Week 13 Wikipedia Trails: Ravana-Hindu Deities

November 30, 2020

Week 13 Wikipedia Trails: Ravana-Hindu Deities

This week I wanted to utilize the extra credit options to refresh my memory on some of the important characters from the Ramayana that I am basing my storybook on. Wikipedia might not be the most reliable source, but it is certainly handy for reviewing the basics! I'm the kind of person that relies on a lot of memory-jogging when my short-term memory short-circuits. So thank you Google, thank you Wikipedia.

("Thinking about small" by falequin

is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Of course, I had to start with my protagonist, Ravana. Here's what we know about Ravana. Ravana is the king of Lanka (which is the mythical name of the real place Sri Lanka). His parents are Vishvara and Rakshasi Kaikeshi. Ravana is associated with evil, but has good qualities too, such as being powerful and educated. Next I had to go to the Shiva page. Wikipedia describes Shiva as one of the primary deities of Hinduism. Shiva is also known as Viswanatha (Lord of the Universe). Shiva is the embodiment of purity and goodness. He is described as having a unique appearance:

"The iconographical attributes of Shiva are the serpent around his neck, the adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the third eye on his forehead, the trishula or trident, as his weapon, and the damaru drum."

Next, I explored the Hindu deities page. I read about some different terms such as "deva" and "devi" and "asuras". I was curious about how many devas/devis there were and I found this interesting passage.

"there are three deities (Devas) according to the Vedas, "Agni (fire), whose place is on the earth; Vayu (wind), whose place is the air; and Surya (sun), whose place is in the sky".^[107] This principle of three worlds (or zones), and its multiples is found thereafter in many ancient texts. The Samhitas, which are the oldest layer of text in Vedas enumerate 33 devas,^{[note 3]} either 11 each for the three worlds, or as 12 Adityas, 11 Rudras, 8 Vasus and 2 Ashvins in the Brahmanas layer of Vedic texts"