhs of people were gladly willing to give up their lives and so much more. 

Why is Ayodhya so important? Yes, I have been told that Ayodhya is the birth-place of Rama, but so what? Does it truly deserve the hype? Or is it just another one of those over-done, over-stated things? I remember when for the first time after 18 years, I went to Seattle, the place where I was born. A place I have no memories of, I was only a few months-old baby when we moved to India. A place that I found out I was born in, only when I looked at my birth-certificate. But when I went there, I had a strange feeling. A feeling of… apnapan. A feeling I’ve had in every house I have ever lived in. A feeling I have when I visit the place of my parents’ birth and upbringing. A scratch on the wall, a crack on the floor, a half-broken glass pane, every nook and corner, everything seems to have a story hidden inside. An exciting adventure worth telling and re-telling. And just like it feels easier to breathe – the weight on your shoulders seems to have lifted as soon as you get home. That’s just the magic of home, isn’t it? The magic of birth-place or even of birth in general. 

Another point that one of my friends raised is – everyone keeps telling us that we are fortunate. Our generation is privileged that such an important temple is being built in our lifetime. But what does that mean? Why are we privileged? I’m pretty sure every year – or maybe even every month – probably around 100 temples are built throughout the nation. I mean in such a big country for such an important God. So, what makes this one so special that we are fortunate? Why is this generation privileged? Why not people presently in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. After all, isn’t a temple just a place of worship? And people of older age groups typically pray the most. So, shouldn’t they be the privileged ones? After all, they got a brand-new spot for prayer? 

Uhh, kind of – not exactly. Like we’ve discussed before, this particular temple is extraordinary. Even more so, because 500 years ago, in a show of dominance, Babar- a famous king who invaded India, tore down the temple present in the premises and built a structure to commemorate their victory. In that sense, winning the court case and building the temple can be taken to say that the Indian ideology is not beneath any religion practiced in the world. 

On 15th August 1947, India was officially declared azad from the clutches of the British. From 200 years of oppression. However, this winning of the court case and building of the Ayodhya Rama mandir is slowly but surely winning the round II of azadi from 492 years of struggle. From 1000 years of invasions. 25 whole generations, some more than others, fighting for a single cause. Azadi from the pacifist mentality we have adopted. This is us beginning to fight for what is ours. And just like the previous round, azadi brings benefits to all in the society, but the greatest are always reaped by the up-and-coming. After all, azadi is a time when the past and present are fighting for the future. And this azadi is worth a century of celebration. 

Bhagwan Sri Rama’s Vamsh-Vruksh

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The world knows the Ramayana Itihasa, although many of us are unaware that the Surya Vamsi Ikshvaku dynasty has a longer lineage of powerful kings prior to the Avatara of Sri Rama.

These kings include the great names of Indian history like Kashyapa, Bhageeratha, Trisankhu, Dileep, Sagara, Raghu, Ambareesha and so on.  Mahakavi Kalidasa described  Sri Rama’s lineage, and especially Maharaja Sri Raghu’s military expeditions in his famous Kavya `Raghu-vamsa’. Let’s take a look at a quick look.

Brahma

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Mareechi   

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Kashyapa

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Surya

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Manu

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Ikshvaku

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Kukshi

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Vikukshi

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Bana

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Anaranya

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Prudhu

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Trisankhu

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Dundhumara/Yavanasya

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Mandhatha

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Susandhi

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Dhruvasandhi

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Bharatha

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Ashitha

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Sagara

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Asamanjasa

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Anshuman

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Dileep

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Bhageeratha

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Kakuthsa

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Raghu

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Pravurtha

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Shankhana

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Sudarshan

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Agnivarna

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Seeghraveda

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Maru

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Prasishyaka

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Ambareesh

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Nahusha

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Yayathi

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Nabhaga

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Aja

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Dasaratha

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Sri Rama

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Lava & Kusha

Swami Sri Vidyaranya – The Seer Who Laid the Foundations of Vijayanagara Samrajya

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ॐ श्रीवल्लभमहागणपति-शारदाम्बा-शङ्कराचार्यसद्गुरुभ्यो नमः

