Rāvaṇa Offers Heads to Śiva: Another Aspect of

Rāvaṇānugraha-Mūrtis in Indian Art

Devendra Kumar Gupta and Divyanshu Bisht

Gurukula Kangri (Deemed to be University), Haridwar, India

Keywords Rāvaṇa, Rāvaṇānugraha-Mūrti, Śiva, Pārvatī, Vaidyanātheśvara Jyotirliṅga.

Abstract The King of Laṅkā, Rāvaṇa, is a villain of Rāmāyaṇa. There is also an episode in Rāmāyaṇa, famous in Indian

art, in which he is depicted as a demon trying to raise Mount Kailāsa with out success. The sculptures

associated with this story are known in Indian art as “Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti”. In addition, Indian art also

shows the form of Rāvaṇānugraha, known as a devotee of Śiva. These sculptures were built based on Śiva

Purāṇa, in which mainly Rāvaṇa depicts doing g reat penance for Śiva. This paper discusses the importance

of this aspect of Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti, where Rāvaṇa is described as a devotee of Śiva.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rāvaṇa is a prominent negative personality of

Rāmāyaṇa. In the text, he is described as a demon.

Rāmāyaṇa is a prominent text of the Vaiṣṇava sect.

However, many of the descriptions associated with

Śiva are also found in this text. One of these

descriptions refers to Rāvaṇa and Śiva. This

description is discussed in more detail. According to

this description, many images were made in Indian

art. These images are often called ‘Rāvaṇānugraha-

mūrti.’ However, no iconographic texts provide any

details on the construction of these images. For this

reason, the Rāvaṇānugraha sculptures in Indian art

are mainly based on the description of Rāmāyaṇa. In

addition to Rāmāyaṇa, there are stories related to

Rāvaṇa and Śiva of Śiva Purāṇa. In this text, Rāvaṇa

is shown as a great devotee of Śiva, not a demon.

Rāvaṇa, as a devotee, is expressed through

Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrtis in Indian art. However, these

images are completely different from those made

based on Rāmāyaṇa. The study provided a detailed

description of the image of Rāvaṇānugraha depicting

Rāvaṇa as a religious figure. Sculptures were built

based on Śiva Purāṇa, in which mainly Rāvaṇa

depicts doing great penance for Śiva. This paper

discusses the importance of this aspect of

Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti, where Rāvaṇa is described as

a devotee of Śiva.

1.1 Stories Behind the

Rāvaṇānugraha-Mūrtis

The descriptions of the two kinds of Rāvaṇānugraha-

mūrtis engraved in Indian art come from Rāmāyaṇa

and Śiva Purāṇa. The details of Rāmāyaṇa (Shastri

1992) are as follows: Rāvaṇa conquered Kubera and

then went to the large tree forest known as Śaravaṇa.

Near the forest is a mountain; when Rāvaṇa began

climbing this mountain, he observed that the Puṣpaka

aircraft had not been moved. Then Naṅdīśvara came

to Rāvaṇa. He told Rāvaṇa that Śiva and his wife

Pārvatī were playing on this mount. It has stopped the

movements of all beings such as Devatā, Gaṅdharva,

Nāga, Rākśasa, Suparṇa, and Yakśas. When he heard

these words, Rāvaṇa was angry and came down from

Puṣpaka and said, “Who is this Śiva?” He said this

and came to the centre of the mountain. At that place,

he saw Naṅdī standing as another Śiva with a śula in

his hand. Rāvaṇa decided to destroy the hill that had

stopped his travel. Consequently, he came near the

mountain, grabbed it in his hands and shook it

violently, so that the mountain vibrated. As a result,

the entire gaṇa of Śiva was lifted up, and Pārvatī

clung to the neck of her Śiva. Then, Śiva, as if he was

playing, pressed down the mountain with his toes and

crushed Rāvaṇa’s arms, which looked like the pillars

of the hill. Rāvaṇa found himself in a desperate

situation, cried and the people of the three worlds

trembled. Rāvaṇa then celebrated Śiva with the

hymns of Sāmaveda. Thus, a thousand years passed

622

Gupta, D. and Bisht, D.

