Ramayana – Ravana enters the Ring – {Ep.231} – Stories From India – Podcast

A story from the Ramayana where Ravana enters the battlefield, and faces off against Sugriva, Hanuman, Nila, Lakshman, Hanuman again, and finally Ram himself!

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

In this episode, we’re continuing the story of the Ramayana. The Ramayana is one of the two major epics in Indian mythology. The other is the Mahabharata which we have also covered on this show. 

The Ramayana begins in the Kingdom of Ayodhya with Ram, the Crown Prince. He didn’t stay crown prince for too long. Because his stepmother Kaikeyi forced him into exile for 14 years. Ram went, but his wife Sita, and brother Laxman came along too.

Ram was an avatar of Vishnu, the preserver of the Universe. Vishnu creates a balance between Brahma the Creator of the Universe, and Shiva, its Destroyer. Together they are the Holy Trinity of Indian mythology. If you haven’t heard these episodes before let me assure you, my stories are about as authentic as it gets. Because Brahma is my dad. And I’m president for life of the Vishnu fan club, and I regularly meet Shiva on Mt Kailash.

Anyway, back to Ram, Laxman and Sita. They survived one challenge after another in the wild. Demons and demonesses had eagerly queued up to either eat the Ayodhya trio, or to kidnap and enslave them. Ram and Laxman managed to fight off most such challenges. 

And then suddenly everything took a decidedly darker turn when Ravana abducted Sita! Ravana was the ruler of Lanka, and the mega villain in this epic. He was full of superpowers which meant defeating him was virtually impossible. If you want a modern analogy, imagine Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter Universe, but with 10 heads, so 10 times as evil. A star wars analogy works as well. Think of the Evil Sith Lord Emperor, with his and Darth Vader’s powers but with nothing good left in the combination.

Sita had been kidnapped without so much as a ransom note about a drop off point in an abandoned fort or some such sinister location. Neither the police existed, nor the CBI, nor the Gumshuda Talash Kendra. So Ram and Laxman got help from the next best option – the Vanars. These Vanars were a kingdom of monkeys led by Sugriva, who was their King. That being said, most of the actual help was from Hanuman – Sugriva’s adviser and right hand Vanar. And that help included locating Sita in Lanka, delivering Ram’s words of support, and delivering Sita’s return words of support to Rama. Burning down Lanka, and getting the inside scoop on Lankan defenses were bonuses.

The Ayodhya brothers and all the Vanars crossed the ocean to get to Lanka. That part was especially hard, because first they had to build a bridge across the ocean which any civil engineer will tell you is hard enough now, and was much harder still in Ancient India. 

Vibhishana, one of Ravana’s brothers, switched sides and came over to help Ram.

The Vanars established a camp on a nearby mountain. And from there the two sides dove into battle. Indrajit, Ravana’s son, had already delivered a massive blow to the Vanars when he very badly hurt both Ram and Laxman. Luckily for the Ayodhya brothers, Garuda intervened. Garuda is Vishnu’s mount, and is half man half bird, and is one of the most powerful creatures I have ever met. Thanks to his intervention Ram and Laxman could again join the battle the very next day.

We’ll continue the story not on the battleground but inside Ravana’s palace.

Ravana sat in his chair holding his heads. Yes, he was holding as many of his 10 heads as he could manage.

“Something wrong, sire?” asked his minister.

“Something wrong, he asks! Nooooo, everything is splendid, in fact I’m thinking of throwing a big party,” it was Ravana’s Head Number 3 who said all that. Not surprising, that head was known to be a little bit more on the sarcastic side. 

“Of course, something is wrong,” the ever practical Head number 2 spoke. “In fact, everything is wrong, you might as well ask if anything has gone well.”

“Surely, your highness is forgetting Indrajit’s victories on day 1” the minister reminded him.

“A minor victory,” Head Number 8 said. “It’s all gone downhill from there. It’s all because of these confounded monkeys! Not content with invading Lanka, they’ve invaded my skulls and given me these splitting headaches.”

“Unless you’re here to bring me some good news?” Head Number 5 asked with an optimism that caused the other heads to roll their cumulative 18 eyes.

The minister reluctantly admitted that no news was good news.

Head Number 6 joined Number 5 in growing excitement, until the minister clarified that what he meant was that none of the news had been good news. He didn’t mean to imply that an absence of new information could be assumed to be favorable.

It goes to show how low Ravana’s spirits were that he didn’t toss the minister out of the window, or bung an entire mountain on him for not being specific enough. But he asked for the news, bad as it was. And it was pretty bad.

Dhumraksha and Vajradamshtra were killed.

“Who?” asked Ravana’s Head number 10. And it was obviously speaking for the other 9 heads.

