Interesting Facts About Ravan, Lord Brahma’s Great Grandson, You May Not Know

For Hindus, Ravan is connected to Dussehra when his effigies are burnt across India. He is the one who abducted Sita and he is the one whom Lord Ram fought and defeated with the help of a huge force. But there are many other facts you must know about this ‘dus sir waala’ villain. Add something to your knowledge, dig deeper as each episode of our mythology has an interesting story behind it. Let’s just start with a few crumbles on this devotee of Lord Shiva, who was in fact the great-grandson of Brahma!

Fact 1: Brahma's Great-Grandson

Many may not know, but Ravana belongs to Brahma’s family tree. So Ravan was the son of Visravas, a famous rishi. Visravas was the son of Prajapati Pulastya, one of Brahma's ten 'mind-born' sons.

Fact 2: Yagya For Lord Ram

According to some versions of Ramayana, when Lord Ram had to get Shiva’s blessing to proceed via the bridge his army had created to go to Lanka. For this, a yagya had to be set up wherein Ravana came into the picture. The latter was said to be the biggest bhakt of Lord Shiva in the entire region and he also happened to half-brahman that made him the best candidate to perform the yagya. Ravana displayed honour, and showed up to actually perform the yagya and gave Lord Ram his blessing.

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Fact 3: Imparting Knowledge To Lakshmana

He may have abducted Sita, but Ravan was and is still known for being brilliant and very knowledgeable. There is a reason why he is worshipped in some parts of India and in Sri Lanka as well. He was among the most learned scholars to have ever lived, which is why Lord Ram asked his brother Lakshmana to sit beside Ravana and learn important lessons in statecraft and diplomacy from him.

Ravana is said to have guided him on how important it is to have good relations with the cook, charioteer, gatekeeper, and his own brothers as these are the people who can harm the most. He also gave Lakshmana the advice that he should never underestimate the enemy and believe in astrology. Learning from his mistake of not trusting his brother Vibhishan, Ravana told Lakshman that he must trust a minister who criticizes.

Fact 4: Ravan's Wife Mandodari Shamed Him

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When Ravana was the only one left alive amid the war with Lord Ram's army, he is said to have decided on performing a very powerful yagya which could help in turning the table. However, this yagya had to have Ravana stay in one spot and not move at all. When Lord Ram got to know of this, he sent Bali's son Angad and his vaanar sena to interfere so that the yagya can be stopped. When they failed to do so, Angad dragged Ravan's wife Mandodari but the demon king did not move. This is when it brought out the anger in Mandodari which made her scream at him, reminding him and shaming him that on one hand, Lord Ram had come all the way to get his wife, Sita, back and here he was not moving at all to save his wife. This made him move, thus the yagya was left incomplete.

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Fact 5: Veena Player

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Have you ever noticed the depictions of the demon king in paintings and statues? In many of them, he has been shown sitting or carrying the veena. It is said that Ravana had a lot of love for music and he was a very good veena player.

Fact 6: He Could Meddle With The Planetary Alignments

Ravana was so powerful that during the birth of his son Meghnad, he wanted to grant the baby immortality, so he 'instructed' the planets to stay in the 11th house of the child. However, Saturn, or Shani, did not agree to it and stood in the 12th house instead. This obviously did not go down well with Ravan so it is believed that with his mace, he attacked Shani Dev and even imprisoned him.

Fact 7: Ravana Knew How He Will Die

Ravan knew very well that he will die by the hands of an avatar of Vishnu. He knew that this would help him attain moksha and this way he can give up his demon form.

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