Ravana is a hero for Sinhala nationalists

Balachandran, Hindustan Times

Colombo, September 23, 2007

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The Ramayana is not part of the mainstream Sinhala religious and cultural tradition in Sri Lanka, because Buddhism has been the religion of the majority of Sinhalas for long. But ancient Sinhala works like Rajavaliya and Ravanavaliya identify Ravana as a Sinhala king and extol him as a great one.

In modern Sri Lanka, there has been a movement to revive Ravana as a cult figure, who represents Sinhala or Sri Lankan nationalism because he was among the first in the island's history to have resisted an alien/Indian invader. Ravana's ten heads represent the ten crowns he wore as a result of his being the sovereign of ten countries.

Scholar Arisen Ahubudhu is the current representative of the ultra nationalistic Hela movement founded by the renowned Sinhala litterateur, the Late Munidasa Kumaratunga. The Hela movement has been urging the Sinhalas to go back to their roots shunning Indian, Hinduistic and other alien influences.

In his book Sakvithi Ravana (first published in 1988) Ahubudhu says that Ravana reigned over Sri Lanka from 2554 to 2517 BC. He quotes Ravanavaliya to say that Ravana belonged to the "Sun race" as Ra signifies the sun and vana signifies generation.

Ravana's ten heads represent the ten crowns he wore as a result of his being the sovereign of ten countries. Ravana's ancestors ruled over what is now the Polonnaruwa district in North Central Sri Lanka, the name Polonnaruwa being a derivative of the word Pulasthi, the name of the dynasty to which Ravana belonged. Ravana, however, ruled over the entire island and many places beyond.

Ahubudhu trashes the Ramayana story that Rama invaded Sri Lanka because Ravana had kidnapped Sita. According to the author, Ravana's step brother Vibhishana, had invited Rama to invade Sri Lanka because he was wanting to oust Ravana from the kingship of the island.

"When considering the fact that Sita's chastity was proved, this can be taken as a story concocted by Yuwaraja Vibhishana in order to discredit Ravana in the eyes of his people and take advantage thereof," he says.

thanks to tamilweek.com

சுண்டல் அண்ணா இந்த ஆராயிசியில எல்லாம் இறங்கிட்டாரா!!சுண்டல் அண்ணா கவனம் ஏற்கனவே எனக்கு டவுட் என்ன என்று சொல்ல மாட்டேன்!!எங்கே எங்கன்ட இராவணண் அண்ணா இந்த பக்கம் வரவில்லை!! :P