Raavan, The Consummate Musician

This story was published as part of Outlook's 21 October 2024 magazine issue titled 'Raavan Leela'. To read more stories from the issue, click here

More than two centuries ago, around the year 1820, Ettayapuram, a small village in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, was severely hit by drought and famine. The land was rendered arid due to years of no rainfall, and a multitude of villagers lost their lives. It is a curse, the villagers said, for having insulted the rain god.

The people of this village implored Chinnaswami Dikshitar, a musician of repute, for their salvation. He, in turn, sent a message to his brother Muthuswami Dikshitar, a renowned and acclaimed Carnatic musician and composer, revered as one of the Musical Trinity of Carnatic music.

Endowed with distinctive divine blessings, Muthuswami came to Ettayapuram, accompanied by his disciple Subramaniyam Aiyyar. He was pained to see the suffering of the drought-hit land and its people.

He told his disciple: “We have to invoke the rain goddess, or else there will be no sign of life in this village. We have to revive the extraordinary powers of the ancient Raga Amrutvarshini. But before we embark on this task, we have to seek the blessings of the inimitable musician of all time, the revered great grandson of Brahma, the grandson of the Sapta Rishi Pulastya Muni, the unequalled bhakt of Lord Shiva, the powerhouse of knowledge of six puranas and four vedas, the incomparable one who had mastered the 64 classical arts of ancient India, the peerless musician of Treta Yuga­—Raavan, who created Raga Amrutvarshini. This raag is believed to have brought the shower of healing drops of rain despite the skies being bereft of clouds. We will have to seek Raavan’s blessings, learn the secrets of this raga before we bring to life the powers engendered by this ancient Raga Amrutvarshini and implore the goddess of rain for mercy.”

“Why is it so Swami?” queried Subramaniyam.

“It is so because Raavan created this Raga Amrutvarshini and saved Lanka from being reduced to ashes. I will narrate the story behind it,” averred Muthuswami.

“It so happened that Hanuman set entire Lanka on fire with his burning tail. Raavan was aware that only the divine blessing of the rain goddess could save Lanka from the calamity. He took his Rudra veena and is said to have composed the immersive Raga Amrutvarshini spontaneously to evoke god’s mercy. He kept playing Raga Amrutvarshini relentlessly and so immaculately that his rendition made the devas and apsaras descend from their celestial abode, all raptly listening to Raavan’s divine music. The apsaras danced to the tune of the enthralling raag. The devas were mesmerised by the resplendent notes of the raag. Shiv-Angani was very pleased, and rains unleashed from the cloudless skies as if dancing to the scintillating tunes of this exceptional raag.

Lanka was saved. Raavan persisted with the exhilarating rendition of the Raga Amrutvarshini. There was an unabated downpour that made the devas fear they would drown, and they pleaded with Raavan to stop the rains. Raavan thanked the rain goddess—Anand Amruta Karshini (another avataar of Parvati) and seamlessly tuned in to Raga Shankrabharanam (meaning embellishment of Shankar)—a much-loved raga by Lord Shiva. The swara and tunes of this raga bring about calmness, peace and health, and the downpour stopped,” said Muthuswami.

And then invoking Raavan, Muthuswami asked him the secret of this Raga Amrutvarshini and elicited his permission to sing the kriti that he had composed in Raga Amrutvarshini. With the divine blessings and permission of Raavan, Muthuswami sang his kriti in Raga Amrutvarshini.

“Anand Amrita Karshini Amrit Varshini,

Salilam Varshaya Varshaya Varshaya”

And as he sang Salilam Varshaye Varshaye Varshaye, thunderous black clouds painted the sky with their strokes, and it started raining so heavily that the entire village was flooded. Villagers ran in a frenzy fearing that the level of rainwater would drown the entire village. They appealed to Muthuswami to stop the rains.

He, still praying to the goddess, sang: “O Ananda Amrut Karshini Amrut Varshini, Stambhaya Stambhaya Stambhaya (O devi please stop, stop, stop) and the downpour stopped.

Muthuswami was so moved by this inconceivable and unique incident that he didn’t leave Ettayapuram and breathed his last (at his will) on that blessed land.

Once there was a duel between Raavan and his uncle Agastya muni. It was decided that whoever by his sheer power makes the mountains melt would be called Sarvashaktiman—the most powerful.

Both of them sat facing a mountain. Muni took out his veena and started playing it and the mountain melted. Raavan tried his utmost but to his dismay couldn’t succeed and had to concede defeat. He sought muni’s blessings, who told him that his veena was created from the veins and tendons of a creature called ‘Yaagni’. Later, Raavan created the strings of his Rudra veena from his own veins and tendons to please Lord Shiva and the narrative goes like this.

Once, Raavan was riding his Pushpak vimaan (flying machine) when he reached and beheld Mount Kailash. He was so mesmerised by the pristine beauty of the resplendent Kailash that he desired to carry Kailash to Lanka. Nandi, the bull vaahan of Lord Shiva and guardian of Mountain Kailash warned Raavan against doing anything of that sort as Kailash was the abode of Lord Shiva and Parvati, the divine couple.

Raavan did not pay heed to Nandi’s warnings. He descended from his vimaan, tried uprooting the Kailash and moving it atop his 10 heads and 20 hands. Mount Kailash started shaking. Parvati, terrified by this, ran into Shiva’s loving embrace. After calming her down, Shiva pressed down the peak of Kailash with his toe and the mountain came crashing down on Raavan, who till then was known as Dashaanan/Dashagriva.

