How Ravana got Lanka?

We all know that Ravana was the king of Lanka, which was the golden city and best fortified and the wealthiest city in the world but few among of us would know how Ravana become the king of the Lanka.How did Lanka come into existence and how did Ravana know about it when he was the son of a sage(rishi.)Now to answer all these questions we have to look back in the history.

Ravana was the son of sage Vishrava and grandson of Sage Pulastya and great grandson of lord Brahma.Vishrava had two wives : Mandakini and Kaikasi .Mandakini had a son named ‘Kubera’.Kubera was the god of wealth.There is always a misconception among people that Lakshmi is the goddess of the wealth , but in reality, Kubera is the god of wealth  while Lakshmi is the goddess of fortune .While we generally associate fortune with the wealth; that’s why this misconception arises.

Kubera who is also called ‘Dhanpati’ was once ruler of Lanka given by the Lord Brahma from where he could work on his wealth management among the people.He was also gifted “ Pushpak Vimana”, a flying chariot which was created by Vishwakarma who was the architecture of the gods on the instruction of lord Brahma. Kubera is also the guardian of one of the eight directions of the globe, North.

One day when Kubera  came to meet his father Vishrava with all his majestic style and grandeur flying in his chariot ‘Pushpak Viman’.Ravana on seeing this was struck and asked his mother “who is this fellow and from where did he get that majestic Vimana ”.Kaikasi replied that he is none other than your step brother ‘Kubera’. Kaikasi being the daughter of the demon king couldn’t control her anger and lust and told Ravana “Kubera had made his mother proud be his conduct and grandeur while your existence does not count.You are no better than an insect”. This irked Ravana who decided to show his mother that he is no less than anyone else.

He along with his brothers moved to a forest to perform deep penance to lord Brahma to get a boon from him.After thousand of years of his hard penance ,lord Brahma appeared and gave him the boon of invincibility .This made Ravana proud of his prowess and he started tormenting Kubera.He at last ,drove out Kubera from the Lanka and also snatched ‘Pushpak Vimana’ from him.Then he requested his father and mother to came along with him to Lanka while his father refused to go along with him while his mother kaikasi agreed as it was her direful wish to live in luxury and wealth which she couldn’t have while leaving with his husband Vishrava who was a sage. Thus Ravana became the king of the Lanka .

Kubera went to mount Kailasha after being defeated by his stepbrother Ravana and performed deep  penance to lord Brahma , who awarded him with a palace with most beautiful garden of the world  named ‘Alkapuri’ in Mount Mandara  and later lord shiva awarded him the lordship of all Yakshas and a guardianship of the North direction(dik-pala).

Nagas  Traced Back to their Origin

You are willing to let me be some….someone’s servant….Look at you , Having sons like you…it is better…..that I did not have any children…I CURSE YOU! You all would die in a Snake Sacrifice….’ Kadru yelled.

Kadru was the daughter of Prajpati Dakksha, guardian of the world .Thirteen Daughters of the Daksha was married to sage Kashyapa. Sage Kashyapa is considered to be the father of all living creatures of this Universe be it demons, gods, animals.

Kadru was one of the wives of Kashyapa and had sour relationship with his sister Vinata. Kadru always tried to demean Vinata. Both of them perform Yagas to bear children. After performing it for thousands of years, it was the time for result. Kadru as being hateful towards the Vinata asked for thousands sons who would be very strong and powerful while Vinata being gentle and calm asked for two sons who would be more powerful than the thousands sons of kadru. This ignited Kadru very much and now she was  more jealous of  Vinata.

After some time Kadru bore thousands of eggs and while Vinata bore only two. Some hundreds of years after, thousands eggs of Kadru hatched and from these came thousand snakes among which most prominent ones are:

1. Shesha

2. Vasuki

3. Takshak

Vinata got desperate that her eggs hadn’t hatched till them.She in haste broke one egg from which came Aruna, a half formed child who was as radiant and reddish as the morning sun. But, due to the premature breaking of the egg, Aruna was not as bright as the noon sun as he was promised to be. Arunabeing upset about it cursed his mother that she had to serve someone else for some hundreds of years. This made Vinata realized her mistakes and let other egg hatched on its due time. From it came, Garuda who finally became the consort of lord Vishnu.

One day when Vinata and Kadru were roaming around; saw the Uchchaihshravas, the beautiful seven headed white horse that was churned out of the ocean of Milk (Shir Sagar). Then after going back home; Kadru placed a bet and asked Vinata to tell the color of the tail of  Uchchaihshravas. The bet was whoever lost it had to serve the other. Vinata replied the colour being white.

Now Kadru being aware that color of the horse, Uchchaihshravas was indeed snow white and its tail too was of white color. He gathered his sons asked them to wrap around the tail of  Uchchaihshravas to make it appear black so that when Vinata and she would go to find out the color of  Uchchaihshravas next day, Vinata would lose the bet.

Shesha being elder and spiritual told her mother that this is sin and he would not be a party to this. This irked Kadru as his sons were not supporting him and in haste  yelled those words mentioned in the first sentence of the post.

Nagas could not believe what they heard that their mother had herself gifted them death. This create fear among them and all of them agreed to what their mother demand except shesha, whose heart was filled with sorrow and this situation had created separation between the hearts of her mother and him and then he went to mountain to perform ‘Tapasya’ .

Next day when Vinata and kadru went to see the tail of  Uchchaihshravas ,the sons of Kadru was already wrapped neatly around the tail of  Uchchaihshravas making it appear black. Thus Vinata lost the bet and had to be servant to kadru .Thus, the curse of his son, Aruna came to realization.

We will talk about the nagas in some other post among whom most prominent ones are shesha who ultimately became the resting place of Lord Vishnu and while Vashuki became the ornament that Lord Shiva wore.

