HS 402: INDIAN CLASSICS AND CULTURAL VALUES

TERM PAPER ON

LANKA OF RAMAYANA

AND

SRI LANKA OF TODAY

KARTHIK KUMAR MONIGARI

ME06B089

This topic is interesting as it deals with the substantiated misconceptions ofRamayana in the society. These riddles ofRamayana are many and varied, and what is more, is that they are likely to remain so forever. The two major riddles ofRamayana related to this topic are.

1) Ravana and Rakshasas, according to the popular Indian belief are malignant beings, demons of many shapes, terrible and cruel, who disturb the sacrifices and the religious rites and their denomination is considered an expression of hatred and horror than a real historical name.

2) Popular belief is so strong that it is almost axiomatic to associate the Lanka ofRamayana with modern Ceylon.

Rakshasas of Lanka are portrayed as normal human beings and their history, life and culture are discussed. All possible locations of Lanka ofRamayana are discussed which would be relevant in removing the substantiated misconceptions in the society.

The Paper is divided in to 5 sub topics:

1) History of Lanka

2) Description of lanka

3) Ravana - The great king of lanka

4) Sri Lanka of Today

5) Possible Locations of Lanka ofRamayana in Modern World

Information is collected from Google books, library books, archives. Some part of the information is collected by browsing sites on net. Other part of information is obtained from articles and discussions available on net related to the topic.

Information collected from various sources is analysed and ensured by referring translations of original texts like "Ramayana of Valmiki Translation into English" by Ralph. T. Griffith, "Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira Translated into English" by N.Chidambaram Iyer etc. which are available as e-books on net. From this analysis Facts are noted down concisely and are interpreted for finalizing the result.

History of lanka of Ramayana:

Heti and Praheti were two Rakshasas who were as strong as Madhu and Kaitabha. Heti married Bhaya, the sister of yama' and had a son called Vidyutkesa. Heti got Vidyutkesa married to Salakatankata, the daughter of Sandhya/. They had a son called Sukesa . Sukesa married Devavati3 and had three sons Mali, Sumali and Malyavan. On their request Viswakarma gave them the city of Lanka, which he had already built out of gold. Narmada" gave her daughters in marriage to the three brothers. Sumali and the other Rakshasas abandoned Lanka due to Vishnu's invasion and went to Paatala. Lanka was then occupied by Kubera, the son of rishi Visravasu through his first wife Devavarnini 5. Visravasu was son of Pulastya'". Rishi Visravasu also married Kaikasi, the daughter of Sumali who gave birth to Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Surpanakha and Vibhishana. Ravana regained lanka from Kubera.

Description of lanka of Ramayana:

Vishvakarrnan built the golden city of Lanka on a mountain called Trikuta. The city of Lanka'' was no inferior to Indra's Amaraavathi, Kubera's Alakaapuri and Naga's Bhogavati in its beauty, wealthy and prosperity. It had stately domes and tall turrets, encircled by a great rampart made of gold, which is difficult to assail with violence and is inlaid at intervals with gems, corals, eat's eyes and pearls. The city was surrounded by a deep trench. Like lightning, shining through the clouds, the buildings shone against the sky. These were modern houses with the shapes of lotus and swastika. Vedic chants were heard from houses. The guards were armed with bows, swords, cudgels, slings, lances and other weapons. Rakshasas were of varied beauty and complexions. The ladies of the city were beautiful, contended and were wearing ornaments of gold and precious stones.

Ravana - The great king of lanka:

Ravana'" was a great scholar, a capable ruler and a great devotee of Shiva. Ravana was well versed in Vedas, Angas, Sastras and Upanishads. In his book Sakvithi Ravana, Ahubudhu says that Ravana's ten heads represent the ten crowns he wore as a result of his being the sovereign of ten countries. Lanka under the scholarly Ravana saw great advancements in

1 King of South

2 Twilight, Surya's wife

3 Daughter of a Gandharva called Gramani 4 A Gandharva lady

5 Daughter of Rishi Bharadwaja

6 Fourth among the eleven Prajapatis created by Brahma 7 The divine architect of Universe

science and medicine'Y He was a musician, who had fashioned his own stringed instrument called Ravana Vina. He was the composer of Shivathandawa Stotra. A musical treatise by Ravana, entitled 'Ravaneeyam' is celebrated even today and another called 'Ravana-bet or 'Ravana-Patthiam' was compiled in later times, probably in commemoration of his unique attainments in the soul-subduing as well as soul-stirring art. "Kalikkindraar alaal Kavalkindraarai-k-Kaanenn"l shows that Ravana's was the best of governments, the world has ever seen. The whole military strength of Lanka was a thousand Vellam2.