The trapped king of Lanka roared and screamed in pain, with the sound of RAAV--which echoed in all the Three Loks and that is when Shiva named him Ravan (the one with the loud roar).

Raavan remained crushed under Kailash for years. On his minister’s suggestion, Raavan sang hymns in praise of Lord Shiva and thereby composed the extraordinaire Shiv Tandav stotram. Recalling what the muni had advised him, Raavan cut off one of his heads and built the veena from it using his own tendons and veins for the strings (instead of those of Yaagni, as the muni had done). The incomparable Rudra veena was born.

Taking the Rudra veena in his hand, Raavan started singing the Shiv Tandav stotram that he had composed in various ragas like Kedar, Bhairav, Shivbharanam, but in vain as Lord Shiva remained unmoved. Raavan then composed Raga Harapriya and started singing his Shiv Tandav stotram in this raga. The entire universe was mesmerised by this splendid raga. Lord Shiva was exhilarated and pleased by the rendition of this unique poetry—Shiv Tandav stotram and the beauty of Raga Harapriya (Hara means Shiv and Priya means loved, so Harapriya means ‘that which is dear to Lord Shiva’). Later, to conform to the Katapayadi formula, the name Harapriya was changed to Raga Karaharapriya—as it is known today.

Karaharapriya brings out the Karuna Rasa. This ancient raga is said to have been revived by one of the most acclaimed Carnatic musicians and composers, one of the Trinity of Carnatic Music—Saint Thyagaraja—in the 18th century. He, too, had invoked Raavan, seeking his blessing and forgiveness before interpreting and reviving this ancient raga.

Shiva was so pleased with the devotion and music of Raavan that he blessed him and emancipated him from captivity under the colossal Kailash.

Once, while playing veena continuously for days to appease Shiva, the instrument began to fall apart. The head broke first, then the soundboard and eventually, the strings. Folklore says Raavan detached one of his many heads to replace the resonator, used his hand as the soundboard and used his veins instead of strings. This is how Ravanhatta or Ravanstrom was born. Ravanhatta is considered the forerunner of the violin and the world’s oldest stringed instrument played with a bow. English authors William Sandys and Geoffrey Alwyn wrote in their books The History of Violin and Violin and its Story, respectively, about this most ancient violin-like instrument from India.

Hanuman is believed to have taken this instrument of Raavan after he was killed and brought it over to India. Ravanhatta is still popular among street musicians of Rajasthan. Interestingly, Ravanhatta finds a brief mention in Samuel Beckett’s 1953 novel Watt, where he writes: “A Ravanstrom hung on the wall, from a nail, like a plover.”

Recently, the Sri Lankan government has made efforts to revive this ancient instrument. Sri Lankan composer and violinist Dinesh Subasinghe has used it in several of his compositions. Even the European experimental folk band Heilung has used Ravanhatta in two of their albums Ofnir and Futha.

Raavan was so consummate a musician that Shiva chose him to set the vedas in a musical format. He created Raga Khamboji, an auspicious raga, and set the Sama Gana, the vedas in this raga.

Raavan showed his devotion to Shiva through his music and wrote hymns eulogising Shiva and setting them into ragas that he created for Shiva. Impressed by his musical prowess, Shiva gave Raavan his ‘Atma Linga’ (an embodiment of Shiv himself in the form of a linga).

The all-pervading Shiva was in love with Raavan’s creativity in music and would delve in a deep meditative mood while listening to it. Parvati was aware of Shiva’s love for Raavan’s musical creations. That is why when Lord Shiva was doing his taandav in rage because of Sati’s sacrifice and the whole world trembled in tribulation, Parvati knew that music alone could calm Shiva down. She remembered how Shiva had transcended into a state of ecstasy beyond the realm of consciousness, lost in blissful abandon when Raavan had sung and played Raga Karaharapriya for him.

And far away, Raavan, too, was worried about his Lord Shiva.

Despite not being present there in time and space, Raavan creates the thought that divinely gets communicated to Parvati to invoke Raag Malkauns, which is the quintessence of Elysian peace to induce the much-needed calmness in the unstoppable being of Shiva.

Parvati realised why Raavan had suggested she invoke Raga Malkauns, a serene and meditative raga with all the Komal swaras where the Risabh & Pancham are omitted. By omitting the Risabh that is associated with wrath and anger, it had a soothing effect. There was stillness everywhere and Shiva calmed down. His taandav came to a halt.

It was the third prahar of the night then, and Raga Malkauns (one of the six principal male ragas) appeared along with his five raginis—Ragini Gandharee, Dev Gandharee, Sehutee, Gandakaree and the beautiful Ragini Dhanashree and the eight Raga putras.

The air was replete with the beautiful compositions in Raga Malkauns. Lord Shiva and Parvati were very pleased to see Raga Malkauns and his family and blessed them.

It is said that Raavana faraway was meditating on Raga Malkauns as well, and after Shiva calmed down, Raavan gave blessings to Raga Malkauns that any of the swars (notes) of Malkauns would be considered appropriate for ‘nyasa’ . No other raga enjoys this privilege. It is considered Raavana’s ‘divine’ blessing to Raga Malkauns for having calmed his Lord Shiva.

(Views expressed are personal)

Ajit Pradhan is chief cardiac surgeon and MD at Jeevak Heart Hospital; Secretary, Navras School of Performing Arts, and Founder, Director, Patna Literature Festival

(This appeared in the print as 'When Rains Came to Lanka')