Truth About Ravana and KumbhaKaran

Once Lord Vishnu was resting in his native place in Vaikunth. Four Kumaras (great sages) came to meet him.The Kumaras appeared to be mere children due to the strength of their Tapas but they were of great ages. The entrance gate to Vaikunth was closed and two gatekeepers named Jaya and Vijaya were guarding the entrance gate.

Then the four kumaras asked them to open the gate as they were there to meet Lord Vishnu. But the gatekeepers  laughed at them being not aware of the fact that the these kumaras were great sages and told them that Lord Vishnu was resting and could not meet them now.The laugh annoyed the Kumaras and they told Jaya and Vijaya that the Lord Is always there for his devotees at any time. They then cursed Jaya and Vijaya that they had to leave their divinity and holiness and be born as mere mortals on the Earth and live the life as normal human beings, then Kumaras left the Vaikunth.

Jaya and Vijaya rushed to Lord Vishnu with grief and asked him to lift the curse of Kumaras. The Lord replied that the curse could not be lifted but they had two options; either they had to be born seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as enemies of Vishnu. After that they could regain their stature at Vaikunth and be with the Lord Permanently. Jaya and Vijaya having immense devotion towards the lord could not think of living seven lives away from Him and thus chose to be born three times on Earth as enemies of Lord Vishnu.

In the first life form that Jaya and Vijaya took were born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha .Both were killed by lord Vishnu in the form of Vahara, boar and Narshimha, half man-half lion.

In the Second life form they took were the famous RAVANA and KUMBHAKARAN and were killed by Vishnu in the form of Lord Rama.

In the third life, they were born as Shisupal and DantVakra and killed by Lord Krishna who was himself the lord Vishnu in Dwapara Yuga.

 Who was the Strongest Among All During Mahabharata War?

 As all of you might be aware of the few big names during the Mahabharata War. Likes of Arjun, Karna will certainly be there in every list but you certainly neglect some which are also among the most formidable ones. Now one by one we will consider each.

1. Arjun: One of the Greatest Archers (as per my opinion he was surely not the greatest one), wielder of Gandiva, Bow of Brahma. He had learnt archery from the greatest teacher of that time, Dhronacharya. One of the few who know to shoot and retrieve Brahmsatra, (today’s Nuclear Weapon).

2. Karna: One of the greatest archers, Student of Lord PrashuRam, wielder of Vijaya Shiv, bow of Lord Shiva. No person or weapon could hurt/defeat the person having Vijaya in his/her hand. He was protected by divine Shield which was later donated by him to a Braham, who in reality was Indra, Father of Arjun. Indra in disguise asked for that divine shield as donation and karna obliged. Karna was the only person who was having all the qualities of five pandavas.

3. Bhishma: The name used to strike thunder among the enemy. The rulers of the Aryavarta(India) aligned along the Kauravas because he was the commander in chief. This student of Lord ParshuRam, have all the knowledge about Astras and Shastras, there was at that time. From Brahmastra to Pashupatastra everyone one of them was in his quiver. He had the boon to choose his own time of death. Of 18 days that Mahabharata war last, he was the commander for 10 days. No one could defeat him in the war; at last Krishna had to wield weapon to kill him while he vowed not to wield a weapon during the war. He was certainly among the contenders for the best during the war.

4. Dhronacharya: The Guru of the Arjun, Student of ParshuRam, the best teacher of that time. His Guru, Lord ParshuRam gifted all his weapons to him impressed by his devotion and his abilities. He made such a powerful shield during war that even Krishna and Yudhishtira, had to resort to foul-play to kill him.

5. Aswatthamma: Son of Dhronacharya with gem on his forehead, part incarnate of lord Shiva. He knew to wield every weapon. He was one among the eight Chiranjivi and one of the sage of the Kalyuga. Aswatthama studied Archery or martial arts and Brahmavidya or the science of the self or atma from Lord Parasurama, Maharishi Durvasa, Maharishi Ved Vyasa, Bhishma, Kripa and Drona. Aswatthama is the master of all forms of knowledge and possesses complete mastery over 64 forms of arts or Kalas . Bhishma once said when Ashwatthama gets angry, no one will be able to fight him as he becomes a second Shiva. No one can handle his wrath and fury. Thus Arjuna was advised to please Lord Shiva through penance so that the Pandavas can win over the Kauravas which had Aswathamma among their
ranks. He was among the only three (Drona, Krishna, Aswathamma) who knew to wield Narayanastra. He killed most number of enemies along with Arjuna and Karna. He defeated Bhima, Yudhistira in direct combat.

After the death of Duryodhana, he vowed to take revenge and prayed to lord Shiva and then Shiva impressed him by entering into his body. Along with him, Kali and Shiv Ganas appeared. He along with Kali and Ganas killed all the Pandavas soldiers, panchal and remainder commanders of the Pandavas army like Dhrishtdhoom, Shikandni and others. He killed all the sons of Pandavas and annihilated the lineage of the Pandavas.

6. Barbareek: Now it’s time to turn our head to grandson of the Bhima, Son of Gatothkach, .After deep penance he was gifted with three arrows as a boon which would make him victorious over any enemy. He can’t be defeated till he has those and only he can call them, no one else not even Krishna. He vowed to take the weaker side of the army and fight along with them and Krishna

knew being the supreme god with Pandavas made the Kauravas weaker and then Barbareek had to align with Kauravas and he would kill all the Pandavas along with their army in a jiffy. So krishna alarmed by this, tricked Barbareek to kill himself and gave him the seat in the Vaikunta along with himself; thus securing the victory for Pandavas.

This is the list of the most powerful person among the armies during Mahabharata war. It is based on the discretion of the reader to decide his own ranking. Last but not the least for me the most powerful among them was Barbareek.