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Ga Offers Heads to

Siva: Another Aspect of R

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DOI: 10.5220/0012499700003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 622-626

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

for the devil, and weep and praise him with the pain

of his hands. Then the man on the mountain, the Śiva,

was satisfied. Śiva liberated Rāvaṇa’s arms from this

crisis and said that the living beings of the three

worlds cried out in fear of being suppressed by the

mountain. Therefore, from now on, you will be

known as “Rāvaṇa”. Śiva gave him a brilliant weapon

Caṅdrahāsa at the request of Rāvaṇa.

Rāvaṇa is described in the story as a demon. The

representation of this form of Rāvaṇa is found in its

full form, especially in the art of northern India.

However, a new aspect of these images appeared

during the Cālukya period in southern India. The

representation of Rāvaṇa as a devoted man makes this

image special. This aspect of the sculpture of

Rāvaṇānugraha is based on the narration of Śiva

Purāṇa. Its description (Shastri, 1970) is as follows:

Rāvaṇa has dug a deep ditch on the south side of

Himāvata. Then he sparked a fire. Rāvaṇa installed

the image of Śiva and prayed. He did three types of

penance. He stood for five fires in the summer; he was

lying on the bare soil in the rain; he was in the water

in the winter and continued to suffer. However, this

time Śiva was not delighted. Subsequently, the

Rāvaṇa began to worship the Śiva by cutting off their

heads. In the appropriate execution of the cult, he cut

off his head one by one. Thus, when he had cut off

nine heads, a head remained, and a happy Śiva

appeared in front of him. Śiva has re-established the

severed head without causing pain. Rāvaṇa said to

Śiva, who was satisfied. I am going to take your idol

to Laṅkā. Make my desire fruitful. He replied to

Rāvaṇa, letting my liṅga be brought to your house.

But, where this liṅga is placed on the ground, it will

become stable. Saying this, Śiva returned to his home.

After that, Rāvaṇa began to go toward his house.

However, as he was walking, he started to get the urge

to urinate. Rāvaṇa was unable to control his urge.

When Rāvaṇa came upon a cowherd, he asked him to

hold the liṅga. The cowherd became alarmed after

about an hour when Rāvaṇa failed to show up. The

liṅga was too heavy for him to lift for much longer,

so he set it down. The liṅga was made permanent

established and given the name “Vaidyanātheśvara”.

Rāvaṇa got back to his home without a liṅga. He

enlightened his better half regarding the shelter

acquired from Śiva. He was satisfied to express this

on hearing everything; Iṅdra and different divine

beings become staggeringly despondent.

Subsequently bothered, Iṅdra and different divine

beings welcomed Nārada and said to discover a few

means to beat this wretchedness. Nārada shared with

the divine beings, surrender your distress. I will

design out and go. By the pardoning of Śiva, I will do

the undertaking of the divine beings. In this way

saying, Nārada went to Rāvaṇa’s habitation. In the

wake of getting the conventional gladly received, he

talked with extraordinary delight. Nārada told

Rāvaṇa, to kindly portray the subtleties of how you

fulfill Śiva. In this way, asked by him, Rāvaṇa gave

the subtleties of the entire occurrence exhaustively. In

the wake of paying attention to the entire story,

Nārada told Rāvaṇa, I will let you know what is

beneficial to you. All that will emerge to be

productive just when Kailāsa is lifted. It is certainly

so. Rāvaṇa thought of it as beneficial when in this

way prompted. Putting stock in the meeting by the

Nārada, he went to Kailāsa. Arriving there, he lifted

the mountain. Śiva thinks this work of Rāvaṇa

difficult. He is loathsome for being egotistical about

his solidarity. Eventually, the difficulties of the Iṅdra,

and different divine beings survived.