When reminded that they were his warriors, Ravana said – send flowers and a condolence letter to their family. Using the generic postcard, not the personal handwritten and signed note. He didn’t even remember who they were. And besides with hard to pronounce names like that he ventured a guess that the morale of the troops working with those warriors might actually increase.

So it was that later on Dhumraksha and Vajradamshtra’s family found out through the postcard about how much Ravana had felt a personal sense of grief when their husband/son/father/brother/nephew/uncle had been killed/injured/taken prisoner/was missing. And to accept Ravana’s personal heartfelt condolences/sympathies/best wishes.

The minister went on to say that Akampana and Prahastha had also fallen in battle.

Had they really? Why didn’t they get up and carry on fighting? The 10 headed demon asked. To which the minister had to explain that they had fallen permanently. They had been killed in the action.

This was bad. Quite bad.

Akampana was Ravana’s uncle. He had escaped slaughter at Ram’s and Laxman’s hands back in India and then gone on to advise Ravana to abduct Sita in Episode 101. Now with him gone there was no scapegoat.

And Prahastha was one of his most capable generals.

Where was Indrajit? They badly needed a repeat of his day 1 actions if they were to punch back at the Vanars. But Indrajit needed to recharge his invisibility spells. It was clear that those were his strengths and without them he’d have a hard time overcoming the Vanars. Unfortunately the recharging would take more time.

So Ravana said he would enter battle himself! The bold decision was inevitably applauded, which is not a surprise. The minister was a sycophant and would have applauded any decision by Ravana.

Ravana asked for pitch and weather conditions. The minister said it was going to be a bright and sunny day. Leftover arrows and spears were cleared from the battleground. That meant he had a choice between the chariot with the Ceat tires, or the one with the MRF wheels. Ravana chose the MRF chariot – because the tires had muscles, or so the manufacturers claimed. Honestly, if he really wanted to win, I often wonder why he did not choose the Pushpak Viman, his flying chariot. He would have the tactical high ground, though not the moral one given that would give him an unfair advantage in a gentleman’s battle. I just never thought that Ravana would be the type of person to stick to morals about battle etiquette, considering he had abducted someone’s wife.

The minister left and returned within minutes to report that everything was ready. The chariot was in the loading zone, the charioteers were ready, the horses were fed, they had fresh shoes on. The chariot was loaded with dozens of bows and arrows and spears. And his special 10-cup-cup holder had just the right blends of tea that each of his heads liked.

“Good morning your majesty, this is your pilot, Captain Sarathi speaking. I’m joined in the cockpit by my co-pilot Saha Sarathi. I trust you find yourself comfortably standing for this journey into battle.

As we embark on our adventure, I would like to extend a warm welcome aboard. Due to a risk of injury to cabin crew, in-flight refreshments will not be served today. Our route today will take us through the battleground. Please ensure your belongings are securely stowed. We may point out some landmarks as we pass them. Meanwhile, if you are aiming your weapons, please do not aim them forward and low. The accident of one of us being hit, or one of the horses is high. 

In the event of unexpected bumps or turbulence on the road, rest assured that your charioteers are well-trained in the art of smooth navigation. We anticipate a pleasant journey into the battlefield, and we are delighted to have you on board.

Thank you for choosing us for your battle needs. We hope you enjoy the ride and reach your palace back with joyous memories of a high kill count. Chariot, prepare for departure on runway 9”

Ravana’s chariot advanced into the battlefield. His first order was to bolt the garage gate behind him, and to put extra guards on every entrance in case the Vanars realized that with Ravana out of the city, it would be the best opportunity to attack it.

Ravana had an instant advantage from his gleaming new chariot. And the advantage was that it was gleaming. All that metal shone, reflecting the sun, directly into the Vanars eyes. That meant Ravana could take his time aiming his arrows and picking off one Vanar after another. Ravana was really really accurate with a bow and arrow. His archery skills were quite underrated given all his other skills, but right now he was demonstrating them by getting a 100% strike rate.

Sugriva quickly noticed Ravana, and launched towards his chariot. King vs King, this was the face off that Sugriva wanted again. Especially after their last one-on-one fight had ended inconclusively. Some Vanars said Sugriva had been lucky to get out of that alive, and that was mildly infuriating. Sugriva was going to do something about it now. The bright shiny reflective chariot made it harder, but Sugriva had a pair of sunglasses that he quickly put on. 

The Vanar King picked up a mountaintop, complete with trees still attached to it, and hurled it at the demon King. Sugriva was giving Ravana a taste of his own medicine.

But Ravana’s charioteer detected the giant mass on the radar. “We have a bogey incoming at 10 o’ clock!” he shouted.

Ravana appreciated the warning. But even as he casually used an arrow to burst the incoming mountain to smithereens he realized he found all this aviation jargon a little tiring. But he couldn’t just replace this crew mid-flight. Oh no, he was doing it himself now! Privatizing his fleet of chariots had some disadvantages, he figured.