Sri Vidyaranya was the 12th Jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1380 to 1386 CE. He built temples at Sringeri and Hampi and established Mutts to propagate Vedanta. He was not only a sage and empire builder, but also a savant and a scholar par excellence. His works constituted the greatest treatises in post-Shankara Advaitic literature. His marvellous interpretative skills reconciled many apparent differences in philosophic texts. His works include Vivaranaprameya Sangraha, Panchaadasi, Jivanmukti Viveka, Drig Drisya Viveka, Aparokshanubhuti-Tika, and six Upanishad-Dipikas. Also Madhaviya Shankara Vijaya is the work of Sri Vidyaranya. Because of its high poetic merit and objectivity, it is considered the best for recitation during Shankara Jayanti.

Tradition has it that Madhava (the generally accepted pre-ascetic name of Sri Vidyaranya) was the elder of two Brahmachari brothers belonging to a poor but learned Brahmin family of Ekasila Nagari (present-day Warangal). The younger of the two, wandering south in search of true knowledge, reached Sringeri when the great Vidyashankara Tirtha was the reigning pontiff. On seeing the innate greatness of the young Brahmachari, Sri Vidyatirtha readily gave him sanyasa diksha with the ascetic name of Bharati Krishna Tirtha in 1328 CE.

In the meanwhile, Madhava left home in search of his younger brother. After much wandering, he finally reached Sringeri where he found his brother as the junior pontiff Bharati Krishna Tirtha. At the junior pontiff’s request, Sri Vidyatirtha readily gave Madhava sanyasa diksha in 1331 CE under the ascetic name of Sri Vidyaranya, in other words, verily a forest of knowledge. Sri Bharati Krishna Tirtha, though younger than Vidyaranya became his senior by virtue of his earlier ordainment into Sanyasa Ashrama and came to be known as the senior Sripada and Vidyaranya the junior.

Sri Vidyaranya then started on a pilgrimage and reached Kashi. At the direction of Sri Vyasa, he went to Badrikashrama where the great sage himself initiated him into Sri Vidya. Returning south, he retired to Matanga hill, near Hampi, where he immersed himself in intense meditation. It was at this time that the two brothers, Madhava and Sayana, the sons of Mayana of Bharadwaja Gotra, approached Sri Vidyaranya and sought his blessings. Sri Vidyaranya graciously gave them his unfinished Veda bhashyas and some other works. He blessed them to complete the works in their own names as Madhaviyam and Sayaniyam. Later, both the brothers served as ministers in the Vijayanagara empire under Bukkaraya and Harihara I and II.

It was while Sri Vidyaranya was doing tapas at Matanga hill that the two warrior brothers, Harihara and Bukka, sons of Sangama, approached him. Directed by a dream, they sought his blessings and guidance. Earlier, these two brothers had been taken prisoner and led to Delhi. It is believed they were under compulsion to embrace Islam. But the Delhi ruler recognising their valour sent them back to the south. They were sent back as the heads of an army to contain the rebellions brewing in the Deccan.

Seizing this opportunity, the two brothers asserted their independence. With the guidance and blessings of Sri Vidyaranya, they established their own independent kingdom with its capital on the left bank of Tungabhadra river. Following the sage’s counsel, they shifted their capital to the right bank, naming it Vidyanagara, as a mark of respect and gratitude to the sage, whom they regarded as their Guru, God and saviour. The city, which came to be popularly known as Vijayanagara or City of Victory was planned in accordance with the directions of sage Vidyaranya in the form of a Sri Chakra, with the Virupaksha temple in the middle and nine gates all around.

A copper plate grant of 1336 CE bearing the sign manual ‘Virupaksha’ recounts, ‘Harihara was seated on the throne as directed by Vidyaranya. He made the 16 great gifts resplendent in the city called Vidya, of vast dimensions” The emperor placed at the feet of his master Sri Vidyaranya, all his imperial insignia. Sri Vidyaranya initiated him into Atmavidya and conferred on him the titles, Srimad Rajadhiraja Parameshwara, Aparimita Pratapavira and Narapati. From then on, the Sringeri Jagadguru came to be addressed as ‘Karnataka Simhasana Pratishtapanacharya’ which is part of their birudavali (titles) even to this day.