2 RĀVAṆĀNUGRAHA

SCULPTURES BASED ON ŚIVA

PURĀṆA

There are some Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrtis in Indian art,

which are based on the Śiva Purāṇa tale. The famous

tale of Rāmāyaṇa may be the cause of this. How the

image is created may be another important factor.

because no iconographical book has a description of

the formation of Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti. The

Mahakuteshvara temple in Mahakuta, Karnataka,

India, contains the oldest representation of the Śiva

Purāṇa narrative.

Here the story is engraved in four sections on the

southern adhiṣṭhāna of the temple (Kalidos, 2006).

However, the tale does not present these parts in any

particular order. The following are the descriptions of

these sections: In the first panel (Fig. 1a), Rāvaṇa is

doing penance to Śiva. Rāvaṇa has a garland in his

hand. Rāvaṇa raises his right leg, which is resting on

his left thigh. On the Kailāsa mountain, Śiva and

Pārvatī are sitting. Rāvaṇa and his attendant are

attempting to appease Śiva with musical instruments

in the second panel (Fig. 1b). Although Rāvaṇa’s left

hand is broken, due to that it is hard to identify the

instrument. The attendant’s flute, though, is apparent.

The four-armed god Śiva is holding Pārvatī in the

tribhaṅga position. Her left hand is resting on the

female attendant’s head, while her right hand is

grasping Śiva’s liṅga. A ten-armed Rāvaṇa is seated

on the ground in the ardhaprayaṅkāsana position in

the third panel (Fig. 1c). Rāvaṇa is seen beheading

people

with a sword in his upper hand. While a

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Figure 1: (a), (b), (c)&(d) Mahakuteshvara Temple, Mahakut (c) Mahakuteshvara Temple, Mahakut (d) Mahakuteshvara (e)

& (f)Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal (g) Mukteshvar Temple, Kanchipuram (h) & (i) Kailasa Temple, Ellora

sacrifice ladle is most likely in the bottom right hand.

Rāvaṇa is clutching his severed head in his upper left

hand while holding a skull cup in the other. Sitting

atop a Kailāsa mountain with a huge Naṅdī figure

etched below them, Śiva and Pārvatī are shown.

Rāvaṇa is most likely receiving Śiva’s ātma-liṅga

from Pārvatī. In the last panel (Fig. 1d), four-handed

Śiva is sitting on Kailāsa Mountain in sukhāsana

posture. Pārvatī is also sitting in the utkūtikāsana

posture to the left of Śiva. Rāvaṇa is shown with three

heads and six hands. Two of them are lifting the

mountain, while others hold bow and arrow, and the

lower right hand is placed on the ground, and the

lower left hand rests on the thigh. The gadarbha face

is built above the main face of Rāvaṇa. This is the first

example of this type found in South India.

The Virupaksha temple in Pattadakal, Karnataka,

India, has two distinctive and incredibly exquisite

engravings of Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti. The first image

is engraved on the pillar of the Virupaksha temple

(Fig. 1e). Two parts of the tale can be seen in this

sculpture. In the first part, Rāvaṇa can be seen

acquiring the liṅga as a boon from Śiva and Pārvatī.

Śiva and Pārvatī are sitting on the couch in the

lalitāsana posture. Both are holding the liṅga in their

hands. Rāvaṇa is sitting in the svastikāsana posture

on the left of Śiva and Pārvatī. He is shown taking the

liṅga with his hands. In the second part, Rāvaṇa is

shown lifting Mount Kailāsa, influenced by Nārada’s

words. Rāvaṇa with five heads and twenty hands is

extremely massive. The second image (Fig. 1f) is

carved into the northern wall of the Virupaksha

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Figure 2: (a), (b), Kailasa Temple Ellora (c) Kailasa Temple, Ellora (d) Ratanpur Fort, Chattisgarh.

temple, which represents Rāvaṇa receiving a boon

from Śiva. This image is divided into two parts. In the

upper part, Rāvaṇa is offering his head to the liṅga.