He’d fired an arrow that stunned Sugriva. And now he gave the signal to move on. Sugriva was stunned but not dead. He’d lost consciousness. It was a nasty blow though, and Sugriva would likely be out of action for a while. The demon king began mechanically destroying one Vanar after another.

A bit further off, Ram and Laxman saw the chariot and the distinctive T shaped individual in the chariot. Well, well, Ravana was in their midst. “Time to end this battle” Rama said and began walking in the chariot’s direction. 

But Laxman said he wanted a go. Like a good elder brother, Ram let him. So Laxman headed in the chariot’s direction, while Ram focused on taking out a few Lankan soldiers here and there.

But before Laxman reached him, someone else had appeared on the scene to challenge Ravana. And that was Hanuman. Hanuman let out a wild war cry and was about to leap onto the chariot, but Ravana hit him with an arrow. It didn’t stop Hanuman but it did slow him down, as he reeled back from the impact of the massively powerful arrow that Ravana had shot at him.

Hanuman was angrier and was about to make a second attempt at a leap, when he stopped. 

That was because Nila had joined in. Nila was a Vanar son of Agni the god of fire. And also the brother of Nala the architect of the Bridge to Lanka. Nila wasn’t an architect like his brother, and he couldn’t set fire to things like his dad. But he could move fast. He landed on Ravana’s chariot. He wasn’t able to launch any attacks on Ravana himself, but he moved rapidly and avoided every one of Ravana’s close-range darts. 

Hanuman meanwhile observed Ravana engaged in that little skirmish with Nila and decided not to attack the demon. It wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do a 2 on 1 attack. I mean, how would it be in cricket if the fielding team suddenly were allowed to bowl from both sides of the stumps at the same time? How was the batsman expected to defend his wicket from both ends? Hanuman moved on to tackling a few other Lankan soldiers elsewhere.

Nila’s actions were costing Ravana precious arrows. Finally realizing that Nila was more than an ordinary monkey, Ravana took out a special arrow. This was a heat-seeking one that would pursue its target once it had locked on. He let fire and though Nila moved with great agility, the monkey could not shake off the arrow. It finally caught up with him and injured him as well.

Ravana’s charioteers moved the chariot forward. Now there were 4 or 5 Vanar generals all around, and Ravana again deftly held them off. Things were going well for him. He had taken Sugriva and Nila out of the battle, he had injured another 4 or 5 generals. He had stunned Hanuman. Pity he had lost him, he really wanted to finish off that insolent monkey for destroying his city. And pity that Ram and Laxman weren’t yet to be seen. They were hiding out of fear, no doubt, he thought to himself.

But he was wrong of course. Because right then Laxman appeared before him. Laxman was aiming carefully and was about to fire a weapon at Ravana, when Ravana suddenly reached out and tossed a little hill at the Prince. Laxman had to abruptly change his aim, but he hit the hill and shattered it into little pieces. Ravana started firing arrows at him now. But Laxman was quick, he fired arrows that intercepted Ravana’s arrows. And it wasn’t just all defense from Laxman. He also managed to sneak in a shot that broke Ravana’s bow.

Ravana was infuriated now. He took his magic spear. As he hurled it towards Laxman, he screamed the spell “Taste the thunder”. Laxman merely laughed and gave the demon King a thumbs up as if to say “You need to relax bro, chill, have a drink or something” 

But it Laxman who was suddenly on the backfoot now, there was a brilliant flash of lightning that temporarily blinded Laxman. The spear caught him square in the chest. Thankfully it only knocked him out and didn’t kill him. Ravana realized that and decided he needed to finish the job now. The mistake Indrajit had made was to not go and ensure they finished off the Ayodhya brothers when he had. Ravana approached Laxman as he lay there on the ground. The demon King decided to do what Bane did to Batman, if you follow those comics, or if you’ve seen the movies. He was going to lift Laxman’s body and break this prince into two. Kind of like breaking a kitkat. “Poor Laxman, looking so tired,” Ravana said derisively. “Have a break”

But to his vast surprise, Ravana could not lift Laxman. Had the spear pinned him to the ground? But no it wasn’t that. Sarathy in the nearby chariot suggested that maybe it was Fevicol’s majboot jod, jo tuteega nahi. For the uninitiated Fevicol is a Indian brand of adhesive that advertises with that slogan, meaning a robust unbreakable bond.

Hanuman leapt in just then faced Ravana. Finally these two titans were about to face each other. But it wasn’t much of a contest. Hanuman quickly jabbed left and right and rained punches on the King of Lanka. He knocked out several of Ravana’s 320 teeth. Actually make that 316. Ravana had wisdom teeth extracted from one of his heads. 