Without Vidyaranya there would have been no Vijayanagara samrajya and without that Dakshina Bharat/ South India would not have retained its dharma and culture. We remember this great Acharya and dharmika and offer our namaskarams. Om.

Source: https://www.sringeri.net/jagadgurus/sri-vidyaranya

Note : 

Vaishakha Shukla Saptami is celebrated as Vidyaranya Jayanthi. Vaishakha Shukla Saptami is also celebrated as Ganga Saptami / Jahnu Saptami / Gangotpatti / Gangavataran.

Tablighi Jamaat – its other, evil side

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S. Gurumurthy

Except intelligence officials, national security experts and the wary among police officials, not many Indians would have heard of the name Tablighi Jamaat [TJ] before the explosive Nizamuddin corona virus episode gave it the publicity it studiously avoided. On the face of it, TJ’s six principles suggest Islamic piety in its extreme. But that is merely its cosmetic exterior, inviting the innocent and idealistic young Muslims into an ideological line that ultimately turns them as terrorists. The less known and dangerous side of the century-old TJ began unfolding the world over since 2001, but not in India.

Nursery and gateway to terror

“TJ is another system driver and integral element of Islamist Violent Non-State Actors’ internal dynamics; in many cases it has acted as nursery for indoctrinating Islamist terrorists,” writes Dr Farhan Zahid, a Pakistani counter-terrorism and security expert, in his analysis titled “Tablighi Jamaat and its links with terrorism” [Foreign Analysis March 2015 Centre Francais de Reserche Sur le Renseignement]. Dr Farhan says, TJ “in a way plays the role of recruiter and sympathiser [for terrorism]. TJ’s congregation allows radical elements worldwide to meet and discuss violent activities and provide them with the best opportunity to coordinate”. Adding “many of its followers have dual and overlapping membership with jihadist groups”, Dr Farhan cites references and says “TJ has now been considered as a ‘gateway to terrorism’.

Terror record in Europe, US

Dr Farhan says since 2001, traces of links have been found between TJ and Islamists involved in acts of terror. Shoe bomber Richard Reid who attempted a trans-Atlantic airline bombing [2001], Jose Padilla who tried dirty bomb manufacturing [2002] in New York city, Barcelona terror plot [2008] and the arrest of American Taliban John Walker in Afghanistan [2001] were all linked to TJ. Its French Muslim recruits were found involved in planning attacks by the Portland Seven and the Lackawanna Six in the US.In his analysis titled “Tablighi Jamaat: Jihad’s stealthy Legions” in Middle East Quarterly [Jan 8, 2016] Alex Alexiev writes that as 80 per cent of Islamist extremists have come from Tablighi ranks and the French intelligence calls TJ the ‘antechamber of fundamentalism’. In his investigative story titled “French Islamic group offers rich soil for militancy’ in The New York Times [April 29, 2005] Craig Smith lists Zacarias Moussaoui [charged in the US 9/11 terror]; Herve Djamel Loiseau, who died fleeing the 2001 American bombardment of Tora Bora in Afghanistan; Djamel Beghal, an admitted Al-Qaeda member, who was convicted in 2005 for plotting to blow up the US Embassy in Paris, as TJ terror activists of French origin. Freth Burton and Scott Stewart, writing in an analysis titled “Tablighi Jamaat: An Indirect Line to Terrorism” in the Stratfor Global Intelligence Security Weekly, say that 12 out of the 14 men arrested in a pre-emptive raid on a mosque in Barcelona for plotting to attack targets belonged to TJ, adding that TJ’s name figured in the 2005 London underground bombings in which 52 people died and also in the attempted bombings in London, Glasgow and Scotland. Assistant FBI Director [US] Michael Heimbach says that TJ has significant presence in the US, and Al-Qaeda was found to have recruited TJ adherents [New York Post Dec 27, 2015].

