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Continued from yesterday’s instalment
 ‘He has to pay dearly for all that he has wreaked on our race,’ thundered Ravana. ‘I need to take revenge on that mortal who has wantonly killed Kara, Düsana and a whole lot of others.’ ‘There was no reason behind this war’, Ravana was trying to tell Märïca. “Without uttering any harsh word the bow and arrows was made use of by Rama, in whom anger had burst forth, in the van of the fight.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Aranya Kanda, Canto XXXVI, Sloka 6)
‘Our men did not provoke him. They did not utter even a harsh word. Without any apparent reason, he has killed our people. I seethe with anger. This is a great insult on our race. This has to be avenged and he should repent for this. Listen to me.’
“By use of force, I shall bring from Janasthana Sita, resembling a daughter of gods, the wife of Rama, by whom, relying on his physical strength alone, was my sister (Surpanakha) deformed in the forest by depriving her of her ears and nose without (any show of) hostility.” (Ibid)
‘It was all because of that woman that my sister was deformed and when our men went there to enquire about it, Rama waged an unprovoked war and therefore we have to deprive him of his wife, the actual person behind all that has happened.’ It is the regular way in which Ravana whips up passions.
But quite unexpectedly, Märïca was a totally changed person. Gone were the days when he used to harass the sages and one is surprised to see him suddenly turning into a votary of Dharma. ‘chichee enath than meych chevi poththi therumandhaan.’ ‘Shameful,’ he hissed, putting both his hands to his ears, expressing dismay and disgust.
‘Do you remember how you got all your present power and position Ravana?’ he asked.
‘thirath thiranaalO sei thavam mutrith thiru uttraai’, was it due to the fact that you followed the path of rectitude ’marath thirathinaalO, solludhi marai vallOi’ or was it by pursuit of your misdeeds? You who are well-versed in the Vedas, you know it for yourself.
 ‘What you propose to do is a heinous offence which cannot be accepted by any standards. ‘naaram koNdaar naadu kavarndhar,’
those (kings) who covet the land of the ones whose love and trust they enjoy, ‘nadai allaa vaaram koNdaar,’
those (kings) who earn their revenue from people through undue means and ‘matru oruvan manai vaazhum thaaram kondaar endra ivar thammai’
and anyone who covets the wife of another man, ‘dharumam thaan Irum kaNdaai’
would all be slayed by Dharma.
That you think of coveting the wife of another man is by itself an unpardonable offence for which you need not be punished by anyone for disaster would be the natural course that it would lead to. When that being so, you are planning to steal the wife of warrior of unequalled prowess. You do not seem to realise whose wife you have set your eyes on. You are inviting trouble. Let me tell you my experience Ravana. I have had the bitter experience of tasting his power not once, but twice. It was not just on one occasion when I tried to mar the yaga of Viswamithra. There was another occasion when I tried to take revenge on Rama.
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Hari Krishnan
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