The brave Sinhalese King of Ceylon
In the Age of the Ramayana Epic, Ravana was the most powerful Sinhalese King of Lankapura (Ceylon or Sri Lanka). He was a renowned devotee of Siva, who was pleased with his severe penances and austerities, granted him the boons of earthly fame and worldly might. Ravana was a very talented Veena (his own design music instrument) player. Ravana used Veena picture on the country flag. Ravana is not a Hindu God but rather a demon given great powers by the Gods because of his worship. The Gods granted him immunity from Death by a God and conferred super-powers upon him. Ravana set himself up as Sinhalese King of Lankapura (Ceylon or Sri Lanka).
In the height of his sovereignty, imbued with the desire to have the Lord of Kailas, his tutelary Deity installed in Lanka, he exceeded the limits of disciplined discrimination, and attempted by his invincible strength to transfix Mount Kailas, the traditional abode of Siva from the Himalayan region to that of Lanka. He was foiled in this feat by the Lord crushing him under His Feet; and finally it was his astounding act of penance that saved him from the wrath of Siva. Ravana ripped into his left thigh, removed the nerve fibers and turned it into a lyre, and sang praise of Siva. Then it was that Siva released him, pleased with his mortification. This episode of Ravana was constantly eluded by the Saiva psalmists to signify that piety and devotion alone without purity and humility could not redeem man or give him peace. Ravana was a great Hindu Bhakta; yet his code of life violated the Hindu Dharma and he had to pay for it dearly.
Again in the life of Ravana, his insatiable pride and lust made him carry off Sita, the chaste wife of Rama of the powerful dynasty of Raghu at Ayodhya, when they were living in the forest in exile. Rama and his union with the monkey God Hanuman to eventually attack Lankapura( Ceylon or Sri Lanka) and kill Ravana. Ravana was able by magic art to take his soul out of his body and leave it in a box at home, while he went to the wars. Thus he was invulnerable in battle. When he was about to give went to the wars. Thus he was invulnerable in battle. When he was about to give battle to Rama, he deposited his soul with a hermit called Fire-eye, who was to keep it safe for him. So in the fight Rama was astounded to see that his arrows struck the king without wounding him. But one of Rama’s allies, knowing the secret of the king’s invulnerability, transformed himself by magic into the likeness of the king, and going to the hermit asked back his soul. On receiving it he soared up into the air and flew to Rama, brandishing the box and squeezing it so hard that all the breath left the King of Lankapura’s (Ceylon or Sri Lanka) body, and he died. You will get much pleasure from reading the Ramayana and tracking the whole adventure.
There is lot of evidence proofs that powerful Sinhalese King of Lankapura (Ceylon or Sri Lanka) Ravana has been lived in Trincomalee. Because the Sinhalese tradition has it that the wife of the mythical king of Lankapura, Ravana who was a devotee of both Lord Buddha & shiva, worshiped at the muhudu viharaya shrine Buddhist temple in Trincomalee Another proof is Discovery of Ravana's hsvamblingaya. It was originally found on a Tibetan mountain (thibbahian also Buddhist country from the Buddhist era) and later brought to Sri Lanka reportedly by the Sinhalese King Ravana. Moreover, in the Ramayana Epic period Ravana has used Veena as Ceylon Flag and according to the "Veena" Pictures on the Trincomalee Fort proofs that Ravana has dominated in Trincomalee. Also the seven Hot Wells ( Hot springs ) in Kannya(recently name kinniya) was made by the Sinhalese king ravana king Ravana.the community who were in rawana period name as helaya (recently name as Sinhalese) one more evidence to prove the king ravana was a Sinhalese after that period sri lanka named as helabima,,,,,,, even in mahabarathaya also mention that as a lanka pura is the capital and helabima is the country witch ravana’s kingdom
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Glistening white pieces formed the very walls of the Temple of Lanka, so tightly packed that a visitor might mistake them for stone, but the raksha general Thratri knew them for what they were, thousands of teeth. No longer did their gruesome presence give her even the slightest of chills and indeed she took especial thrill to see that today the sacrifices had begun again. Once again, she descended into the depths of the temple to carry out her continuing masquerade. Sometimes she found confused sacrifices there, awaiting the tender mercies of her voracious appetite. Other times strange visions cried out to her for her interpretation. Today, however, if day could be said to happen in the 1000 Hells of the Yomi Kings, things seemed different. A reverence akin to holy worship and bowel-slackening fear all at once came upon her. "Greetings, Lord, I see you have returned"
"Ah, general, but of course no one else knows I ever left, I trust?" Ravana, Yomi King of the Rakshas had returned and Thratri grew fearful. Would he see past the palace rumors of her rulership in his supposed indisposure? And the intensity of the waves of hunger and smoking flesh that seemed to emanate from the demon king awakened deathly desires and terrors she had not felt since the first descent into the Yomi realms. She stood aside in earnest as the first of the sacrifices for the first time in a thousand years actually reached her lord instead of the wanton beasts of nightmare she fed in his absence. Even the most dreadful of the shimmering visions seemed reluctant to even beg for the slightest morsel given the obvious desparate, fiery hunger of their master. Ravana had come home, and he could not possibly accept his failure for his own. Even in the tropical blood-scented heat, Thratri shivered. . .
