Date Posted: 12-Jan-2026
Was Rāvaṇā good or evil?
There are several beliefs in this regard. Haters of Rāmā obviously says Rāvaṇā is good; Some people pray Rāvaṇā as God; Some says, Rāvaṇā is a gentle man because he didn’t even touch Sītā, but mistake is that of Rāmā because He let Lakṣmaṇā cut Śūrpanakhā’s nose and hence Rāvaṇā abducted Sītā for revenge; Some people say Rāvaṇā was a devotee of Śivā and hence Rāmā killed him because He wanted Vaiṣṇavism to flourish; Some people say Rāvaṇā was a Tamilian and hence Rāmā from North India killed him because of language bias and so on. All these are baseless beliefs with political and vested interests to dilute the belief of innocent people in Rāmāyaṇa and to do character assassination of Rāmā. Anybody who has got mouth can speak, however all those need not be necessarily true. Such attempts can never succeed among devotees of Rāmā and the learned ones because they know Rāmā is God.
Was Rāvaṇā a gentleman who didn’t intend to touch any woman? Mistake was done by Śūrpanakhā and hence she got punished. She already lost her husband, thereby a widow. Without any discipline, she approached Rāmā who already married Sītā and was highly disciplined with the principle to live with Sītā alone. When Rāmā diverted Śūrpanakhā to Lakṣmaṇā, she immediately approached Lakṣmaṇā to marry him, which clearly shows she was interested only in sex and wanted a male to get married. Such a woman deserves nose cut. What is Rāmā’s mistake in this. Ok. Let us discuss on the abduction. Whom Rāvaṇā abducted was not original Sītā at all. We will come to that later in the subsequent FAQs. However, Rāvaṇā was not aware of that while abducting Sītā. But, is Rāvaṇā a gentleman and abducted only Sītā?
Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa 1st sarga of Sāra-Kāṇḍa, mentions abduction of Kauśalyā by Rāvaṇā before her marriage with Daśaratha, on hearing that their son (Rāmā) will be the cause of his death. He kept Kauśalyā in a box. With the blessings of Brahma, both Daśaratha and Kauśalyā got married.
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara-Kāṇḍa, clearly states, carried away by the beauty of Vedavati, who was a tapasvini and daughter of Kuśadhvajā, Rāvaṇā tried to abduct her and harassed her. This clearly shows Rāvaṇā has got no discipline and never hesitates to abduct women for his own benefits and desires.
Even in case of Sītā, Rāvaṇā wanted to abduct her because she was beautiful and Śūrpanakhā’s nose cut was not the main cause. Śūrpanakhā was only instrumental in this. He knows he is cursed and hence didn’t dare to touch Sītā. Once upon a time, he was also interested in marrying Pārvati, wife of Śivā. He is not a gentle man at all.
Is Rāvaṇā a devotee of Śivā and hence Rāmā killed him? Śivā himself is a devotee of Rāmā. Why would he kill devotee of a devotee? In fact, it is Viṣṇu ajña (order) to Śivā, to project himself as Parabrahma or Supreme God, to delude the undeserving ones to understand the real essence of Vedās. Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa 9th sarga of Sāra-Kāṇḍa clearly says, Rāvaṇā pleased Śivā with his music and asked for two boons. One is Ātma Liṅga to be taken to Lanka and the second boon was, Pārvati to be Rāvaṇā’s own wife. Is this the staunch astonishing devotion to Śivā, that the haters of Rāmā mention? As per Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Viṣṇu diverted Rāvaṇā towards Mandodarī and saved the divine couple.
The people who claim that Rāvaṇā was a Tamilian and hence Rāmā from North killed him, just show their hatred to Sanskrit scriptures. Such haters brand Rāvaṇā as a Tamilian, to use him as a hatred means towards Rāmā and Sanskrit, to trigger the emotions of Tamilians of today for political reasons. However, those people forget the fact that Rāvaṇā was also born to a ṛṣi. He belongs to Mahaṛṣi Pulastya Vaṃśa (lineage). He was cursed to be an Asura. To those who claim the Lanka belongs to the Tamilian Rāvaṇā, Lanka was not built by Rāvaṇā. He took it over forcibly from his elder brother Kubera, who was born to the same father but different mother. We all know the Śiva Tāṇḍava Stotra authored by Rāvaṇā is in Sanskrit. So, the war happened between two Sanskrit speaking Kings only and not between Sanskrit speaking and Tamil speaking. Only the common people who know nothing about Rāmāyaṇa would fall for such tricks of vested interests. As an author of this article, I would proudly say 64 generations of my known ancestors belong to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has got a very glorious, rich history and culture. Tamilians shall not be defamed by connecting them to Rāvaṇā, for the sake of showing hatred to Sanskrit language and for the political interests.
Having said enough about Rāvaṇā’s evil nature, was he really good or evil? Though he deserves a death in the hands of Rāmā, let us not conclude him as evil. He is both good and evil. This is unbiased view without any vested interests in the background. One may wonder how?
We all know the curse of Sanakādi Mahaṛṣi’s to Jaya and Vijaya, the gate keepers of Vaikuṇṭha. They had to take three births in this world as Asurās and had to be killed by Viṣṇu Himself, by showing enmity to Viṣṇu and His devotees. However, Jaya and Vijaya are devotees of Viṣṇu by nature. Devotees of Viṣṇu are devoted from their souls and not just externally devoted. In this case, the nature of souls cannot be changed at all. Then how can they show hatred to Viṣṇu? Viṣṇu Himself does not change nature of souls, in which case how can a curse that cannot override Viṣṇu’s will do it.
Here, Śrī Madhvācāryā clearly explains what it was, in one of his Sarvamūla Granthās named Mahābhārata Tātparya Nirṇaya.
