So one story about Diwali is the day Ram, Lakshman and Sita returned from their 14 years of exile. You know, we could debate the whole Ram Chandra chracter for hours. Whether he was indeed a man of strong ethics or a spineless whiner. But we aren't going to do that. Not today at least. Today we are going to talk about a bunch of things that most people miss out in the Ramayana.
Kuber, the god of wealth is the real owner of Lanka. But his stepbrother Ravana took away his creation all at once by attacking him.
We know nothing about this elder sister of Ram, Shanta. King Dasrath had abandoned her (typical), that's why she does not live in the palace. Shanta was King Dashratha’s first child who he fathered without any difficulty. She however was given in adoption to the childless couple Queen Vershini (Queen Kaushalya’s sister) and King Lompad of Angadesh.
Ravana was a true devotee of Lord Shiva, once he sacrificed his head to Lord Shiva. However, his head kept regrowing each time after he cut it off. It happened for ten times, after which Lord Shiva gave him all those heads. The other way of looking at it, is that Ravana was so intelligent (possibly in the genius levels) that people though he had 10 heads on his shoulder and hte moniker stuck.
While we all know that Lord Rama is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, we miss out on Laxman being an avatar of Sheshnaag, the serpent associated with Vishnu. Poor guy doomed to always play second fiddle even in avatar form.
Interestingly, this is true! Well, it is because Ravan had killed Surpankha’s husband Dushtabuddhi. Hence, in order to avenge her husband's death and of course her insult by Laxman, she used locig to convince Ravana to abduct Sita.
After seeing the dedication of squirrels who were helping the monkeys in building Ramsetu, Lord Rama cuddled one of the squirrels gently. His fingerprints got imprinted on the squirrels as the black strips. Uhhh, as long as we are staying in the fantasy, sure.
It is quite interesting to note that Lord Indra's jealously cursed Kumbhakaran with his sleeping pattern. Once, when Lord Brahma, asked the three brothers, Ravan, Vibhishan and Kumbhkaran to make a wish, Lord Indra thought that Kumbhkaran might ask for the kingdom of heavens which is why he asked Goddess Saraswati to tie his tongue so that he'd ask for Nidrasan for his entire life. Lord Indra was successful in his intentions, but upon Ravan's request, Lord Brahma modified his command after which Kumbhakaran would sleep for half a year and then stay awake for the rest of the year. Even the Gods can be insecure, apparently.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
