The Ramayana

by Ramesh Menon

  12. The Nivatakavachas and others

  “When Yama left the field, Ravana’s ministers and commanders, who had fled in fear of the Lord Death, flocked back to their ten-headed king. They saw their master covered in his own blood. They saw the great gashes with which Yama had marked his body. They saw some broken bones protruding, ghastly, on his arms. Yet Ravana smiled at them, and they roared his name to the sky: that he was invincible and that he had conquered Death himself.

  “Maricha, Prahastha, and the others fetched their king back into the pushpaka vimana and tended his wounds with rare and potent specifics. They sang his praises, and that was sweet music to his ears. Now Ravana said they would enter Rasatala, the deepest of the Patalas, and subdue the netherworlds, as well: so he would truly be sovereign of the three realms.

  “The only way down into Rasatala was through the ocean’s bed, and Ravana set the pushpaka vimana on a course to plunge down into the blue waves, which are the domain of the marine titans and the nagas, who have both human and serpentine forms. Varuna is their Lord, and he protects them.

  “Ravana erupted on Bhogavati, Vasuki’s city. Battle-hardened by now, it did not take the Rakshasa long to subdue the city of serpents. He plowed on through the deepest ocean and arrived in Manimayi, city of jewels and of giants. The mysterious changeling titans, the Nivatakavachas, lived in Manimayi. These strange and powerful sons of Diti had impenetrable armor for skins and Brahma’s boon that protected them.

  “Undaunted, Ravana stormed their marvelous city. The Daityas were overjoyed: they are always ready for a battle. They fought back with every kind of weapon and with indomitable courage. The battle between the rakshasas and the Danavas churned the belly of the ocean. They fought for a year and neither prevailed, and the water around the jewel city was scarlet with blood.

  “Finally, Brahma, who had blessed both Ravana and the Nivatakavachas, appeared in their midst, lighting up the ocean waves like a sun risen in the womb of the deeps. In an echoing voice he said, ‘Not if you fight until time finds its end will either of you conquer the other. Let there be friendship between you, instead.’

  “And so Ravana and the Nivatakavachas made peace with each other. They swore friendship by a sacred fire, and the marine demons welcomed the ten-headed Rakshasa into their city like a brother. He remained with them for a year, enjoying pleasures that were hardly to be tasted upon the surface of the earth. And from his new friends he learned a hundred mayic sorceries each day.

  “Finally, almost reluctantly, Ravana left the city of the gigantic ocean Danavas. He ranged Rasatala, the deepest Patala, hidden away in the navel of the earth. Now he sought the secret city of Varuna, Lord of the sea.

  “On his quest he saw the glimmering city of Asmanagara, where the Kaalakeyas, sons of the golden witch Puloma, dwelt. He invaded them like a curse. The Kaalakeyas were arrogant of their strength and streamed out of their fastness to give the Rakshasa battle. He killed more than four hundred of the quicksilver demons in an hour, his sword that Siva gave him flashing like some sleek and silvery predator from another time.

  “He smashed his way through the Kaalakeyas’ city, leaving a trail of blood that rose slowly to the surface of the smoky sea. Fourteen thousand Kaalakeyas perished; among them was the husband of Ravana’s sister Surpanaka. Past the city of the Kaalakeyas, Ravana saw another city that looked like a white cloud under the waves. It shone like an immense pearl, like another Kailasa. He saw Surabhi there, the mother of Siva’s bull Nandisvara, and milk flowed from her teats into the mystic white sea that is called Kshiroda, the ocean of milk. The moon rises from that sea, and the greatest munis of the universe live on the froth of the milk of Surabhi, the cow of wishes. The amrita, which is the food of the Devas, arises in that sea, as does the swadha, the food of the pitrs, the manes.

  “Slowly, dazzled by her dappled beauty, Ravana alighted from his vimana and walked slowly round Surabhi, in pradakshina. Then he entered Varuna’s ineffable city. Varuna’s guardsmen challenged him. He struck many of them down, and roared at the others, ‘Go and tell your master that Ravana has arrived in his city. Tell him he must either kneel before me with folded hands and acknowledge my sovereignty, or come and fight me.’