This year Justin Achilli, who is actually an indredible developer, for whom I bear a lot of respect, struck Vampire with a fury of change unmatched since Andrew Greenberg. Luckily, unlike Greenberg, Justin has been making changes that fit the orginal theme of Vampire and doing wonders for the rebuilding of the sects and so forth into reflections of the monstrous nature of the Kindred.
In this case, however, we do not know where he is going with the final results, but as of DragonCon, prior to my own employment with White Wolf, it became clear that the reference to "typhoon Justin", a tropical storm that strikes Calcutta, found in a throwaway joke in Clan Novel Setite was actually pretty serious. With the release of the Time of Thin Blood, the Ravnos were very nearly wiped from the face of the planet. My longterm thought had always been that the Ravnos were ruled by a creature perhaps very similar to the Daione Sidhe of legend, but I realized that I had always ignored their eastern origins. The Vampire Revised description of this drives this point home, and suddenly I noticed a reference in Kindred of the East. A sinister idea formed in my head.
What if the Ravnos "antediluvian' is the demon king Ravana come to the Sixth World? This would sort of satisfy the Ravnos belief that their founder created himself, as the demon king would have essentially come to the sixth world and stolen chi from one of the 2nd generation vampires to create himself a powerful body from which to try to conquer the west..... now, slain, he is forced to return to the 1000 Hells, specifically to his own, and the rakshasa once again find their leader returned from the 6th world.... the few surviving Ravnos either join with the newly reorganized rakshasa (akuma eastern vampires) or flee bearing tales of terrible things. Some might even escape to other fragmented mythical factions of the clan, whose ancients might even provide some protection, assuming they even survived the Yomi king's deadly curse and destruction. (This is probably not making sense to you if you have not read The Time of Thin Blood; suffice it to say that product details the very destruction of one of the Antediluvians. The first official death that has been made crystal clear to date.)
For those of you familiar with the Path of Paradox, suddenly you may make sense of it. The Yomi demon king, Ravana, sought a way to recover the power he had lost in the Hells, and sought to become King of the Middle Kingdom, to ascend as the prophesied demon king of the 6th age. He, therefore, slipped into the material world, and through some trickery, stole the blood of one of the 2nd generation of Kindred, allegedly children of Caine. With this mighty Chi, he forged a clan of western vampires to supplement the service of his rakshas and akuma servitors. Some travelled so far that the Yomi king's influence fell astray, and they forged beliefs of his karmic nature that almost could have been positive. The power of Ravana grew, fed with the machinations of beings as diverse and misled as the child Nefertiti of Set (see Berlin by Night) and the resurgence of the Daoine Sidhe who also found themselves strangely attracted to the wild children of the Ravnos clan. Ravana even encouraged the nuclear proliferation of India and Pakistan. Ironically this was to prove his undoing, and yet his possible future.
In 1999, various factions met to try to put down the recently awakened Yomi king in his earthly incarnation as one of the Antediluvian vampire-gods. In the end, the final solution of atomic obliteration rained down upon the demonic god's head. The body of Ravana perished in the mighty explosion. However, in the ways of the Yomi kings, the misery and devastation wrought by the release of the poisonous radiations may only serve to further empower his quests for power in the Yomi Hells. And though his western vampiric children have been reduced to a mere 100, even to this night they most assuredly seek to rebuild their clan, and meanwhile his akuma and raksha servants have found newly spawned fervor. For though Ravnos may appear dead, the Yomi demon king Ravana has come home, the souls of hundreds of newly dead kindred feed his kingdom and Hell is about to break loose.
