Devotee of Shiva

The door to Ravana's chamber swung open and a lesser demon nervously shuffled in. "My Lord King, I have some news for you."

Ravana, still in his seat, waved the demon forward. He also motioned towards a servant. The lesser demon noticed the signal but did not comprehend what it could have meant. He addressed Ravana with even more caution than before. "Lord Ravana, it is about the human, Rama. It appears that he...he is not merely mortal. He has the blessings of...he is known to...they say he is Vishnu reincarnated!"

Ravana only turned his head on its side. "And this is troublesome?"

The lesser demon's eyes darted from wall to wall. "T-the gods...the gods, my Lord. I do not mean to speak of them in such a manner, but even you must be wary of their abilities and-"

"I have the blessings of the gods myself, you know." Ravana's eyes closed as he remembered his other encounter with the gods.


Ravana awoke with an ache in his head. He could not remember ever having slept so late in the morning - though being unconscious would possibly be a better term than sleeping. He threw his elbow against the wall and was surprised to see that he was unable to break through. Any human-made or demon-made dungeon should fall at his might - Ravana was slightly nervous.


Ravana struggled to get on his feet and make his way to the barred hole that was his window to the world. He grabbed the bars of his prison and saw a wide ocean before him and nothing else. Ravana tried to remember what had happened to land him in this place - this tomb which a god must have created.

Then it hit him. Ravana remembered being confronted by none other than an actual god - Shiva had met with him earlier and interrupted a display of Ravana's power. Ravana had intended to relocate a mountain for no reason other than the fact that it was unsightly. Shiva must have taken residence on the mountain, for he knocked Ravana out without hesitation.

Ravana knew now he could not force himself out - and so he devised a plan and offered his devotion to Shiva in order to get His good graces. He came up with verses singing Shiva's praise and let forth lyrics and notes. Ravana had always had a beautiful singing voice - but for obvious reasons he could not spend his days singing to his lesser kin. Not just any demon, man or creature deserved to hear Ravana's voice.

He turned his head upwards and the song became clearer. It really was a beautiful piece. Shiva had made his way down to the base of the mountain. Ravana was pleased to see a look of shock on Shiva's face. Ravana, the demon who had been made a prisoner not more than a day ago, was the source of a beautiful song. Ravana continued to sing. Shiva continued onwards as he neared the hole through which Ravana could be seen poking his head out of - singing to the world.

Ravana paused his song for a mere moment when the two made eye contact, but continued on after a nod to Shiva. Shiva nodded in kind, and even offered a slight smile and uttered a few words, "Nice song." Ravana did not visibly respond, only continuing his singing.

Shiva found his way to a beach where he sat down, gazing at the sky before him. The song was really captivating, and he felt as though he could sleep for years. Though he did not sleep, Shiva did stay in that spot for years to come, frozen by the beauty and the passion that could come from Ravana - known to others as a demon of foul repute and seemingly no good will. But to Shiva, the years that flew by seemed no more than hours, and he eventually made up his mind as to the fate of his captive.

"You have changed my mind, demon lord. I will raise the mountain that pins you - the mountain you tried to destroy - and set you free."

Ravana continued singing even after he was freed from his prison. While singing, he knelt to Shiva - something to this day Ravana would not do for any man, demon or god. Shiva nodded and accepted Ravana. And with that Ravana had an ever-watchful guardian.


"Rama will be of no threat to me." Ravana spoke with a coolness that was reflected in his eyes. The demon messenger, still visibly shaking, started to turn towards the door. Ravana's eyes fell on the demon as he gave a new order. "Let Rama come to me."

Introduction
Ravana, the Corrupt
Devotee of Shiva
The Captive
The Final Battle
Home Page


Author's Note: In the original story, Ravana actually meets Shiva in Shiva's home and gets punished for being arrogant. While my version of Ravana is definitely arrogant, it is not entirely the reason why Shiva imprisons him. Rather, Shiva imprisons Ravana because he lives on the mountain and does not want Ravana to do anything to it in a simple display of power.

This story is another example of Ravana's scheming and plotting. In the first story, he abuses Brahma's love towards life in order to be granted immortality. In this story, however, his scheming is nothing more than a con to get himself out of prison. It is interesting to note that his devotion to Shiva is very much sincere and not at all a con. It definitely starts out as a con, but Ravana comes to revere Shiva and kneeling to him strengthens this.

In the first story I compressed the passage of time to fit a more realistic tone of the story - changing a time scale of thousands of years to a brief period. In this story, however, I could not bring myself to make such an adjustment. As mentioned above, the devotion to Shiva is genuine, and Ravana would sincerely wait in a prison created by him for so long in order to be freed.

I introduced an unnamed demon in order to act as a messenger of sorts - delivering news to Ravana, with the reader already knowing that Rama was Vishnu reincarnated. This demon will have little importance in the rest of the storybook - the important thing is that Ravana idly sits and waits while the confrontation with Rama comes ever closer...

Bibliography Information: Buck, W. (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Narayan, R.K. (1972). The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. London: Penguin Classics.

Image Information: Lord Shiva on a Throne, Exotic Indian Art
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