Turned Pak into terror hub

The book titled On The Abyss — Pakistan After the Coup  [Harper Collins Publishers India 2000] authored mainly by Pakistani scholars, diplomats and writers, says that the largely Barelvi Islamic Pakistan, which accepted local variations, including Dargah worship and Sufi traditions, had been hijacked by Deobandi ideology through Tablighi Jamaat, the result of which was the growth of militancy. Khaled Ahmed, former diplomat and editor of Friday Times in Pakistan writes in On The Abyss: “Because of the rise of Deobandi militias…. the [Punjab] province is rapidly losing its Barelvi temperament.” What the authors had prophesied came true in the very next year when Pakistan was found involved in 9/11 attack on the US. Over the years, Pakistan has come to be known as the global terror hub. Says Dr Farhan, “Several mainstream Islamist violent non-state actors have taken their roots from TJ’s indoctrination and on the platform provided by TJ missionaries. It is the Deobandi ideology of TJ which provides potential jihadists a crucial link.”During the 1980s and 1990s, TJ became the recruiter of Islamist radicals for the Afghan war. Dr Farhan points out that Harkat-ul Jihad-al-Islami [HuJI] was formed by former TJ members Qari Saifullah Akhtar and Fazal ur Rahman Kalil along with others. From the HuJI platform emerged other jihadist outfits – Harkat-ul-Mujhahideen [HuM] Jaish-e-Mohammed [JeM], Sipah-e-Sahaba [SSP] and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [LeJ]. All of them stand declared as terror outfits.

Terror merchant

An India Abroad News Service report on April 1, 2020 titled “Tablighi Jamaat shares links with terror outfits”, said: “As per WikiLeaks, some of the 9/11 al-Qaeda suspects detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay had stayed in the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin West, New Delhi, years ago. Tablighi Jamaat was also suspected to be involved in the burning of 59 Hindu kar sevaks in 2002 in Godhra, Gujarat, which led to mass communal rioting in the state. According to India’s intelligence and security expert, late B Raman, TJ in Pakistan and Bangladesh gained adverse attention for association with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and members of the International Islamic Front formed by Osama bin Laden in 1998. Quoting Pakistani newspaper reports from the 1990s, Raman pointed out that the trained cadre of jihadi terrorist organisations like HuM obtained visas by posing as preachers of Tablighi Jamaat and went abroad to recruit young Muslims for terror training in Pakistan. Since millions of TJ proselytisers travel around the world, TJ also developed a large following in Chechnya and Dagestan areas of Russia, Somalia and other African countries. Raman wrote that intelligence agencies of these countries suspected that terror organisations based in Pakistan were using the cover of TJ preaching for creating sleeper cells in different countries. As a result, TJ was black-listed and its preachers denied visas.”

In Sri Lanka, too

In a piece titled “The road to Sri Lanka Carnage” on Rediff.com, the well-known security analyst Praveen Swami linked Mohammad Muhsin Nilam, a Sri Lankan, to Zahran Hashim who was responsible for the Colombo bombings. Also known as Abu Shuraya, Nilam was killed in Raqqa, the ISIS capital. Nilam’s story is key to understanding the networks thought to be responsible for the carnage in Colombo. Swami says that Tablighi Jamaat had begun to grow roots among Sri Lankan Muslims from the early 21st century. Swami says, “Educated in Sharia law at Islamabad’s International Islamic University, an institution where Osama bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam once taught, Nilam had encountered with the Tablighi Jamaat. In 2011, when Nilam returned to his home in Kandy in Sri Lanka, he first worked as part-time Urdu instructor at Colombo University. When he was principal of a school in Galewala, he played a key role in Zahran’s group. Then, in 2014, feigning to go on a pilgrimage with his six children, pregnant wife, and ageing parents, he took them to Turkey and disappeared across the border into Syria. He posted in his Facebook post: “We will kill every man, woman, child, Shia, Sunni, Zoroastrians, Kurds, Christians.” Nilam had recruited for ISIS 36 Sri Lankans, maybe 100, including his friend, Thauqeer Ahmed Thajudeen. Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamaat and Tablighi Jamaat have identical goals and their interests converge. Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaat is the mentor of Sri Lanka’s National Thowheed Jamaat, which delivered the bombs in Sri Lanka. There is no Thowheed Jamaat outside India and Sri Lanka.