Rama Ravana
There are many places in Sri Lanka associated with the Indian epic poem Ramayana.
The Ramayana was written in Sanskrit about 2000 years before the commencement of dynastic history of Sri Lanka which is calculated with the coming of Vijaya in 544 BC. It tells us of places far back in history in pre- Vijayan times.The legend of Rama and Sita, the much loved Indian Princess and her abduction by Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka, is well known. When Ravana abducted Sita it led to a war, which somewhat resembled the Trojan-Greek war.It is said that in this pre-Vijayan period King Ravana ruled over the indigenous people of Sri Lanka, the Naga and Yakshas.It is also noteworthy that 200 million years ago, geologically Sri Lanka was linked with India, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica, in a land mass known as Gondwana.The earth's surface before seismic earthquakes, ocean currents, winds and drifts changed the land forms into different countries, was one land mass. During the geological changes, sections of the land mass were propelled in different directions and formed continents and countries. South India drifted northward and the Himalayan mountains emerged from the sea with the gigantic up thrust. Sri Lanka separated into a land mass known as Lanka Dvipa (Island of Lanka), and part of the land submerged into the sea. According to the Ramayana epic this took place because of the misdeeds of Ravana, but this seismic happening is confirmed by modern science.
The stretch of coast on the North West, North and South of Mannar could easily be reached from India, as is quite evident today. The Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar and the buried city of Kundiramalai were used from pre-Vijaya times by nomadic bands of people. This is probably the route taken by Hanuman who rescued Sita, after Ravana had crossed over to India and disrupted the idyllic romance of Rama and Sita in a sylvan forest glade in the Himalayas. It is also the tip of Mannar referred to as Adam's Bridge, the causeway which consisted of the coral reefs and shifting sand dunes which Rama used to bring his huge army. He is said to have stopped at the shrine dedicated to Shiva or Iswara before going to battle. When the causeway which Hanuman undertook to finish in a month was being built, it is said thousand of squirrels came to help him. They rolled on the sandy ground and shook off the sand on the bridge and effectively filled the crevices and gaps in the causeway. Rama in appreciation stroked them and conferred the dark stripes on their body.
Down the southern coast coming on to Galle is another interesting place associated with the Rama and Sita legend. It is a mountain called Rhumassala Kanda. From the top of this mountain you get a panoramic view of the Galle harbour and its environs. On a clear day you could even see Adam's Peak, Sri Pada.
Rhumassala Kanda seems strangely out of place when you look at the rest of the landscape. According to legend when Lakshman, the brother of Rama was injured in battle, Rama is said to have sent his faithful emissary Hanuman to the Himalayan Mountain to get a medicinal herb to cure him. Hanuman however forgot the name of the herb and so tore off a huge chunk of the Himalayan Mountain which was well known for medicinal herbs. The chunk of mountain terrain he later dropped and this is reported to be Rhumassala Kanda. Rhumassala Kanda has a wide variety of medicinal plants.
Ravana, the Rakshasa king who reigned in Sri Lanka had his capital in Ravana Kotte, which can be identifed as part of the Southern Bases on the south eastern coast. Here, he is said to have had a strange fortress with battlements where he held the beautiful Sita prisoner. She remained here unbending and upright. Now waves cover this area, but a part of the fortress could be seen form time to time.
Later, Ravana took Sita from Ravana Kotte for greater security to the smallest plateau of Nuwara Eliya and to a locality known as Asoka Aramaya a pleasure garden which had beautiful scenery and dense of forest surrounding it. Asoka trees flowered there. Sita Eliya on the outskirts of Nuwara Eliya is associated with Sita. Hanuman also came here looking for Sita.
When Rama's army was approaching, Ravana again moved Sita to a dense forested area. In Uva, at the base of a mountain crag 4500 feet above sea level is the Ravana Ella cave. Ella is 7 miles from Bandarawela and is a beautiful place to visit. At the base of a precipitous ravine is the Ella gap which you can see if you go to the Ella Rest House. This is the famous cave where Ravana hid Sita. There is thick jungle here and wild and unspoiled mountain wilderness.
