Namaste Philosoraptor
Thank you for sharing this insightful information. JAI Mother Sita!
I have a question. Ravana could change His form, for example when He approached Sita He took the form of an elderly hermit, He did not have ten heads at that time. So not only at that opportunity, He could have taken the (false) form of Rama, even to try to deceive Sita when she was held in Lanka. Of course, Sita could never be deceived by a False Rama and so we know that such a transformation would have been an utter failure.
Yet, I do not think this is why Ravan did not try to use such a disguise. I believe there is a deeper, more profound reason that this deceit was not a consideration by Ravan.
Would you have an opinion on this? It may be very interesting from your point of learning. To me, like Yajvan may say, every single moment and event in the Ramayana history has profound subtle connections, doors and circumstances all intertwined that may not be known necessarily on the surface level. It is not symbolism, for the events are true. But it is the vortex of many great personalities, forces, fate and meaning.
Even Lord Ravana, who yes I will confess is VERY bad, was great in His badness. Omkara noted an interesting comment about Ravan and Buddhism. Certainly some nationalistic Singhalese may have had later Bhikshus try to put the robes of Hinayana on Him, but Buddha was long after Ravan. But there is an element of truth in the wise notation of Omkara for some of us such as myself. Because Ravan had many problems, from Ten Heads - which were never 10 Kingdoms as some claim - sometimes the den of iniquity of ten voices talking at the same moment would come and so He became the very Image of Confusion. Some say, Ravan's 10 Heads were symbolic of Ten Personalities. But both are True. He did have 10 possessive voices and egos and personalities but they did live and speak from 10 very real heads. He had Great powers. He was not a Buddhist, but a Hindu and devotee of Shiva. But also one head was thinking of Jain teaching and not Buddhism. Jainism teaches total non violence, and what a contradiction to this is found in Ravan. But in the very confusing powers of Ravan, I believe there is also the Jain element. But that is probably an argument for some other time. Ravana was no ordinary demon. In fact, though King of Rakhasas he can be said in one way that He was not really a Rakshasa Himself. He was, and was not both perhaps?
Om Namah Sivaya
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