There were two demons named Ādi Hiraṇyakaśipu and Ādi Hiraṇyākṣa. Demons ever hate Viṣṇu because that is their soul’s very nature. When Jaya and Vijaya took three incarnations in this world, these two demons were also present in the same body respectively. Thus, the bodies of the three pairs of incarnations, Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu killed by Varāha Swāmy and Nṛsiṃha Swāmy respectively, Rāvaṇa and Kumbhakarṇa killed by Rāmā, Śiśupāla and Dantavakra killed by Kṛṣṇā, all had two souls in same body. This is called Jīvadwaya Āveśa, which means two souls in one body, one stays dominated and other stays suppressed at a time. This is similar to a ghost entering into one’s body and take possession of the body, suppressing the existing soul that owns the body. In case of Jaya and Vijaya, they continuously suffered this in all three births taken by each. Ādi Hiraṇyakaśipu and Jaya were present in same body while Ādi Hiraṇyākṣa and Vijaya were present in the same body.
One may ask how can we believe in such statements? In first place, Śrī Madhvācāryā is an incarnation of Mukhya Prāṇa Vāyu who is our next Chaturmukha Brahma. He is best among souls and who knows better than him except Universal Mother Lakṣmī and Viṣṇu Himself (who are superior to him). There is no ajñāna or ignorance in Śrī Madhvācāryā, hence his words can be trusted as such. He gave these from Mūla Rāmāyaṇa which is present in the world of Devatās and composed of 100 crore Ślokās.
Also, this can be clearly understood from Purāṇās. Let us take Bhāgavata Purāṇā 7th Skanda for example. Hiraṇyākṣa was killed by Varāha Swāmy. When their mother Diti and Hiraṇyākṣa’s wife were in sadness, Hiraṇyakaśipu preached beautiful words of wisdom (Jñāna Upadeśa) to them. Among several advises, below is one which is very astonishing and possible to be done only by Mahā Jñānis.
Once upon a time, King of Uśīnara was killed in a battle. His wives were weeping in grief. They didn’t get prepared for his final rites but kept on weeping in grief. Lord Yamā, the Lord of Death, who saw this, appeared like a kid who was abandoned by parents and spoke these words of wisdom. He said on seeing the weeping widows, “What a surprise? These people are elderly than me and have seen many deaths. They will also face death one day. Death is inevitable. Why are they in grief knowing all these?”
Lord Yamā further continued the below.
“We are indeed blessed, because though we are abandoned by our parents, we are not feeling sorry. Though we are helpless, we have not been eaten by the wolves. The God who shields us in the womb is our savior, where ever we are.”
“Anything that is under the protective care of God may remain in same place even when dropped on the way. Anything, even when secured in the house may get lost if God thinks so. Likewise, a person living in jungle is alive when protected by Him, whereas a person protected by relatives at home may die if he is doomed by Him.”
What beautiful advice these are! Such words of wisdom spoken by Lord Yamā once upon a time, were preached by Hiraṇyakaśipu to the wife and mother of Hiraṇyākṣa. However, the next moment, he invites his servants and says Indra is their enemy and anything that is done to please him and Viṣṇu are to be prohibited. He says, he will take revenge for his brother’s death.
Are these not mutually contrasting characters? Words of wisdom in one moment and words of hatred the very next moment. He was not a mad man. When words of wisdom were spoken, it is to be understood that Jaya was dominant and when the words of hatred were spoken, it is to be understood that the demon Ādi Hiraṇyakaśipu suppressed Jaya and became dominant. This is two souls in one body. Such happened to both of them during the incarnations.
Viṣṇu killed them in all three incarnations, there by releasing and delivering Jaya-Vijaya to good worlds and the demons to hell.
Some philosophers say, even demons like Pūtanā attained Mukti because they keep thinking of God alone in the form of hatred. So, demons also go to Mukti. This is absolute stupidity. Even the animals of lower sense like cow and deer don’t allow a tiger willfully to attack them, knowing a tiger is dangerous. How can God who is Omniscient, get pleased by such haters who try to poison Him and hate Him, though He is immortal? Also, a devotee does lot of sādhanā and sacrifices to please God and attain him. If a person can attain same fruits even through hatred, then what is the use of devotion and following Dharma (righteousness). For many people, hatred will seem easier than following Dharma. Hence, there is no way God can be attained via hatred. Hatred will lead one to hell only.
Then, how to understand the Purāṇās stating even demon like Pūtanā attained Mukti? We shall understand that there were two souls in one body (Jīvadwaya Āveśa) wherever it is mentioned that demons attained Mukti. In case of Pūtanā, Urvaśī was also present in the same body because of Kuberā’s curse. When Pūtanā was killed, Urvaśī attained liberation and reached higher worlds while Pūtanā, the demon was sent towards eternal hell.
Hence, if we sincerely analyze the nature of Jaya and Vijaya in their three incarnations, they had to stay with demons in the same body, which itself was a big punishment to make their curse effective, however they didn’t show hatred to Viṣṇu. Good nature and words of wisdom were from Jaya and Vijaya whereas the evil nature was from the demons present in the same bodies. This is the reason we say Rāvaṇā was both good and evil. However, all his acts to abduct women, to fight against Rāmā, to ask Pārvati be his wife and any such evil acts of adharma, were those of the demon present in the body and not that of Jaya.
Let us understand this and reject any criticisms against Rāmā, trying to project Rāvaṇā as a big hero. Rāmā is blemishless and of infinite auspicious attributes.
May Śrī Rāghavendra Swamy antargata Bhārati ramana Mukhya Prānāntargata Lakṣmī Vēṅkaṭēśvara Swamy get pleased!
Sarvam Shri Kṛṣṇārpaṇamastu! by Srinivasan Pranesh