In the lower part, Rāvaṇa receives a boon from Śiva,

reflected by his giant body. Rāvaṇa with three heads

and eight hands is adorned with jaṭājūṭa, kuṇḍala,

ekāvalī, valaya, yajñopavīta, udarbaṅdha, and other

ornaments. He holds three swords in his three right

hands, while a shield is held in his left hand. Another

image is of the Pallava art centre Mukteshvara temple

(Fig. 1g), Kanchipuram (Donaldson, 2007). Śiva and

Pārvatī are sitting on the mountain in utkūtikāsana

posture. Śiva carries the liṅga on his left shoulder.

That is the speciality of this image. However, this

image shows that part of the story when Śiva was

delighted with Rāvaṇa’s penance and appeared.

Rāvaṇa’s single head and the liṅga placed on Śiva’s

left shoulder show that no boon has been given to

Rāvaṇa yet.

The story of Rāvaṇānugraha is depicted through

various sculptures in the corridor of the Kailasha

temple, Ellora (Kalidos, 2006). In the first panel (Fig.

1h), Rāvaṇa is seated below a giant liṅga and engaged

in cutting off his tenth head with a sword. The nine

other heads already cut off by him are placed in a

semi-oval form around the liṅga. In the second panel

(Fig. 1i), Śiva is seated on a pedestal along Pārvatī,

both holding a liṅga in their hands. Naṅdī is depicted

sitting down. In the next panel (Fig. 2a), Śiva and

Pārvatī are shown seated at the top of the panel.

Rāvaṇa is sitting on the ground holding the liṅga at

the bottom. While the cowherd is shown standing

before Rāvaṇa. The fourth panel (Fig. 2b) is very

interesting. The four-armed Rāvaṇa is standing in

pratyālidha posture, holding a sword in his upper

right hand, while a shield in his upper left hand and

trying to lift the liṅga with both his main hands. This

image is probably the only example in Indian art. In

the last panel (Fig. 2c), Rāvaṇa is shown lifting

Kailāsa mountain. Although the depiction of Rāvaṇa

is incomplete.

In Chattishgarh’s Ratanpur Fort, there is a

stunning representation of Rāvaṇa (Fig. 2d) (Tiwari,

1991). In this image, he’s perched atop a tiny

platform. In front of Rāvaṇa, a liṅga with a yonipītha

is installed. He has given the liṅga his eight heads. He

has the ninth head in his hand. On the other side of

the liṅga, a companion is likewise seated in the añjali

position. M. P. Tiwari named this image “Sirodāna-

mūrti”.

3 CONCLUSION

Compared to the narrative in Rāmāyaṇa, where

Rāvaṇa is depicted in many forms depending on the

story, Rāvaṇa is depicted as a devotee in Indian art.

For the first time, Rāvaṇa was shown in South India

as a Śiva devotee. This creative voyage continued till

it arrived in Central India. The depictions of

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Rāvaṇānugraha as a lover of Indian art have seen

further alteration. The salient characteristics of this

representation of Rāvaṇānugraha-mūrti in Indian art

are as follows: i. Rāvaṇa is symbolized by bowing

down to Śiva, accepting a liṅga from Śiva, or praising

Śiva. ii. Śiva and Pārvatī are seen seated on a high

pedestal, with either Śiva holding the liṅga or Pārvatī

presenting it to Rāvaṇa.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work has been supported by the grant received

from the Indian Council of Historical Research, New

Delhi under the Junior Research Fellowship.

REFERENCES

Donaldson, T. E. (2007). Śiva-Pārvatī and Allied Images:

Their Iconography and Body Language. D. K.

Printworld Ltd.

Kalidos, R. (2006). Encyclopaedia of Hindu Iconography:

Śiva. Sharda Publishing House.

Shastri, H. P. (1992). The Ramayana of Valmiki. Shanti

Sadan.

Shastri, J. L. (1970). Śiva Purāṇa. Motilal Banarasidass

Publishers Private Limited.

Tiwari, M. N. P. (1991). Madhyakālīna Bhāratīya

Mūrtikalā. Vishvavidyalaya Prakashan.

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