Sri Lanka of Today:

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka known as Ceylon before 1972. The Island was renamed Sri Lanka, meaning "resplendent land" in Sanskrit, in 1972, before which it was known by a variety of names v.

According to the great chronicle Mahavamsa, Prince Vijaya's Grand-father is a lion ("Sinha") thus descendents from his blood ("Ie") are called "Sinhala".

According to some scholars, Sinhala is a form of saying Siv Hela, where 'siv' is four and 'Hela' is the name used to describe the people of the land. Unification of the four main Hela tribes - "Yakshas, Naagas, Rakshas and Devas" is what we know as Sinhala.

Possible Locations of Lanka of Ramayana in Modern World:

D P Mishra gives a list of the places which have been selected for 'Lanka'. These include Sumatra, the Maldives, Australia (via the Sunda Islands), the Lingga Island which is on the equator, Amarakantaka near Mahesvara on the Narmada river, in the Vindhya mountains, Chotanagpur in the Mahanadi delta, Assam, Triangular delta of the mouth of the river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. The Godavari has a stretch of alluvial islands called the Trikuta islands. These are known as Lankas even today. Explanations for some of the noteworthy places are given below concisely.

1 Words of Kamban's Hanuman

2 Vellam being myriad or very large number

Malaya Peninsula:

Mr.C.E Godakumbura in his article 'Lanka of classical Indian,l gives his opinion that lanka is situated somewhere near Malaysia, referring to the 'Janaki-Harana of Kumaradas. Kumaradas describes Suvela Mountain and ocean nearby as noisy ocean with waters shone on account of waves dancing about with the luster of coral sprouts and these waters often recede bringing out pearls and has hundreds of mountains, which is evident in Malaya Peninsula.

Australia (via Sunda Islands):

Diwan Bahadur C.N.Mehta2 says that vanaras went in the direction opposite to Abhijitconstellation3 for searching sita. And this direction from Mahendragiri near vizagapattanam will pass exactly over Andaman and Nicobar islands", Malacca strait, Sumatra and Java islands and lead to Australia where, presumably was Ravana's Lanka.

Mountain Island Mainaka appears to be a combination of Andaman and Nicobar by dropping 'Anda' from the first and 'Bar' from the second. Even the word Malacca appears to be a corruption of Main aka.

Word Sundar in Sundarakanda means that those events took place in Sunda Islands but through ignorance, Sunda was changed to Sundar. Sunda dwipa are so called because they were once under a powerful monarch called Sunda'.

Mainaka is described as a gold nassaled mountain, who had hidden himself in water. The peculiarity is that the Andaman Nicobar islands are top of mountains sunk into sea 6.

The Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia is a long chain of Lambhagiri Mountains with the Australian Alps at its southern extremity and Mount Morgan in the centre known as Mountain of Gold. Fabulous quantity of gold found in lumps and shining in the sands of river beds there is comparable to description of islands by hanuman.

Amarakantaka:

Sirdar Kibe in his book 'Lanka Discovered says that Lanka is near Mahesvara on the Narmada River, in the Vindhya Mountains at Amarakantaka in the Kaimur range". The

1 Published by All India Oriental Conference

2 Author of "The Flight of Hanuman to Lanka via Sunda Islands."

3 Which is not south but is inclined at an angle of 15 to 20 degree towards east

4 At a distance of 100 yojanas from Mahendragiri approximately 800 - 1000 miles 5 Father of Maricha and Subahu, Husband of Tataka in Ramayana

6 According to Morrison's, "Our World, a human geography (P .185)" 7 In Central India

inhabitants of these parts call themselves Ravanavanshis. Similarity between the Salakatankata, the family name ofRavana and Aamarakantaka is of significance. Rai Bahadur Hiralal asserts that in some of the lakes in this region pearls are found 1.

