Ravana and the Question of Evil

Ravana and Satan as imagined by Gemini AI

Valmiki did not conceive Ravana as a villain. Ravana is a tragic figure whose virtues are undone by a singular obsession: himself. Ravana’s ego is gargantuan. His lust for and obsession with Sita is one aspect of that ego. Ravana’s ego assumes that he has a right to get what he desires to have. The moral order of the universe is made subservient to that kind of ego by the individual concerned. Ravana believes he is invincible and above everything else including dharma.

What makes Ravana a tragic figure is the blend of greatness and hubris in him. He is an unparalleled scholar who was a master of the Vedas and Upanishads, well-versed in philosophy, astrology, Ayurveda, and even warfare strategy. He was called ‘Maha Brahmana,’ a great Brahmin, until destiny put Sita in his desires. He was a gifted musician, a veena maestro. He could compose moving poems and set them to music. His oratory skills were legendary. He was a courageous and charismatic warrior. “You had conquered death many times; but you could not conquer your pride,” Mandodari, Ravana’s wife, said rightly when he was dying.

Ravana reminds me of Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost. “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.” Ego makes Satan say that. It is the same ego that makes Ravana say, “I am Ravana, the ruler of the three worlds.” Milton’s Satan was also a great entity, the brightest of angels. Like Ravana, Satan too falls from greatness because of an excess personal strength turned inward.

Interestingly, both Ravana and Satan choose to fall from their greatness, rather than be ‘felled’ by someone else’s axe. Say, like Shakespeare’s Othello whose psyche is manipulated by the villainous Iago. Or Hector in Iliad who becomes a tragic hero when he is caught in the crossfire of others’ agendas.

Ravana puts his ego above everything else and so does Milton’s Satan. Both could have been great entities if they had held their ego under check. The comparison may end there, because Ravana’s existence is brought to an end by Rama, whereas Satan continues to reign in Hell eternally.

Ravana died. But did his death mean the end of evil in the world? Far from that. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Gita that whenever Dharma declines and Adharma rises, God takes form on earth to protect the virtuous, destroy evil-doers, and restore Dharma.

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् |
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ||

Rama was such an incarnation. But he was no guarantee, just as Krishna wasn’t either later, that the evil on the earth would be put an end to. Evil is a necessary component of life on earth. Rama wouldn’t be Rama without Ravana. Light wouldn’t be light without darkness. Dharma has no meaning without adharma.

Satan will be there as long as God is there. Evil exists and will continue to do so whether we like it or not. Evil is an integral part of human existence, a product of individual ignorance and interplay of egos. Evil will continue to be our loyal friend as long as we choose to exercise our free will without enlightened self-discipline.

How enlightened can one be in this world? Even Rama and Krishna, incarnations of God, had their own limitations.

Limitations – they are inevitable. And they engender evil. The struggle of the good to conquer evil will go on as long as our species continues to exist. As long as humanity breathes, the battle between light and shadow will rage – not to end it, but to remind us, always, to choose the light.

PS. I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. This series looks at the Ramayana from various angles.

Tomorrow: The Silence of the Sarayu

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