Ravana did fought with both Vishnu and Indra. In fact he fought with them hundreds of times and tanked Both Indra's Vajra and Sudarshana hundreds of times in battle.
He bore on his person scars of wounds caused by the thunderbolt and lightning in the course of conflicts between the gods and the demons and his chest was marked with callosities resulting from abrasions caused by the tusks of Airåvata
..
He was struck hundreds of times during the wars with gods with the blows of Visnu’s discus as also with the strokes of other weapons in great conflicts.
~ Aranya Kanda , 32
He also observed the two outstretched arms of the gigantic lord of ogres, which were adorned with armlets of gold and resembled a pair of flags raised in honour of Indra which bore scars of wounds sustained in combat with the ends of the tusks of Airåvata, the carrier of Indra, nay, whose fleshy shoulders had been lacerated by the thunderbolt of Indra and which had been injured by the discus of Lord Visnu; which were fleshy and culminated in uniform and well-formed shoulders, were tough-jointed and powerful, bore auspicious marks on their nails and thumbs and were characterized by shapely fingers and palms.
~Sundara Kanda , 10
Before calling Ravana more powerful than Vishnu and Indra , there are some “Behind the scenes” stuffs to be checked..
And that would be , how Ravana was able to achieve such feats? The simplest explanation would be the boon of Brahma which made him Invincible to all supernatural beings including Devas and Asuras. He could only be defeated/killed By Humans or Vanaras.
The more apt explanation would be Devas , Asuras as well as other divine beings sparing Ravana ‘s life in order to honour the boons of Brahma.
A boon was conferred on him by you while he was practising austerities, O lord, pleased as you were with him. And respecting it, as we do, we have always brooked all his wrong doings.
~Bala Kanda , 15
Devas didn't had any other option except to suffer all the tormentations of Ravana as they weren't supposed to defeat or kill Ravana In order to respect Brahma's Boons.
Ravana was able to sustain the assaults of Devas Only due to the boon.
"Your uncle Ravana is able to withstand the Devas and Danavas by virtue of the boons and Kumbhakarna was able to with stand gods and demons by virtue of his courage."
Yuddha Kanda , 76
Devas cannot defeat or mortally injure him, All they can do is scare him off. Which didn't worked out and had to surrender before him.
A powerful armor of Brahma which Ravan received assisted him in this endeavour, ie surviving assaults of all these weapons, In addition to the fact that the Intention of Devas were never to mortally Injure Ravana.
Brahma the lord of creation was gratified by me, by performing a stupendous austerity for thousands of years, at the conclusion of those austerities. As a consequence of that austerity alone and by the grace of Brahma the lord of creation, there was never a fear for me either from the demons or from the celestials. In the course of combats with the gods and demons, the armour gifted to me by Brahma, the lord of creation, which is as brilliant as the sun, could not be mutilated by those who held the thunderbolt in their fists."
"Who will, be it Indra himself, dare to attack me on the battle-field now, when mounted on chariot on this field of battle, and duly wearing the aforesaid armour ? Let that large bow of mine, which was given at that time to me along with arrows by the gracious Brahma the lord of creation, on the occasion of my combat between gods and demons, be taken out today to the accompaniment of a band of musical instruments, for the purpose of killing Rama and Lakshmana in the great battle."
Yudha khanda , 92
Else , If Indra or Vishnu really wished to mortally injure him, They would've Torn him to Shreds.. This is an encounter between Ravana and jatayu (Garuda's Nephew). And Jatayu was Dominating till Ravana's boon started to kick in.
. Here's a brief instance which shows how much of a weakling Ravana was without his boon..Then Jatayu, lord of the birds, subduer of enemies, overpowered Ravana and dismembered his ten left arms with his beak.
As the left arms were cut off, there came out from them all the ten arms instantaneously like serpents emitting poisonous flames from anthills.
If he was able to cut off Ravana's arms(Regenerated due to boons of Brahma) effortlessly, Imagine what Indra's Vajra(Indra not Holding back) can do to him . But Indra as well as others were merely trying their best to avoid combat.
No comments:
Post a Comment