  “The guards flew to their king, the Deva. Some of Varuna’s sons and grandsons, powerful princes of the deep, issued from their gates and attacked Ravana. An intense battle broke out, but it hardly lasted some moments before Ravana and his rakshasas had razed the submarine legion, and the water turned softly crimson. Only Varuna’s sons escaped the demons’ virile onslaught.

  “Those sons of the sea gathered themselves and fought back with stunning speed, strength, and occult siddhis. They rose above the pushpaka vimana and attacked Ravana all together, so fiercely that even he was forced to turn away from the encounter. The ocean princes’ roars of triumph rocked Rasatala to its depths.

  “In fury, Mahodara flew at the celebrant young immortals. He took them by surprise and briefly beat them back, smashing the chariots they had come to fight in. Still, they trod water and air; they swam like great fish; and now they turned on Mahodara with such cohesion and force that he fell in a swoon, blood pouring down all his limbs. With a roar that raised tidal waves around him, Ravana covered Varuna’s sons with a tempest of astras. They could not stand the invincible Demon. They fell to his storm, and their merman warriors rushed to the watery field of battle and carried their unconscious princes back into their father’s city.

  “Ravana cried again, ‘Announce me to Varuna, Lord of the ocean.’

  “One of Varuna’s ministers, Prahasa, came to the gates of the wondrous marine city and said, ‘You have defeated Varuna’s sons. Our Lord himself is away in Brahmaloka. It is in vain that you call for him here.’

  “Ravana shouted in ten voices, ‘The coward Varuna has fled before me! I am master of the Patalas, too.’

  “And he rose again through six netherworlds and flew back to his Lanka. Now he had no doubt that he had subdued the three realms: Swarga, Bhumi, and Patala. He was master of all creation, or so he believed.”

  13. Women

  Agastya Muni said in the sabha of Rama of Ayodhya, “The pushpaka vimana was full of the spoils of war the Rakshasa took from those he conquered in battle and those who yielded to him in fear. He took gold and jewels past compare, the rarest treasures wrought in the three worlds. And then there was another kind of spoil of war that he filled his ship of the sky with, generously: women. The most beautiful women of every race he subdued, any woman who caught his eye—he tore them away from their people and their families, their fathers and mothers, their husbands and children.

  “Serpentine, seductive naga wives he took; young virgins and mothers, too. He filled his ship with exquisite gandharvis and Deva women, with dark and incomparable Asuris and rakshasis. The daughters and wives of human kings and the holiest rishis he wrenched, screaming, from their natural lives. And they crouched in the capacious vimana, which the Rakshasa turned into an aerial antapura, his harem in the sky.

  “Their faces shone like the moon, their bodies were voluptuous and fragrant, and their tears fell onto the jewels that studded the floor of the magic craft, which Siva once gave Vaisravana, the Lord of treasures.

  “One slender gandharvi shook like a leaf, wondering, ‘Will the Rakshasa devour me?’

  “Some sobbed more desperately than others did; they were mothers who had been torn from their small children, for the Demon’s pleasure. But already there were some women who cursed their husbands for being conquered so easily, and who, despite their shock, let themselves admire Ravana: his lean, battle-hardened face and body, his dark and reverberant presence. Despite themselves, despite their predicament, they thought, ‘Ah, he eclipsed a million great warriors, as the sun does the little stars at dawn.’

  “And these would be the first to submit to the Demon, and they would taste a truly overwhelming and terrible love. But there were virtuous women among the thousands the Rakshasa abducted f
rom across the three worlds, and these cursed him in their hearts, from the depths of fear and sorrow. They said, ‘Evil One, this is the sin that breeds every other; this is the mother of sins. And as a thousand women shed tears of despair at what you have done to them, a woman shall bring your death to you, Ravana, in your very Lanka.’

  “Briefly Ravana felt an unaccustomed coldness clutch his heart at these women’s silent, potent curse. Briefly his face lost its radiance, and a shadow flitted across it. The pushpaka vimana landed in Lanka. Word of their king’s sweeping conquests filled the streets, and the rakshasas came out in singing and dancing crowds to celebrate his victories and their own new power as the master race of the worlds. Suddenly, forgotten, mysterious Lanka was the focus of creation.