Bagra Hill:

RL. Gupta in his article" The Antiquity of Rama's Era,,2 identifies Lanka as an island in the Narmada Lake, now Bagra hill. He also re-identifies several other places in the Ramayana in locations around present Madhya Pradesh. The topography map of the once Narmada lake3 bed shows a formation which may have once been a setu from town ofHosangabad to Itarsi and to the Bagra hill, where the lake is narrowest. The level of this formation is fifty meters higher than those of the neighboring areas. Existence of Guptagodauri near Satna Chitrakuta is a support for it being the Chitrakuta ofRamayana.

Sri Lanka:

NASA recently discovered bridge in the strait between India and Sri Lanka, currently named as Adam's Bridge, is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long. Studies reveal" that it is manmade and dates back to 1,750,000 years ago which was supposed to be the Treta Yuga of Ramayana making it a crucial aspect for an insight into the mysterious legend called Ramayana.

There are many places in Sri Lanka associated with the Ramayana.

Rhumassala Kanda5, SUa Eliya6, Ravana Ella cave, Ravana Kotte, Ravana's palace at Maligawa Tenna, Ganakamadhana Hill etc.

Some reasons on why present Ceylon is not lanka of Ramayana:

1) The meridian of Lanka of the Indian astronomers, which was reputed to pass through Ravana's capital, passes through the Maldives islands at 75 degrees 53' 15" East Greenwich, quite four hundred miles from the present western limit of Ceylon.

1 Journal of Hindu Sammelan , Vol. 14,5

2 Journal Prachya Pratibha, published by Prachya Niketan, Vol. 11.1,1982

3 Reva Kanda of Skanda Purana speaks of a big lake in Narmada valley and modem fossil findings in the area substantiate this

4 A team from the Centre for Remote Sensing, led by Professor S.M. Ramasamy says that the bridge dates back to only 3500 yrs and not 1.7 million yrs as claimed earlier. Taken from an article in Indian Express.

5 Depicted as the Chunk of mountain dropped by Hanuman

6 Depicted as Asoka vana

7 Dune with golden lingam temple, supposed to be donated by Rama

2) Several books mention "Lanka" ofRamayana as being distinct from the Sinhala Island (which is Sri Lanka): Mahabharata (ArNya 51), Markandeya Purana (55.20.29)1, Devi Purana (42.46), Bhagavata (5.19,29.30), "Balaramayana" of Rajsekhara", "Brihatsamhita" ofVarahamihira (14.11), RajtarangiNi ofKalhaNa (1.294, 1.298), etc. The above list is taken from Hiralal Shukla's "Lanka ki Khaj", 1977.

3) The original name of Ceylon was 'Sinhala dwipa and before that it was known as 'Tamarparni'. It was named lanka in 1972.

4) Length of the bridge between India and Sri Lanka is 30km (18 miles) which is incomparable to 100 yojanas' (800 miles) mentioned in Valmiki Ramayana.

According to the Vedic astronomers, the island of Lanka was located at the earth's equator where the sun would be directly overhead at the time of the two equinoxes each year. Island should be on meridian through" Ujjain at a distance of 100 yojanas from southern tip ofIndia. Lanka was on the top of a mountain, rich in gold and Sal trees surrounded by water. The modern world shows no island in the vicinity of the Earth's equator and India's ancient prime meridians that would suggest an actual geographic location for Lanka based on above requirements. This leads us to the question of fiction in Ramayana. If it is all imaginary and mythological, then even imagination needs something to start it off. We cannot conclude it as fiction without knowing the intentions of Valmiki and the changes, the text would have undergone during the long history. There may be many ways of interpreting the location of lanka to different places, but the history has happened only in one way. It is lack of proper evidence to locate lanka rather than incapability. Whether the lanka is found are not, Ramayana has happened are not what matters at the end of the day is what we have gained out of it. Lanka, if found doesn't would only be of historical importance because existence of lanka cannot be the proof of Ramayana. Leaving behind the importance of the Morals in the Ramayana and finding its existence would only show ignorance than greatness. So it's time to realize the morals in Ramayana and start following them, instead of arguing about their mere existence.

