Every hero must have a villain to destroy, in order to prove himself a villain hero. But not every villain needs a hero in order to prove himself a villain – Ravan, from The Ramayan
A friend of mine was once talking about Ravan and said that he was a very just and good king, an excellent warrior, a very devoted person and yet his one mistake(Sita’s kidnapping) led to him being branded as the bad guy! Kindof makes you wonder how easily reputation can disappears…
Ravan is considered to be one of the most austere “tapasvi’s” and learned person of his time. He was a warrior feared by the gods themselves.
But in all his power, he was quite just and a very wise and intelligent king, rivaling Ram himself.
As you said, it was his kidnapping of Sita which led to his downfall. But even that was orchestrated by him with full knowledge of the outcome for if he had not, Ram would not have had a villain to match Ram’s stature.
And as Ravan says in the Ramayan, a man should be judged by his actions with the context of what time those actions are performed for the same man could be the greatest sage at one time and a brutal villain at another.
This is because I’ve been reading the Ramayan by Ashok Banker over the past couple of weeks/months. It’s imaginatively and beautifully written.
I loved this quote by Ravan and so put it up :)
vasudhaNovember 19, 2007
this is so very interesting,u know wat u r inspiring me to read ramayan…nice ya
Every hero must have a villain to destroy, in order to prove himself a HERO you mean ;)
Err yeah.. Oops :D
Good food for thought :)
A friend of mine was once talking about Ravan and said that he was a very just and good king, an excellent warrior, a very devoted person and yet his one mistake(Sita’s kidnapping) led to him being branded as the bad guy! Kindof makes you wonder how easily reputation can disappears…
Ravan is considered to be one of the most austere “tapasvi’s” and learned person of his time. He was a warrior feared by the gods themselves.
But in all his power, he was quite just and a very wise and intelligent king, rivaling Ram himself.
As you said, it was his kidnapping of Sita which led to his downfall. But even that was orchestrated by him with full knowledge of the outcome for if he had not, Ram would not have had a villain to match Ram’s stature.
And as Ravan says in the Ramayan, a man should be judged by his actions with the context of what time those actions are performed for the same man could be the greatest sage at one time and a brutal villain at another.
villains need victims, that’s it.
er… why this, out of the blue?
No. Someone can be a villain of circumstances.
This is because I’ve been reading the Ramayan by Ashok Banker over the past couple of weeks/months. It’s imaginatively and beautifully written.
I loved this quote by Ravan and so put it up :)
this is so very interesting,u know wat u r inspiring me to read ramayan…nice ya
That is good. You should read it. It’s a great series :)