Now, the climax

And now the climax, for the unwary. Where was this noble-looking evil born? India. Who founded it? Indian. Name? Maulana Mohammed Illyasi. When? In 1920s. Where is its global headquarters? Nizamuddin West Delhi! The place of its annual meet in which hundreds of Tablighis from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China and other coronavirus hotspots participated. The outbreak was astonishingly in control in India till Nizamuddin exploded as a grave and dangerous national threat. TJ with its headquarters in India now functions in some 80 countries with some 80 million adherents.
In a 173-page paper titled “Tablighi Jamaat: Wolf in sheep’s skin [Sept 9, 2018; released to media again after the Nizamuddin episode] SalahUddin Shoaib Choudhury, a Zionist and multi-award-winning anti-jihadist journalist and a counterterrorism specialist, unravels the massive following of JT and its terror connections the world over. Thousands of TJ teachers from within and outside assemble in India and that is what they did in Nizamuddin. Is it just to memorize the six noble principles or as Dr Farhan says “to discuss and coordinate terror activities”, will never be known in India, as no government has the guts to enter any mosque, thanks to the way secularism is understood in our politics. Unless this limit is breached and the menace is outlawed, innocent Muslims attracted by its cosmetic exterior of Koran cannot be saved from becoming carriers of Kalashnikovs and makers and throwers of lethal bombs. Let the courts decide whether TJ’s right to mentor terror in India also constitutes minority right, as is so far being understood.

Courtesy: New Indian Express, 3rd April 2020

RAVANA – A Serial Rapist and Tormentor of the Helpless

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  • By Dr Rahul A. Shastri

Who was Ravana?

Ravana’s birth-name was Dashanana. His father was Vishravas s/o brahmin sage Pulastya, who is believed to hail from village Bisrakh in Haryana. His mother was Kaikesi, daughter of the Rakshasa King – Sumali. Ravana married Mandodari, the daughter of the divine architect Maya. 

Thus, contrary to what the leftists tell their confused followers, Ravana was neither Dravidian nor a sudra nor oppressed. He was a North Indian brahmin, very well connected and belonged to the royalty. 

What did Ravana do?

Ravana did tapas and got a boon from Brahma that none but humans could kill him. Empowered by this boon, he took away Lanka and Pushpaka Vimana from his cousin Kubera, conquered many regions with the help of his family and even subjugated the devas. 

Marching north he reached Kailasa and threatened Nandi that he would throw Kailasa away with Siva. To carry out this threat he put his hands under the mountain, but Siva put his toe down, trapping Ravana’s hands under the Kailasa. His fingers painfully caught, Dashanana then sang songs praising Siva so loudly, that Siva gave him the name Ravana (which means crying or roaring) and the sword Chandrahasa.

Puffed up by his success, powers and boons, Ravana turned into a bully, serial rapist and eve- teaser, misbehaving even with gods and rishis, earning eighteen curses in the process. It is because of these curses, that some of his atrocities are still known and remembered.

The many rapes by Ravana

When Ravana molested Vedavati who was engaged in penance to obtain Madhava as husband, she cursed that he and his family would be ruined by Lord Narayana on her account. Since he no longer feared gods because of the boon from Brahma, Ravana went on with his depredations. He raped Madanamanjari, wife of Rtuvarman, a tapasvi of Marutta forest, who cursed then that Ravana would be killed by a man.

Finally, he raped his own would-be daughter-in-law, Rambha, betrothed to be wife of his nephew ‘Nalakubara’ s/o Kubera. Furious at this, Nalakubara pronounced this curse

“You, who have become blind with lust, shall not touch a woman who does not reciprocate your love. If you do so your head will be split into seven pieces.”

It is this curse that later kept Sitadevi and many other chaste women safe from Ravana’s depredations, although they still were victim to molestation and insults by him. After this curse, Ravana resorted molestations, humiliation and abductions to cater to his lust, but never committed a rape again.