1 Mentions that at the time Ravana ruled Lanka, Sinhala is ruled by Chandrasena 2 Here during Swayamvara Ravana addresses another King as "simhala-pathe"

3 Y oj ana is approximated by scholars as 8 miles, after studying various puranas

4 Some say it is not on meridian but at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees towards east. But I could not find the word called Abhijit constellation in Ramayana translated by Griffith.

S India's ancient prime meridian is said to pass through Ujjain and lanka of Ravana

Bibliography:

Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K. M. K. Murthy. "Valmiki Ramayana English translation." 1998-2008, http://www.valmikiramayan.net.

Ralph T.H.Griffith. The Ramayana of Valmiki translation in to English verse. Benares: E. J. Lazarus and Co., 1870-1874.

M. S. Purnalingam Pillai. Ravana: the great king of Lanka. Munnirpalam: The Bibliotheca, 1928.

Sirdar M V Kibe. Lanka Discovered. Pune: Monohar Mohadeo Kelkar, 1947.

u. P. Shah. "The Salakatankatas and Lanka." Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 96, No.1, 1976, pp. 109-113.

Paula Richman. Many Ramayanas: The diversity of a Narrative tradition in South Asia. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Jaydipsinh K. Dodiya. Critical Perspectives on the Ramayana. Delhi: Sarup & Sons, 2001. H. Parker. Ancient Ceylon. Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 4th ed. 1996.

C.E Godakumbura. "Lanka of classical Indian." All Indian oriental conference, B.O.RI., Pune, 1976.

RL. Gupta. "The Antiquity of Ram a's Era." JournalPrachyaPratibha, Vol. 11-1, 1982.

"NASA Images Find 1, 750,000 Year OldMan-Made Bridge." http://www.rense.com!generaI30/nasa.htm

Wilhelm Geiger. The Mahavamsa or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon Translated into English. London: Oxford University Press, 1912.

N.Chidambaram Iyer. The Brihat Samhita of Varahamihira Translated into English. Madura:

South Indian Press, 1884.

"The Location of the Island of Lanka." http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/krishnatalkl447318-location-island-Ianka.html

Satya Sarada Kandula. "Rakshasas." Ancient Indians - Satya Samhita. http://ancientindians.wordpress. com!rakshasas. html

M. A. Padmanabha Rao. "Scientific research article on Nala Sethu." http://www.angelfire.com!sc311010/VARADHI.htm

Kamalika Pieris. "The Ramayana and Sri Lanka." June 2008, http://www.island.lkl2008/06/07/satmag6.html

"Pearl of the Indain Ocean." http://lakdiva.org

I At the beginning of the process of creation, Brahma created eleven Prajapatis (used in another sense), who are believed to be the fathers of the human race. The Manusmriti enumerates them as Marici, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratuj, Vashishta, Pracetas or Daksha, Bhrgu, and Narada.

II Langka in Ramaker (Cambodia), lanka in Phra Lak Phra Ram (Laos), Langkapuri in Hikayat Seri Rama (Malaysia), Langka in Ramayana Kakawin (Indonesia).

III Ravana, also transliterated as Raavan or Raavanan (Krong Reap in Reamker (combodia), Rawana in Hikayat Seri Rama (Malyasia), Hapkhanasouane in Phra Lak Phra Ram (Lao), Thotsakan in Ramakien (Thailand), Yawana or Datha-giri in Yam a Zatdaw (Myanmar).

IV. According to Munidasa Kumaratunga, Ravana's medical works Nadi Pariksha, Arka Prakashata, Uddisa Chiktsaya, Oddiya Chikitsa, Kumara Tantraya and Vatina Prakaranaya were originally written in Sinhala and translated into Sanskrit.

v Ancient Names of Sri Lanka during different periods of history.

Sri Lanka (Present) 1972 AD

Ceylon (English) 1796 AD

Ceilon (Dutch) 1656 AD

Cilao (Portuguese) 1505 AD

Pa-outchow (Chinese) 1407 AD

Ilankai (Tamil) 1284 AD

Serendib (Arabic) 0622 AD

Lakdiva (Sinhala) 0307 BC

Taprobane (Greek) 0336 BC

Sihala (Pali) 0543 BC

Lanka (Sanskrit) 5114 BC