The picturesque Ravana Ella falls is a little distance away. It is one of the wildest looking water falls. The water falls in torrents down the Ella gorge and cascades down a forest glade. Sita is said to have roamed around in captivity in this area and bathed in a pool within a rock by the swirling waters of the Ravana Falls.
Ravana's place is said to have been at Maligawa Tenna, near Welimada. It is now a paddy field but ancient stone work, brick and granite slabs have been found here.
The epic battle would have taken place in upper Uva on the mountain side. This area throbs with the majesty of the wilderness and some point to dents on the boulders where Rama's firearms struck.
The place where Rama stopped before leaving Sri Lanka with Sita is a temple on a dune known as Ganakamadhana Hill, where there was a gold lingam said to have been donated by him.
The Ramayana was written in Sanskrit about 2000 years before the commencement of dynastic history of Sri Lanka which is calculated with the coming of Vijaya in 544 BC. It tells us of places far back in history in pre- Vijayan times.The legend of Rama and Sita, the much loved Indian Princess and her abduction by Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka, is well known. When Ravana abducted Sita it led to a war, which somewhat resembled the Trojan-Greek war.It is said that in this pre-Vijayan period King Ravana ruled over the indigenous people of Sri Lanka, the Naga and Yakshas.It is also noteworthy that 200 million years ago, geologically Sri Lanka was linked with India, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica, in a land mass known as Gondwana.The earth's surface before seismic earthquakes, ocean currents, winds and drifts changed the land forms into different countries, was one land mass. During the geological changes, sections of the land mass were propelled in different directions and formed continents and countries. South India drifted northward and the Himalayan mountains emerged from the sea with the gigantic up thrust. Sri Lanka separated into a land mass known as Lanka Dvipa (Island of Lanka), and part of the land submerged into the sea. According to the Ramayana epic this took place because of the misdeeds of Ravana, but this seismic happening is confirmed by modern science.
The stretch of coast on the North West, North and South of Mannar could easily be reached from India, as is quite evident today. The Palk Strait and Gulf of Mannar and the buried city of Kundiramalai were used from pre-Vijaya times by nomadic bands of people. This is probably the route taken by Hanuman who rescued Sita, after Ravana had crossed over to India and disrupted the idyllic romance of Rama and Sita in a sylvan forest glade in the Himalayas. It is also the tip of Mannar referred to as Adam's Bridge, the causeway which consisted of the coral reefs and shifting sand dunes which Rama used to bring his huge army. He is said to have stopped at the shrine dedicated to Shiva or Iswara before going to battle. When the causeway which Hanuman undertook to finish in a month was being built, it is said thousand of squirrels came to help him. They rolled on the sandy ground and shook off the sand on the bridge and effectively filled the crevices and gaps in the causeway. Rama in appreciation stroked them and conferred the dark stripes on their body.
Down the southern coast coming on to Galle is another interesting place associated with the Rama and Sita legend. It is a mountain called Rhumassala Kanda. From the top of this mountain you get a panoramic view of the Galle harbour and its environs. On a clear day you could even see Adam's Peak, Sri Pada.
Rhumassala Kanda seems strangely out of place when you look at the rest of the landscape. According to legend when Lakshman, the brother of Rama was injured in battle, Rama is said to have sent his faithful emissary Hanuman to the Himalayan Mountain to get a medicinal herb to cure him. Hanuman however forgot the name of the herb and so tore off a huge chunk of the Himalayan Mountain which was well known for medicinal herbs. The chunk of mountain terrain he later dropped and this is reported to be Rhumassala Kanda. Rhumassala Kanda has a wide variety of medicinal plants.
Ravana, the Rakshasa king who reigned in Sri Lanka had his capital in Ravana Kotte, which can be identifed as part of the Southern Bases on the south eastern coast. Here, he is said to have had a strange fortress with battlements where he held the beautiful Sita prisoner. She remained here unbending and upright. Now waves cover this area, but a part of the fortress could be seen form time to time.
Later, Ravana took Sita from Ravana Kotte for greater security to the smallest plateau of Nuwara Eliya and to a locality known as Asoka Aramaya a pleasure garden which had beautiful scenery and dense of forest surrounding it. Asoka trees flowered there. Sita Eliya on the outskirts of Nuwara Eliya is associated with Sita. Hanuman also came here looking for Sita.