  “Ravana was being borne to his palace on a thousand rakshasas’ shoulders when he heard a keening sound, which echoed over every other in his noisy streets. It was the shrill ululation of a woman deranged with grief. Ravana saw his sister Surpanaka, her hair in disarray, her clothes torn, her face streaked with tears and dirt where she had rolled on the ground, unhinged that her brother Ravana had killed her husband Vidhujjiva, the Kaalakeya.

  “When Ravana took her in his arms, he saw her eyes were the color of cherries, and he asked her, ‘What has happened, little one? Who has brought these tears to your eyes? Just tell me his name and he shall not live another hour.’

  “When she could speak, Surpanaka said, ‘You killed my husband, O Rakshasa who call yourself my older brother. I loved him more than my life and you cut him down like any other enemy. What use is it my living any more, wretched Ravana, when you have made me a widow in my youth? Monster, I heard you killed him with your own hands. I am your younger sister and my husband is not just your brother-in-law, but meant to be like your own son. And you killed him.’

  “He wiped her tears with his long fingers. He smoothed her hair and said gently, ‘My child, my child, in the heat of war every enemy seems alike and just a target for arrows. Every enemy is one who would kill me, if I did not kill him first. I shot my arrows without looking whom I aimed at, for the Kaalakeyas rushed at me in a wave and every Asura was an indomitable warrior. I did not know whom I killed when I fought, Surpanaka; believe me I would never have killed him if I had known. You know how much I love you: why, I gave you away to Vidhujjiva with my own hands. How could I have killed him, when I knew it would break your heart? I never knew he had returned to his city. I thought he was here in Lanka with you.’

  “Gradually, her sobs subsided. When she had calmed down a little, she said, ‘I cannot live in Lanka any more. Everywhere I look, I see his face. I cannot bear it; what shall I do?’

  “Ravana thought for just a moment, then said, ‘I have decided to send our cousin Khara to the Dandaka vana, to rule the wilderness in my name. I will send fourteen thousand of my best rakshasas with him, so he can establish a city in the jungle’s heart and spread my power through the land of Bharata. Khara’s rakshasas will all be mayavis and you shall be safe with them.

  “‘Dushana will go with him, as his Senapati, and our cousin Trisiras as well. Khara is our mother’s sister’s son, and he has grown with us. Why don’t you go with him to the Dandaka vana? You will be distracted from your sorrow by the beauty of the jungle and all the wild marvels you will see there.’

  “And so it was that Ravana himself set a distant chain of fate in motion. Khara went to the Dandaka vana with a legion of some of the fiercest rakshasas in Lanka. And there, in the depths of that impenetrable forest, he built a wooden city called Janasthana, from which he spread a reign of terror through that jungle where countless rishis lived, whose prayers were the very support of the world. The bloodthirsty Khara and the sinister Trisiras and Dushana, and, indeed, all their demons began to prey on the rishis, at first desecrating their yagnas, which brought grace down upon the earth, then killing and devouring the munis.

  “Thus they sought to choke and in time to destroy the very roots of dharma in the world, and to establish the rule of hell in monstrous Ravana’s name. And surely, at first, they succeeded in good measure. The Dandaka vana became a home of evil upon the earth, and the evil spread subtly from the jungle, borne on the wind, into the hearts of men. And it seeped into the earth as the sacred blood of rishis which the rakshasas spilled and drank.”

  14. The abduction of Kumbheenasi

  “Hidden deep in a forest on Lanka there was a most auspicious tapovana called Nikumbhila. When Khara and his fourteen thousand had left for the Dandaka vana, taking Surpanaka with them, Ravana went to Nikumbhila. There he saw an altar of sacrifice, and standing before it he saw his son Meghanada, wearing the hide of a black deer, a tuft on his shaven head, and holding a kamandalu and a staff. A yagna fire blazed in its pit at Meghanada’s feet, and Usanas, the guru of the rakshasas, the Asuras, and all beings of darkness, sat beside it, feeding the fire with oblations, chanting arcane mantras, himself a flame.

  “Ravana approached his prince, clasped him fervently in his arms, and asked, ‘Child, what are you doing?’

  “But Meghanada had taken a vow of silence, mowna, and to break it would spoil his sacrifice. So it was Usanas who replied, ‘Your son has performed six great yagnas, Ravana. He has already performed the agnistoma, the aswamedha, the bahusuvarnaka, the rajasuya, and the vishnu yagna. He has just completed the maheswara yagna, and already Siva Pasupati, the Lord of embodied souls in bondage, who are like beasts, has blessed your son with a vimana and the tamasi maya, which makes the one who knows it invisible in battle. Not even the Danavas or Devas can see the warrior who is mantled in the tamasi maya.

