KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Ravana project is quite different to the Ramayana Trail. The Ramayana trail links Buddhist Sri Lanka with Hindu India.  The Ravana project goes in the opposite direction. The Ravana project aims at removing Gautama Buddha from the temples of Sri Lanka and substituting Ravana as the main idol there. Eventually, Ravana will also be removed and the Buddhist temple will be deserted. That is the plan.

The Ravana movement is not interested in developing a separate Ravana cult. There are no separate Ravana temples. The Ravana shrines are   set inside Buddhist temples. They are deliberately placed at sites where Buddhists come to worship. Ravana statues are also available for purchase for worship at home.  In this way, Ravana is placed in a Buddhist devotional framework, a Buddhist worldview and Buddhist time frame.   Ravana worship is intended to help in the elimination of Gautama Buddha and his doctrine from Sri Lanka.

The Ravana project is carried out by small groups of persons. Sri Devram Vihara in Pannipitiya appears to be taking the leading role in this. This vihara tried to introduce Ravana worship to Meemure, but it failed to catch on. There was opposition from the villagers.

A group of Ravana supporters were present at the RASSL symposium on the Ramayana Trail in 2010. I think they called themselves Ravana Brothers. When anything was said in support of Ramayana trail, this group clapped. After some time they left, smiling, cheerful, cocky. They were satisfied that their Ravana project was not under discussion.

Ravana is held in high contempt in India, but not in Sri Lanka.  The Ramayana   was recognized by the maverick Sri Rahula who lived in the time of Parakramabahu VI (1412- 1467). Sri Rahula’s sandesa poems refer to Rama, Ravana, Sita and Vibhishana. Selalihini Sandesa   refers to a   Vibhishana devale.  Vibhisana was l Ravana’s brother.  Udarata period folk poetry makes a fuss of Ravana.

The present day arguments in support of Ravana-in-Sri-Lanka are very weak and imaginary. I have listed them in a previous essay. Here are two additions to that list. At a talk I attended on evidence for the Ramayana trail, the speaker said that the letters ‘ra-ma’ or ‘ra-va-na’ were plentiful in the inscriptions. There was also a travel documentary where, among other absurdities, the Asoka flower was used to show that Ravana lived in Sri Lanka.

The flattering emphasis on Ravana continues. Tara Jayasekera, who lives in Melbourne, published a piece on Ravana in October 2020 .This was repeated in Lankaweb of July 2024 where it hit the most read” ranking. Tara is an artist by profession, also a creative writer focusing on love, mental health, and the human experience.

Every story has two sides said Tara Jayasekera. Ravana is not a Demon King to Sri Lankans. He’s the Greatest Emperor in World History and No, He’s not Evil. .Ravana was an emperor who lived about 5000 years ago in Sri Lanka.  some believe Ramayana to be a semi-fiction woven around a real King who ruled over Sri Lanka from 2554 to 2517 BC. Sri Lanka is able to show human habitation to 125,000 years and beyond, noted Tara.

Ravana usurped the Kingdom of Lanka From his stepbrother Kuvera, said Tara .Lanka was an idyllic city, created by the celestial architect Vishwakarma and was the home of Kuwera, the treasurer of the gods, when Ravana demanded Lanka from him, threatening to take it by force. Ravana’s Kingdom had mainly concentrated around the Eastern and Southern corners of the country and it is believed to have been lost to the sea, said Tara.

Although Ravana usurped Lanka, he had been a benevolent and effective ruler. Lanka flourished under his rule .it is said that Ravana ruled Lanka for several hundred years prior, to the Ramayana period, when he was killed by prince Rama for kidnapping his wife Sita, continued Tara.

Ravana was a descendant of ‘Surya Wansha’ of ‘Hela Yakka’ tribe. .He was a devout follower of the god Shiva, said Tara.  But some even go as far as to insist that Ravana was a Buddhist king and holds him to be the creator of monasteries found in Sri Lanka like Kuragala and Rahalgala. He is also believed to have authored Ravana Sanhita, an anthology of Hindu astrology.

Rama came and overthrew one of the greatest rulers of the world with the assistance of his brother Vibhishana, bringing down one of the most advanced civilizations in the history, concluded Tara.  She notes that according to ola manuscripts, rock inscriptions and folklore Ravana is still with us, he is not dead.

The government of Sri Lanka also decided to stand by Ravana. In 2020 the government ran a newspaper advertisement urging people to share documents, books, and research material regarding Ravana. Ravana was the ruler of Sri Lanka during the era of Lord Rama .The advertisement was issued by the Tourism and Aviation Ministry.  (Daily News 22.7.20 p 10)

The notice said that the government of Sri Lanka wanted to conduct in-depth research on Ravana and the aviation history of the country. The government believes that 5000 years ago Ravana had invented the first airplane and that Ravana was the first aviator in the world. The country is now eager to discover the methods used to fly in the ancient period.

Civil Aviation Authority is starting a research project on ‘King Ravana and the ancient domination of the aerial routes that is now lost’, reported the media. when asked why the Civil Aviation Authority was helming the project, CAA said We are the main aviation regulatory authority in Sri Lanka. Since there are multiple stories over the years about Ravana flying an aircraft and covering these routes, we want to study this matter.”

As a first step in the research, the Civil Aviation Authority has started collecting documents, books and other historical content related to King Ravana. Civil Aviation Authority said that the government has ‘irrefutable facts’ to prove that Ravana was the first person to fly an aircraft. King Ravana was a genius. He was the first person to fly. He was an aviator. This is not mythology; it’s a fact. There needs to be detailed research on this. In the next five years, we will prove this,” Civil Aviation Authority said.

P. Balachandran, reporting for India said When the media reported that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has issued a newspaper advertisement in Sinhala urging people to share documents, books, and research material on Ravana, the legendary king of Lanka, it was not a surprise for students of Sri Lankan nationalism. Far from being a villain (as portrayed in Valmiki’s Ramayana), Ravana has been celebrated by the majority Sinhalese in   Sri Lanka as a cultured and creative icon and a defender of the island against a foreign invader.     The advertisement said that the Ministry is conducting in-depth research on King Ravana and the ancient domination of the aerial routes that is now lost”. Ravana is believed to have manufactured an aircraft called Dandu Monara” (known as Pushpaka Vimana in India).  He had used the aircraft to fly to India and several other places overseas. 

The Ramayana Trail and the Ravana cult are not projects for simply destabilizing the country. They are part of a deeper, more subtle attack. They are intended to fatally spear the   main unifying element in the island, its Sinhala-Buddhism, which is also is strongest point of defence. The Ramayana Trail and Ravana cult, takes us back to the pre Buddhist and pre Sinhala era in Sri Lanka, observed Bandu de Silva.  

The series titled Buddhist Viharas and Eelam”   concludes with the following observation. A Buddhist lobby must be set up to deal with these matters. The existence of such a lobby alone will be a deterrent.

This Buddhist lobby must make sure that the Kurundi project is completed.  It must support the Buddhist temples in the north and east, convert Jaffna to Nagadipa, keep an eye on the Ramayana trail and take Ravana out of the Buddhist temple.   

The  Sinhala-Buddhist pubic must receive regular bulletins on  what it is happening to Kurundi, to Ravana and other related matters. They must be kept informed. That will be another deterrent.  (Concluded)