Ravana might be one of the greatest baddies in Indian mythology, but there are others who beg to differ. On Dussehra, DT talks to people from Lankesh's home country for a Take-II HE WAS A BAD GUY? REALLY?
MEDHA SHRI Times News Network; 28-sep-2009
Like they say, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. So’s the case with the Ravana, who in many countries, isn’t such a bad guy after all. We speak to some Sri Lankans.
When Sri Lankan student Nadeera Nilupamali saw the effigyburning in India, she didn’t like it. “Back in Sri Lanka, we had no idea about this. About 57% of people there are Buddhist and don’t know about the Ramayana.But why would people want to burn somebody’s effigy like this? Ravana was not evil.” Nadeera, who thinks that the Ramayana is just a story, doesn’t agree that Ravana was totally evil. “Ravana was a learned man. He had done some great deeds for mankind. Ram-Ravana is just a story that we read in school. Ravana was a great king. Come to think of it, Ravana didn’t even touch Sita but Ram asked Sita to walk on burning coals. Ram didn’t trust his wife.”
Aruna Kumar, who came to India last month, can’t agree with people who call Ravana a rakshasa or evil. “This is wrong. I don’t know if there’s any clear historical evidence of Ravana, but I believe that whatever evidence we have, shows he was a great king, a genius, a scholar, an inventor. I think he did some bad things too, but as a Sri Lankan, I am proud of him.”
Nalini Pillai, who’s been staying in India for the past five years, says she was amazed to see that Dusshera was a big deal here. “When I saw the celebrations in India I realised that people identify Ravana with evil. I used to think that Dussehra was a festival to just mark the end of the Navratras. I don’t agree that Ravana was evil. Rather, he was a scholar.” Toshini Harasgama, who graduated from Delhi University, was shocked to see the way people thought of Ravana in India. She says, “I wonder why people in India would do that, they believe in ahimsa. This is like celebrating revenge. I felt bad for Ravana. I believe he was a very learned and brave man, who invented a lot of things for mankind, like the flying machine,” says Toshini.
Visual courtesy: Percept Picture Company; Pics: TNN
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