  “‘Sankara has also given Meghanada a bow, a pair of inexhaustible quivers, and a mighty astra. Your prince was waiting for you, Lord of the rakshasas, for a father’s blessing.’

  “But Ravana was not entirely happy. He murmured, ‘Indra and the Devas are my enemies. They have been worshipped, and that hardly pleases me. But what is done cannot be undone; let us think of it as having been well done. Come, my child, let us return to our city.’

  “Ravana blessed his son. He took the blessing of Usanas, who then vanished before their eyes. Arm in arm, father and son returned to Lanka and to their palace, where now the pushpaka vimana disgorged its cargo of the most beautiful women of all the races of the worlds, whom Ravana had brought here to grace his harem and warm his bed.

  “But now, his pious brother Vibheeshana greeted Ravana, with shock and anger in his eyes. ‘What have you done, my lord? Already, your sin has brought nemesis to our clan.’

  “‘What do you mean, Vibheeshana?’ Ravana was annoyed that his triumphal return was tainted by any imperfection.

  “‘You have sealed all our fates by bringing these women here. Don’t you see them cry? Don’t you hear them curse you, my brother? How will their curses fail to bring punishment down on you?’

  “Ravana growled, ‘It is the way of war; it is the way of the rakshasas. You are born a rakshasa, but you have never been like one of us, Vibheeshana.’ He smiled. ‘And the women shall be well cared for and they shall be well satisfied with their lives here.’

  “But Vibheeshana said, Then perhaps you will be content to hear that our cousin Kumbheenasi has been abducted by Madhu, just as you have abducted these women?’

  “Ravana seemed surprised. He asked mildly, ‘Who is Madhu?’

  “Kumbheenasi, of course, was the daughter of Malyavan, who was the eldest brother of Sumali, their mother’s father. Also, Kumbheenasi’s mother, Anala, was their own mother’s younger sister. Kumbheenasi was hardly less than a sister to those royal rakshasas.

  “Vibheeshana said, ‘While Meghanada was away performing his yagna, while I lay submerged in water, at tapasya, and Kumbhakarna slept, the rakshasa Madhu came to Lanka one moonless night. He killed many of our guards, entered the harem, and carried our cousin away. Even when we heard what had happened, we did not pursue Madhu or kill him. For once he has enjoyed her, Kumbheenasi will be his wife by rakshasa vivah
a; and it would break her heart if we killed him.

  “‘So, my brother, even as you took a thousand women from their homes and their men and children, we, also, have been punished here in Lanka.’

  “Ravana’s ten heads flashed into view, snarling. His breath was hot; his eyes were the hue of kimsuka flowers. Through clenched fangs he said, ‘Let my chariot be fetched and my weapons be laid in it. Let my brother Kumbhakarna be roused. Let any others who would ride with me fetch their chariots and bows. I will go at once to kill Madhu, and then to crush Indra in Devaloka!’

  “Four thousand aksauhinis rode with Ravana, every rakshasa of them hungry for battle. Meghanada rode at the head of that horrible force, Ravana at its heart, and Kumbhakarna at its rear. Vibheeshana, who had little taste for battle, though he was a great warrior and unafraid, remained in Lanka.

  “Across land and through the air they went, on fair mounts and strange; and it is told that when the Daityas of the air saw Ravana flying to Madhu’s city, the Asuras, who are the enemies of the Devas, joined his host.

  “Ravana arrived at Madhu’s city, entered violently, and found Kumbheenasi in the palace. She saw her cousin and began to cry. He took her in his arms with great gentleness and said, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here now. Tell me where Madhu is; he shall not live another day.’

  “At which she only sobbed more piteously and cried, ‘If you bear me any love, don’t kill my husband. The unhappiest woman on earth is a widow. I beg you, my brother, swear you will not hurt him.’

  “Ravana paused in his anger. He wiped her tears. ‘I have told you not to be afraid. Take me to your husband. I will not kill him, but take him with me to Devaloka to fight beside me against Indra. Madhu will be like my own brother from now.’