When Rama's army was approaching, Ravana again moved Sita to a dense forested area. In Uva, at the base of a mountain crag 4500 feet above sea level is the Ravana Ella cave. Ella is 7 miles from Bandarawela and is a beautiful place to visit. At the base of a precipitous ravine is the Ella gap which you can see if you go to the Ella Rest House. This is the famous cave where Ravana hid Sita. There is thick jungle here and wild and unspoiled mountain wilderness.
The picturesque Ravana Ella falls is a little distance away. It is one of the wildest looking water falls. The water falls in torrents down the Ella gorge and cascades down a forest glade. Sita is said to have roamed around in captivity in this area and bathed in a pool within a rock by the swirling waters of the Ravana Falls.
Ravana's place is said to have been at Maligawa Tenna, near Welimada. It is now a paddy field but ancient stone work, brick and granite slabs have been found here.
The epic battle would have taken place in upper Uva on the mountain side. This area throbs with the majesty of the wilderness and some point to dents on the boulders where Rama's firearms struck.
The place where Rama stopped before leaving Sri Lanka with Sita is a temple on a dune known as Ganakamadhana Hill, where there was a gold lingam said to have been donated by him.
History of Rawana
History of Rawana
After King Manu’s royal dynasty there are other royal dynasties mentioned in the oral tradition, such as Tharaka (~10,000 years ago), Mahabali (~7500 years ago), and Raavana (~5000 years ago). Interestingly, of these kings, King Ravana’s technological and military prowess was so renowned that he is depicted in Indian literature as having ten heads and numerous hands holding a multitude of weapons. When eventually King Ravana succumbed, to the wrath of Rama, (his Indian nemesis) the people of India rejoiced in victory and celebrated in a festival atmosphere. To this day, the festival of 'Deepavali' celebrated each year by one billion Indians including the Tamil community, is a celebration of the defeat of this famed Hela King Raavana. [A romanticised version of the great saga between Rama and Raavana can be found in Valmiki's epic the ‘Ramayanaya’.]
"To me the beauty of Ceylon lies not so much in its blue seas and golden beaches, its jungles and mountain peaks, as in its ancient atmosphere. There is no nation, from Egypt of the Pharaohs to modern Britain, in whose literature this island has not at some time been mentioned by one or other of its many names – Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane, Ceilao, Zelon to recall a few. History lies buried in its sands, and ghosts of romance lurk among its bastioned rocks, for Lanka is very, very old."
- D.J.G. Hennessy, Green Aisles, 1949
"Mihintale is covered with cells hidden in every nook an corner and perched upon the edge of precipices. They tell of an age even older than the coming of Buddhism when ascetics sought this hill as a refuge from the world."
- W.T. Keble, Ceylon, The Beaten Track.
After King Manu’s royal dynasty there are other royal dynasties mentioned in the oral tradition, such as Tharaka (~10,000 years ago), Mahabali (~7500 years ago), and Raavana (~5000 years ago). Interestingly, of these kings, King Ravana’s technological and military prowess was so renowned that he is depicted in Indian literature as having ten heads and numerous hands holding a multitude of weapons. When eventually King Ravana succumbed, to the wrath of Rama, (his Indian nemesis) the people of India rejoiced in victory and celebrated in a festival atmosphere. To this day, the festival of 'Deepavali' celebrated each year by one billion Indians including the Tamil community, is a celebration of the defeat of this famed Hela King Raavana. [A romanticised version of the great saga between Rama and Raavana can be found in Valmiki's epic the ‘Ramayanaya’.]
"To me the beauty of Ceylon lies not so much in its blue seas and golden beaches, its jungles and mountain peaks, as in its ancient atmosphere. There is no nation, from Egypt of the Pharaohs to modern Britain, in whose literature this island has not at some time been mentioned by one or other of its many names – Lanka, Serendib, Taprobane, Ceilao, Zelon to recall a few. History lies buried in its sands, and ghosts of romance lurk among its bastioned rocks, for Lanka is very, very old."
- D.J.G. Hennessy, Green Aisles, 1949
"Mihintale is covered with cells hidden in every nook an corner and perched upon the edge of precipices. They tell of an age even older than the coming of Buddhism when ascetics sought this hill as a refuge from the world."
- W.T. Keble, Ceylon, The Beaten Track.
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