Raavan.

Stop glorifying Ravan into a hero. He is not a hero, he is not a victim. He is not a person vs God figure. That self-important fiend was a villain, more cruel than Hitler. Raavan killed numerous innocent people just because he could, to test his might. He spilled urine into yagna kunds and killed the poojaris, he killed the yogis who never hurt a single creature. The egocentric fanatic also broke down so many temples. He raped so many girls and women, unmarried, married, widowed, everyone. He killed children in front of their parents, he killed parents in front of children. He was no hero. He was a sick and egomaniacal monster, who had become so narcissistic towards the end of his life, that he could not even see himself igniting his own funeral pyre.

The usual arguments against all this is that he was a yogi, sanyasi, or whatever the word the person chooses to diefy him. He was a brilliant learner, a good astronomy student, and he did refine a few laws in Lanka and in his initial years as a king, he was indeed a good king. He did work very hard for attaining the knowledge and power, that he had. He was a very good person once, good enough to make Mahadev happy. He even procured the famed Chandrahasa (Moon Sword) from him. And this is where the agreements end.

He never cared for Maa Sita's honor, he only cared for his own life. In truth he was a lustfilled megalomaniac. He once attacked the Indralok and during his attack there, he raped an Upsara named Rambha, who was quite damaged after the shocking incident to her. She screamed and cried for help, but his people had killed almost everyone there. She was almost unconscious and was about to die when Raavan started hitting her. At that time she cursed him that he would die if he would bring a unconsenting woman into his bedroom with the intention of raping her. This angered Raavan even more, so he kept on hitting her. And then ultimately she fainted. (Another story is of her husband, Nalavakura, which is similar in fashion) And after that episode got over, he came back to Lanka and told it boastingly to Mandodari(his wife). But because she had nowhere to go, she stayed with him and kept on reminding him about Rambha's curse. This is the sole reason he kept Maa Sita in Ashok Vatika. There is another such episode with Vedabati.

I see people, my friends, some of whom are girls putting up posts like, "I would like a brother like Raavan, so he would protect me and so on." I ask you all this, "Would you like to be Surpanakha?" Surpanakha wanted to kill Laxman and Maa Sita and eat them, and she also wanted to marry Ram against his wishes. And so she did attack Maa Sita, and in defense Laxman cut off her nose. Then, Surpanakha, went to Ravan told him that there is a lady, very beautiful, in the forests of Dandak, who is travelling with 2 ascetics. She provoked her own brother that, that lady should be with him and he should go and kidnap her. Then driven by lust, and not vengeful anger, did Ravan go for Maa Sita's kidnapping. It makes me sad seeing these women in my life, so bright and lovely falling for these political dogmas. They on one hand rightly speak against those whose names have come up in the #metoo campaign, and on the other hand glorify Raavan who was a bloody rapist.

There have been many pages dedicated to telling you facts about Raavan and how he was. But the truth is, he lost to Vali(Sugriv's brother) and also to Kaartivirya Arjun. And in the latter fight he was humiliated and made a prisoner, not because of Arjun's ego, but because being narcissist, Raavan became so hot tempered that he, without thinking challenged the Kingdom of Mahismati (yes, it was real), whose then king was 'the thousand armed Arjun', who easily defeated him. Another interesting fact about the ultracapitalistic approach of ruling Lanka by Raavan were his policies. They were so lopsided towards the rich Asurs that the roads in his Lanka may have been made of gold, but thousands died of hunger on those very streets, in slums. He never cared for the poor Asurs in his kingdom, between whom he had lived much of his childhood. He may have been a good war strategician, but a damn bad king. 

Let me ask you this. If he was as brave as he felt he was, why did he send his brothers and children before him? Why didn't he himself fight Ram alone when that was suggested to him? Why did he kick out his younger brother, when Vibhishan loved Raavan, and only wished for his well-being? Raavan was, without a doubt, a crazy individual hell bent on killing everyone against him, and we should feel immense gratitude towards Ram for killing him and making this world Raavan-mukt. This is also the reason why a billion Hindus worship Lord Ram.

A person who likes Raavan and hates Ram, can unfollow me. Because I will not allow misinformed or ill intentioned people to ruin my culture by derogating the tallest figure in Hindutva. It makes me personally angry when people do not recognise the beauty of our culture and denegrate it to such low levels that they make themselves believe that India is not worth living nor dying for.

The world respects those who respect themselves, and 'this' is us. We are the children of the people who had made Bharat the superpower of the world for 5000 years (without a single world war). We have the blood of Ram flowing in our veins. We are so privileged to have this lovely, beautiful and extremely rich history and we don't realise it. It is up to us to make it known to the world or to spoil it at our own peril.

Thank you,
Pandya.