Ravana, the ten-headed, twenty-armed king of Lanka, is the main villain in the epic
Ramayana. He was a prosperous king whose capital city Lanka was built of gold. He was well versed in
Vedas, and other scriptures. He had exceptional supernatural powers such as Mayavi-
Shakti, with which he could fly in the air, become invisible, could shower rain, fire, or thousands of arrows in an encounter. Many divine powers were granted to him by Lord Brahma. He was a great devotee of
Lord Shiva and by praying to him for ten thousand years he achieved immortality against gods and demons. Though prayerful by nature, Ravana could not exterminate the negative qualities of lust, pride, anger, covetousness, infatuation, hatred, and jealousy. The arrogant Ravana had forgotten to ask for protection from man. He kidnapped
Sita, the spouse of
Lord Ram, to make her his own. Rama led an army of men and monkeys to Lanka, destroyed Ravana and retrieved Sita. Ravana was married to
Mandodari and his eldest son's name was
Indrajit.