Hanuman could have ended the war right then by finishing off Ravana, but he had a more important thing to attend to. Laxman. If the Prince didn’t get immediate attention, it might cost him his life. Hanuman left Ravana there, picked up Laxman, and leapt off towards the medic tent. Sarathy, Saha Sarathy, and Ravana all stared in amazement at the ease with which Hanuman had lifted Laxman. Was Ravana going soft perhaps? The charioteers would definitely wonder, Ravana decided. So upon returning that day, he would have to have them executed before anyone else found out what had happened here.

The medics removed the spear quickly, which magically returned back to Ravana. It was programmed to return to base, sort of like a roomba, but only a little bit more destructive than your top of the line robot vacuum, if you know what I mean. Laxman would be okay. The medics had just too much on their hands right now. Sugriva, Nila, and hundreds of other Vanars were hurt here.

Hanuman returned back to the field where Ram was getting ready to attack Ravana now. Ram was angry. Very angry. But Hanuman could see that he also lacked the high ground here. Seeing as Ravana was back on his chariot, the demon King had a height advantage and Ram needed a better vantage point if he wanted to inflict some serious damage.

“Get on my shoulders,” he said quickly to Ram. Ram understood and was quickly in a great spot again. “Hanuman, can you hover?”

“Of course!” the Vanar replied. “I can also fly backwards. I did that when I learned a bunch of lessons from the Surya, the Sun God”

“Wonderful, but this is no time to reminisce. Just do it. Hover for 2 or 3 seconds, flit right or left 5 meters, hover again and move left or right again. Keep doing that, but always stay between the sun and Ravana’s chariot”

That was an easy flight plan for Hanuman to follow. Ravana was now having a hard time predicting their movement. And what’s more, now that he had to look up, the glare from the sun was in Ravana’s eyes. And though Ravana had some sunglasses, he didn’t have 10 pairs.

Ram had been clever to realize this. Ram fired a volley of arrows that broke the chariot – tires, horses, it even broke Ravana’s last bow and his magic spear. As an icing on the cake, Ram fired an arrow that neatly removed Ravana’s 10-headed crown from his head.

There was one final arrow that Ram positioned. But he didn’t fire it.

“Take the shot, why don’t you?” urged Hanuman.

But Ram shook his head. He addressed Ravana. “Look at you, you’re weak and pathetic right now. You’re hardly standing. You have no weapons left. I can’t kill you right now.” Ram was right, it was an easy thing to do, but not the honorable one.

“Can’t you just take out one of his heads? Just one? He’s still got 9 more” Hanuman urged again

But That wouldn’t be following battle etiquette either.

Ravana walked off angry, with Sarathy and Saha Sarathy beside him. Sarathy began speaking, it was as if he couldn’t help himself.

“Esteemed passenger, this is your charioteer speaking. We trust you’ve had an enchanting experience today riding with us.

As we approach our destination, there is no need to ensure your belongings are securely stowed, and to fasten your seatbelts. We don’t have seatbelts or belongings left. We’re about to turn right here back into Runway 9 from where we departed. There is no need to adjust your watches, we are landing in the same timezone we took off from. The weather outside is nice and pleasant.

On behalf of the entire charioteer crew, we’d like to express our gratitude for riding with us. We hope your time with us has been memorable, and we look forward to welcoming you on board again for future adventures.”

Ravana laughed a hollow laugh. His resolve to execute his charioteer crew had only grown.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Checkout the link in the show notes for other Ramayana episodes.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll do a folk tale again, which one of you listeners requested.

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Chimpsings – I can’t really do a story on Harry Potter, but my show is liberally peppered with Harry Potter references. If you want specific analogies there’s Episode 44 and 45 – Hari Pot-Breaker. I’ve explained in Episode 13 how much Harry Potter is based on Krishna’s story.

Sramananda, Darsh, Karthiraj, Hiranmayee, Parasasapbi, Shalu, and Adi – thank you for the lovely comments.

Hope you had a good children’s day as well Hiranmayee.

Vihaan – you can call me Narada. That’s who I am.

Darsh, Tipu Sultan story, got it. He was character of the week in Episode 20, but there are more stories to tell about his life, so I’ll add that to my list.

Adi and Shalu, I will do a Karthikeya story. He did feature in the Urvashi and Pururavas episode recently, and also in a very old Episode 6.5.

Munish – I have covered the story of Krishna’s birth and childhood in Episode 11 – The boy who lived, and in Episode 13 – Nurse Ratched and Umbrella Mountain. Let me know if there is a specific story you are looking for, because Krishna’s childhood was a very eventful one, and there are many incidents that I have not covered.

If you have any other comments or suggestions or if there are particular stories you’d like to hear, please do let me know by leaving a comment or a review on the site sfipodcast.com, or reply to the questions on Spotify Q&A. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook, and on X.

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A big thank you to each of you for your continued support and your feedback.

The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!