The temple of villain in India.

 

              The temple of villain!

               Few years back, while I was travelling to Uttar Pradesh for one of my friend’s wedding, who was a wildlife conservation officer near Kanpur. The trip was really enjoyable. One of our botanist friend Avinash was explaining the vegetation and the geographical differences of that area through folklores and songs. Wow, he was good in that. Our folklores and songs ventured right from the aesthetic Tamil Sangam Literature (one of the oldest pure literature available in the world) to the exotic aboriginal people – the Gonds etc. In one of the songs, he had mentioned the name of king Ravana (The very adorable villain from the epic Ramayana) and his temple. What? Yes! I had the same feeling. Ravana, our great veena exponent (Veena is a typical Indian string instrument which has the tradition of five thousand years!!!)

               Raja Ravana possessed a thorough knowledge of not only music, or political science but also in Ayurveda. Then we were informed that Ravana’s temple was in Kanpur. That was the moment of excitement. How could we go back without seeing that? I couldn’t give any attention to the wedding ceremony. I couldn’t stop thinking about the great musician and Dravidian king Ravana and his charm. His warfare techniques. In that folklore they clearly mentioned that Ravana was very knowledgeable and attained Gyana (wisdom) He was well versed with Tharkka Shastra (the science of discriminating knowledge), poetry, grammar, music, Shilpa Shastra and also horticulture. He could identify almost all the plants and its medicinal values in his blessed kingdom. . 

                         Luckily the next morning was the day of Dasseraha (a unique festival celebrate in Indian on women power which for ten days) the only day when one can see the temple opened for worship. That night I was thinking and dreaming about the story of Ramayana and its hero and villain. Why did they create ideas like this? For whom? What was their intention? Why did they kill all the Shiva devotees or his disciples who were kings? Was it a real story, the Shiva-Vishnu conflict? I slept, anticipating the next Ravana morning. Hardly 15 minutes travel, we saw a small structure and an idol that resembled almost all the description mentioned in Ramayana. Ten heads and many hands. I was little upset when I saw this statue but I loved his thick mustache. Many devotees came from different part of the country to worship him. 

                   They repetitively uttered “Ravana maha prabhu namaha… Ravanaaya namaha…” very interesting isn’t it? I saw many people claiming that they were descendants of Ravana the great. Few told me that the story of Ravana in a very different way which I didn’t see in the epic Ramayana. They said that the rivals burnt Ravana’s prosperous kingdom and killed him along with his family… but he was the true Shiva Bhakta, a man of wisdom, a philosopher and a great lover. I left the temple with mixed emotions but I also felt that a ray of sorrow penetrated my conscience. We were travelling back to Delhi, but I was still there at the temple, not physically though. 


Hey my sweet heart… I want to ask you something, shshh… very confidential. I am going to call you my Ravana. Is it OK for you? If not, tell me. Anyway am not going to change that name. Am also adamant just like you. Hey Ravana, Thretha Yuga Emperor, my Vainika (Veena player), no I don’t want the raga gowrimanohari (in Carnatic music system we believe that this raga has the power of attraction.) now. Please play raga Amruthavarshini (the raga which has the power to make rain), my love…

 
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4 responses to “The temple of villain in India.

  1. Oh really wonderful.. I see a different face of the Great Ravana. My views of the Character in Ramayana has totally changed from a villain to the Hero. You very beautifully fictionalised the facts.. let the music rain…Ravanaaya namaha…

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