Rape, Rakshasas and Human Civilization

Rape is a part of Rakshasa culture, and ‘marriage by rape’ is known as ‘rakshasa vivaha’ to the Hindus. Ramayana, which is a story of the destruction of Ravana, is an eternal reminder that rape can have no place in human culture, and that the culture of rapists is bound to be destroyed by divine forces.

Molestations of women by Ravana

Ravana tried to humiliate Punjikadevi, the daughter of Brahma, who reiterated the curse of Nalakubara that he would die with all his ten heads broken if he touched unwilling women. By way of revenge, Ravana took to molesting and misbehaving with women in the presence of their helpless relatives. He humiliated Svahadevi, in the presence of Agni, earning Agni’s curse. When he molested Dvaipayana’s sister in the presence of Dvaipayana, the latter cursed him with humiliation by monkeys. Similar curses were pronounced when he molested Atri’s wife in his presence, and he misbehaved with and humiliated brahmin girls who were bathing in the sea, in the very presence of their mothers.

Once Ravana tried to catch Sulekhadevi, the daughter of Brihaspati after conquering Devaloka. Then Brhaspati cursed that Ravana would die hit by the arrows of Rama.

Some other atrocities of Ravana

Ravana committed innumerable atrocities, some of which are remembered only because of the curses that they fetched him.

He kicked Astavakra, the sage with eight hunches, saying ‘Oh ! handsome fellow ! I shall cure your eight hunches”. This earned him the curse of the sage: “For kicking me, a poor innocent sage, you will be kicked from head to foot and foot to head by monkeys.”

Knowing his perverse proclivities, Vasistha turned down his invitation to teach him Vedas. Owing to this, Vasishsta was imprisoned until the solar King Kuvalayasva rescued him. Vasishta then predicted that Ravana and his family would be destroyed by those born in the solar dynasty.

When Narada refused to explain the meaning of ‘Om’ to him, he threatened to cut off Sri Narada’s tongue, earning the curse, that all his ten heads would be cut off by a man.

Maharsi Maudgalya was once doing the svastika asana, resting his neck on the yogadanda. Seeing him thus, Ravana cut the yogadanda into two with chandrahasa sword. The rishi fell and broke his backbone. This earned Ravana the curse that the chandrahasa (given to him by Siva) would become ineffective.

Once Ravana invited a Vedic brahmin to install the idol of Tripurasundari given to him by Siva. For being late, the brahmin was imprisoned for seven days. This earned him the curse that he would be imprisoned for seven months by a man.

King Anaranya of the solar dynasty sought shelter with him. In our culture, one who takes refuge with us is protected, but Ravana killed Anaranya with a blow on the chest. The dying king cursed him that he would die from the arrows of a prince of the solar dynasty.

Sage Dattatreya had collected water which he consecrated with mantras, in order to bathe the head of his Guru. When Ravana saw this water, he poured it on his own head. Dattatreya cursed him that his head would be polluted by the feet of monkeys.

Conclusion

It can be seen from the above that Ravana was not an admirable character, in spite of his boons, lineage, royal power and worldly success. He was a serial rapist and tormentor of the weak.  Leftists are promoting the worship of such a person by deceiving the Indian masses. Their real aim is to foster divisions among us, to degrade our values and destroy our culture. Why are they doing this? 

Leftists promote divisions because according to their ideology, progress comes only by conflict and not through unity.  To promote conflict, they attack our culture and our values. Why? 

They know that the unity of Indian people comes from our culture and values. It is our culture which teaches us patience in difficulty, compassion for suffering, respect for learning, reverence for elders and traditions, and love for the motherland. These are the values that have held us together for millennia and which we uphold today. To destroy them, to fan the flames of discontent and discord among us, leftists attack our culture. 

Their deceptions about Ravana are part of this greater game plan. May their confused followers know the true nature of Ravana, see through their game plan, and strengthen national unity and the motherland.

References: Puranic Encyclopedia by Vettam Mani 1964, Sanskrit Dictionary .  Shivram Apte