Story of Meghanāda

Indrajit, son of Rāvaṇa. (Only portions which were left off under the entry Indrajit are given here.

Synonyms of Meghanāda.

Kānīna, Rāvaṇi, Māyāvī, Indrajit. The origin of each name is given below:

(i) Kānīna. Son of a virgin. In olden times, once, the Sea of Milk was churned. From it arose a beautiful maiden called Sulakṣaṇā. She became an attendant of Pārvatī and one day while bathing in a pond in the garden she sent Sulakṣaṇā to fetch some clothes for her. Śiva who was then in Pārvatī’s chamber alone, lost his control when he saw the beautiful Sulakṣaṇā and had intercourse with her. The maid was perplexed and then Śiva assured her that she would give birth to a child only after her marriage.

But when Sulakṣaṇā returned with the dress Pārvatī felt suspicious and she cursed her and made her into a frog and pushed it into that same pond.

Time passed on. Once Maya performed severe penance to please Śiva to get a daughter and Śiva persuaded Pārvatī to release Sulakṣaṇā from the curse and she did so turning her into a beautiful maiden named Mandodarī and Śiva gave her to Maya. Rāvaṇa married her and their first son was Kānīna.

(ii) Rāvaṇi. Son of Rāvaṇa.

(iii) Meghanāda. (One having the sound of thunder). When he was born he made a sound as loud as thunder and so he was called Meghanāda.

(iv) Māyāvī. He accepted Śiva as his Guru and learned all the divine arts of magic like Mṛgendrajāla, Brahmendrajāla, Surendrajāla, Mahendrajāla Khagendrajāla, Vāyustambha, Jalastambha, Agnistambha, Ākāśasañcāra, Parakāyapraveśa, Rūpabhedasvīkāra and Tirodhāna. Because he knew all these tricks he was called Māyāvī.

(v) Indrajit. When Rāvaṇa attacked svarga he pushed forward too much and so was caught inside an army of the Devas which surrounded him. When Meghanāda saw it he broke the army circle of the devas and getting in caught Indra as a prisoner and brought him to Laṅkā. Indra was later released by the mediation of Brahmā and the latter gave him the name Indrajit meaning "Conqueror of Indra".

Boons.

When Rāvaṇa was conducting his world campaign he performed at Nikumbhilā many yāgas and got from Brahmā many boons. Meghanāda acquired powers which had not been possible for mānavas, dānavas, vānaras or rākṣasas to acquire. He got a Vimāna (divine car) which could travel in all directions, backwards and forwards, up or down. He received an armour against which no weapon would be of any use. He possessed a weapon which would be effective against anything. Above all these, he had the power to remain invisible. He could be killed by only one person of his age who had lived for fourteen years dutifully and virtuously without sleep. Only Indrajit knew about this.

In a battle Māyāvī would show many tricks. If one was found ineffective he would use another. He had in his stock over a thousand such tricks all of which he had acquired with very little effort. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Kamba Rāmāyaṇa).