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Puranic encyclopaedia

by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222

This page describes the Story of Patalaravana included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).

Story of Patālarāvaṇa

A leader among the demons. 屹ṇa, the lord of ṅk, and rāvaṇa are different. rāvaṇa was the son of the sister of . Heti, son of , begot of his wife 󲹲 a son named Vidyutkeśa. Vidyutkeśa married Sālakaṭaṅkā and got of her ܰś. ܰś married Devavatī and got of her three sons, ⲹ, Sumālī and ī. Of these Sumālī got Prahasta and others who were the ministers of 屹ṇa. -屹ṇa was the son of ⲹ’s sister.

A set of demons afraid of Ѳ屹ṣṇ, the destroyer of demons, fled to . Their leader was rāvaṇa. On reaching he became their leader and emperor and he got the name of rāvaṇa from then onwards.

rāvaṇa performed severe austerities to propitiate and got from him three extraordinary boons:�(1) To travel freely in all the worlds without the use of any vehicle (2) To be well-versed in all magical arts (3) To be alive till the beetle-shaped blue diamond in his possession is broken into two.

rāvaṇa used all these boons for the welfare and emancipation of his own people. He was interested in teasing his enemies by the power of his boons. 屹ṇa, king of ṅk, had an alliance with rāvaṇa.

rāvaṇa had a cruel and huge brother named Kumbhodara who was an adept in magic. This brother always helped -屹ṇa in all his activities.

The -屹ṇa Yuddha was going on and 屹ṇa began to suffer defeat after defeat in quick succession. 屹ṇa then sent for rāvaṇa and his brother Kumbhodara. rāvaṇa felt sorry at the pitiable plight of ṅk and both the 屹ṇas sat together to discuss future plans. Though they had lost a major portion of their army, 屹ṇa suggested they should fight with the rest of the army and kill 峾. rāvaṇa was to kill 峾 and ṅk-屹ṇa was to marry ī. rāvaṇa said that it was unwise to continue the fight with a small army but promised he would make a trial by using his magic powers.

rāvaṇa and Kumbhodara on leaving Laṇkā made themselves invisible and travelled above the camp of Śrī 峾 to investigate the strength and manoeuvres of the 峾-army. It was night and the whole place was lit by moonlight. The monkey soldiers were taking rest in different places. վīṣaṇa and ܲī were talking in secret about grave matters. Śrī 峾 was lying resting his head on the lap of ṣmṇa and ṣmṇa was mildly massaging the divine body of his brother. Ჹū was sitting on a big dais created by his tail and keeping watch over the whole camp.

rāvaṇa knew from what he saw that any attempt to carry away 峾 from the surface of the ground was impossible and so he returned to . From there they made a tunnel up to the base of the seat of Ჹū and from there to where 峾 lay. Then they carried 峾 and ṣmṇa to before anybody could find it out by making them smell a sammohanadivyauṣadha (divine medicine causing unconscious ness). They brought them to a temple of Ѳī with the intention of offering them in a sacrifice to the deity the next day morning. They made all preparations for the same. Ჹū used to inspect the camp often and yet when after midnight he looked at the place where 峾 and ṣmṇa were sleeping he could not find them. He immediately woke up all and made a search and they then found the big hole of a tunnel near the place where 峾 and ṣmṇa were sleeping. All the leaders including ܲī and վīṣaṇa assembled there and then վīṣaṇa told them what had happened. He then took ܲī, Ჹū, and ṅg岹 and a big army to and went straight to the Ѳī temple. There rāvaṇa had already started the ceremonies for the sacrifice.

վīṣaṇa then asked Ჹū to go and get the beetle-shaped diamond of rāvaṇa from a secret place in his bed chamber. Ჹū took it and kept it in his mouth and attacked rāvaṇa who came running to slay him. -屹ṇa faced Ჹū in a very indifferent manner and a fight ensued. After sometime Ჹū lost patience and cracked the diamond within his mouth and the moment it cracked -屹ṇa fell down dead. (Yuddha ṇḍ, Kamba 峾ⲹṇa).

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