Ravana Birth and Background – Stories from Aranyaka Parva
Surprisingly, the Mahabharata provides us with the details of the birth and family relationships of Ravana. Rishi Markandeya shared this information with Yudhistira when consoling him that a great many women had to face hardships, and Sita was one of them. He continued to narrate the Ramayana.
Ravana’s great-grandfather was Prajapati, the self-creating ascetic. One of Prajapati’s mind-born sons was Pulastya, who had a son called Vaishravana (Kubera). However, Vaishravana preferred Prajapati over his father, which angered Pulastya.
Pulastya collected his anger to create another version (a darker version) of himself called Vishrava (think of him as Pulastya’s evil twin) to counter Vaishravana. However, Prajapati made Vaishravana immortal since he liked his devotion. He also made him the king of riches and the guardian of the worlds. Furthermore, Vaishravana gained friendship with Ishana (Shiva) and got a son, Nalakubera, as a boon. He was gifted Lanka as his kingdom. Vaishravana ruled the land of the rakshasas and lived happily with his son and others.
However, Vaishravana didn’t forget that his father’s other self, Vishrava, was angry at him. In an attempt to appease him, he sent three rakshashis to serve his father (Vishrava). The three rakshasis – Pushpotkata, Raka, and Malini were dutiful and talented. They spent all their time trying to please Vishrava and eventually succeeded.
Vishrava granted them each a boon. All three wanted children of their own. Pushpotkata gave birth to two sons – Kumbhakarna and Dashagriva (Ravana). Raka gave birth to Vibhishana. Raka had twin children – Khara and Surpanaka.
Khara hated Brahmins and carried a powerful bow to kill and eat raw flesh. Surpanaka loved to obstruct religious rites and sacrifices. While Kumbhakarna and Ravana had super strength, Vibhishana was the most handsome man and followed dhrama since his childhood.
They lived on Mount Gandhamadana with their father. Once, they saw Vaishravana and his wealth and decided to perform austerities to become like him.
The three siblings (Kumbhakarna, Ravana, and Vibhishana) spent several years in intense austerities for various reasons. Khara and Surpanaka took care of their older brothers and ensured no one disturbed them.
Finally, Brahma Deva appeared to grant each of them their boons. He told them to ask for anything except immortality.
Ravana asked for a boon where he would never be defeated by gandharvas, devas, asuras, yakshas, rakshasas, nagas, kinnaras, and demons (that’s why he was defeated by humans and vanaras). Kumbhakarna asked for a long period of sleep since his mind was clouded with fatigue after the tapasya. Brahma Deva granted it.
Vibhishana asked that his mind shouldn’t turn to adharma even during extremely difficult situations. He also asked for the Brahmastra to be manifested in him. Brahma Deva was pleased with the requests and granted him both as well as immortality.
Once he obtained the boon, Ravana attacked Lanka and won it from Vaishravana. He also stole the Pushpaka chariot from Vaishravana. Vaishravana was so angry that he cursed Ravana that the Pushpaka wouldn’t carry him. Instead, it would carry the one who would lead to Ravana’s demise. Then, Vaishravana, with the yakshas, gandharvas, guhyakas, and others, went to reside on Mount Gandhamanada and soon converted it into his kingdom.
Ravana and his siblings relocated to Lanka. Heady with power, Ravana attacked many kingdoms, including the gods. Over time, the gods began to fear him and asked for help to defeat Ravana. They went to Brahma Deva and said that his boon made Ravana near-invincible, and he was terrorizing everyone.
Eventually, when the time was right, Narayana was born as Rama to kill Ravana. The devas also arrived on the earth to incarnate as various people who would support Rama in his mission (just like how it happened in the Mahabharata). As Vaishravana cursed, the Pushpaka carried Rama to Ayodhya after Ravana’s death.