Ravan’s behaviour with women: Part-1

How Ravan abducted Sita(Hindi: सीता), and treated her till the end of the war, demands, and deserves a separate post. This post focuses on Ravan’s behaviour with some other women.

Below are some mentions(in Valmiki Ramayan) of Ravan‘s behaviour with the women:

Vedavati(Hindi: वेदवती)

While sauntering in Himalayan woods, Ravan spotted a tapaswini(Hindi: तपस्विनी. English: Minor similarities with ‘ascetic’). She was seated on a deer skin, and engrossed in dhyan(Hindi: ध्यान). Ravan got lustful, and asked the lady to introduce self.
The lady greeted Ravan like a guest(Hindi: अतिथि), and introduced self as Vedavati. She was the daughter of Brahmharshi(Hindi: ब्रह्मर्षि) Kushadhwaj(Hindi: कुशध्वज). She was performing tapasya(Hindi: तपस्या) for marrying Narayan(Hindi: नारायण).

Ravan, now unable to control his lust, quoted:

Your lifestyle is suitable for old women, not a seductive, ravishing woman like you. The Narayan for whom you are languishing here, is no match for me. So, become my wife, and enjoy all the riches and sensual pleasures of this world.

When Vedavati stuck to her resolve, Ravan grabbed her by her hair. Vedavati took out her sword, and cut her own hair to free self from Ravan’s grip.

She decided to immolate self, and before leaping into fire, she quoted:

I don’t wish to curse you, as it would weaken my tapasya. If I have done any good deeds in the past, I will be reborn(without gestating in a women’s womb), and brought up by a magnanimous, righteous (foster) father.

Later, she was born out of a huge lotus, and as a beautiful, glowing girl. Ravan captured the infant, and took her to Lanka. One of his ministers who had mastered astrology, advised Ravan to abandon the child, lest she would turn out to be his nemesis. Upon hearing this, Ravan threw the infant into the sea.

The girl survived, and landed in the hands of King Janak(Hindi: जनक), and was named Sita(Hindi: सीता).

Womenfolk of the weaker(than him) sections

After defeating Varun’s son in a battle, Ravan proclaimed victory, and returned to Lanka. En route, he abducted daughters(aged 16-ish) and womenfolk of vanquished kings, Rishis(Hindi: ऋषि), Devas(Hindi: देव), Danavas(Hindi: दानव), Nagas(Hindi: नाग), Yaksha(Hindi: यक्ष), Rakshasas(Hindi: राक्षस), Asuras(Hindi: असुर). If he found a woman (sexually) attractive, he would murder the menfolk of her family(husband, brothers, father), and abduct her. These women would weep for their kids, and the fallen menfolk.

Anguished and angered, these women collectively cursed Ravan:

“In spite of being blessed and talented, Ravan keeps on raping wives of other men. This immorality will be his nemesis!”

Rambha(Hindi: रम्भा)

While on an (war)campaign, Ravan and his army had camped atop Kailas mountain. While his army slept, Ravan was roaming around, and got steamy. At this juncture, he spotted Rambha(Hindi: रम्भा), rushing somewhere. He obstructed her path, and started to make sexual advances:

Ravan to Rambha:

I am the ruler of three worlds. Even the most handsome men(Ashwini Kumar) are secondary to me, hence, it is unfair that you are not attending me! Please accept my invitation, and sit besides me.

Rambha was intimidated. She begged Ravan:

I am your daughter-in-law. I am in love with Nalakubar(Hindi: नलकूबर) who is the son of your elder brother, Kuber(Hindi: कुबेर). I am headed for a date with him. Please let me go!

Ravan replied:

An Apsara(Hindi: अप्सरा) doesn’t have a husband, hence, she cannot be anyone’s daughter-in-law. Devas are polygamous, and Apsaras are polyamorous.

Then, he forced himself upon Rambha. After raping her, he let her go. Rambha was bruised, her clothes torn, and her ornaments shattered. She rushed to Nalakubar, narrated the entire incident, and apologized. Nalakubar sat in a ‘Dhyan’ position, and could visualize Ravan’s misdeed.

Nalakubar cursed Ravan:

“Ravan raped you, hence, he will never be able to copulate with a woman against her wish. The moment he attempts to rape a woman, his skull will crack, and shatter into 7 pieces.

From that moment, Ravan stopped raping women.

Disclaimer

1. I am interested in factual history, rather than novels or fictional depictions of historical entities and with this hat on, I have started to read Ramayan.
2. My primary goal is to slice-and-dice the epic on several parameters – it’s characters, geographical listings, specific events e.g. boons and curses, facts lesser-known to the masses(that includes me), and so on.
3. I have tried to reproduce the facts as mentioned in the original epic, in other words, AS-IS. I have also tried my best to avoid expressing my own guesswork & opinions but wherever I couldn’t avoid, I have marked the text in grey.
4. Related to point 3. – I have refrained from commenting/skipping/justifying/opposing facts that seem unrealistic, unscientific, improbable, etc.
5. Errors in translation, interpretation of metaphors, geographical entities might have crept in. Constructive corrections are welcome.
6. The posts should be read and interpreted with the above points in mind, otherwise, I have no intentions and capabilities to evaluate or criticize a timeless legend like Ramayan and it’s characters.
7. As an epic, I doubt there would be any Indian who is unaware of Ramayan and I belong to that humongous population. My intention was/is to gain, at least a brief, understanding of the political and social events during that era. I wish to learn about the simultaneous and sequential events that occurred in the then known geographical areas.
8. I am completely aware of the rule of reading History – one should not judge the past based on the present standards, paradigms and situations.
9. I dislike the English language’s norm of appending ‘a’ to Indian epic names(Rama, Ravana, Ganesha, Shiva, etc.), hence, as far as possible, I have deliberately avoided the English language interpretation of ‘schwa‘. This is not always possible though e.g: ‘Kaurav’ and ‘Pandav’ are terms that designate lineage, not a number. So, plural reference, it is necessary to use ‘Kauravas’ and ‘Pandavas’. Another deviation from English language rules is spelling words as per their phonetic sound in Hindi e.g: ‘यज्ञ’ has been written as ‘yagya’ and not ‘yajna’.
10. The readers can be of diverse backgrounds, especially, in terms of their knowledge about Ramayan. My posts are written based on my ( limited)knowledge of facts, which may differ from the readers. Constructive feedback is welcome. For discussions, please drop a personal message.