Story of Patālarāvaṇa

A leader among the demons. Rāvaṇa, the lord of Laṅkā, and Pātālarāvaṇa are different. Pātālarāvaṇa was the son of the sister of Mālyavān. Heti, son of Brahmā, begot of his wife Bhayā a son named Vidyutkeśa. Vidyutkeśa married Sālakaṭaṅkā and got of her Sukeśa. Sukeśa married Devavatī and got of her three sons, Mālyavān, Sumālī and Mālī. Of these Sumālī got Prahasta and others who were the ministers of Rāvaṇa. Pātāla-Rāvaṇa was the son of Mālyavān’s sister.

A set of demons afraid of Mahāviṣṇu, the destroyer of demons, fled to Pātāla. Their leader was Pātālarāvaṇa. On reaching Pātāla he became their leader and emperor and he got the name of Pātālarāvaṇa from then onwards.

Pātālarāvaṇa performed severe austerities to propitiate Brahmā and got from him three extraordinary boons:—(1) To travel freely in all the worlds without the use of any vehicle (2) To be well-versed in all magical arts (3) To be alive till the beetle-shaped blue diamond in his possession is broken into two.

Pātālarāvaṇa used all these boons for the welfare and emancipation of his own people. He was interested in teasing his enemies by the power of his boons. Rāvaṇa, king of Laṅkā, had an alliance with Pātālarāvaṇa.

Pātālarāvaṇa had a cruel and huge brother named Kumbhodara who was an adept in magic. This brother always helped Pātāla-Rāvaṇa in all his activities.

The Rāma-Rāvaṇa Yuddha was going on and Rāvaṇa began to suffer defeat after defeat in quick succession. Rāvaṇa then sent for Pātālarāvaṇa and his brother Kumbhodara. Pātālarāvaṇa felt sorry at the pitiable plight of Laṅkā and both the Rāvaṇas sat together to discuss future plans. Though they had lost a major portion of their army, Rāvaṇa suggested they should fight with the rest of the army and kill Rāma. Pātālarāvaṇa was to kill Rāma and Laṅkā-Rāvaṇa was to marry Sītā. Pātālarāvaṇa said that it was unwise to continue the fight with a small army but promised he would make a trial by using his magic powers.

Pātālarāvaṇa and Kumbhodara on leaving Laṇkā made themselves invisible and travelled above the camp of Śrī Rāma to investigate the strength and manoeuvres of the Rāma-army. It was night and the whole place was lit by moonlight. The monkey soldiers were taking rest in different places. Vibhīṣaṇa and Sugrīva were talking in secret about grave matters. Śrī Rāma was lying resting his head on the lap of Lakṣmaṇa and Lakṣmaṇa was mildly massaging the divine body of his brother. Hanūmān was sitting on a big dais created by his tail and keeping watch over the whole camp.

Pātālarāvaṇa knew from what he saw that any attempt to carry away Rāma from the surface of the ground was impossible and so he returned to Pātāla. From there they made a tunnel up to the base of the seat of Hanūmān and from there to where Rāma lay. Then they carried Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa to Pātāla before anybody could find it out by making them smell a sammohanadivyauṣadha (divine medicine causing unconscious ness). They brought them to a temple of Mahākālī with the intention of offering them in a sacrifice to the deity the next day morning. They made all preparations for the same. Hanūmān used to inspect the camp often and yet when after midnight he looked at the place where Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa were sleeping he could not find them. He immediately woke up all and made a search and they then found the big hole of a tunnel near the place where Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa were sleeping. All the leaders including Sugrīva and Vibhīṣaṇa assembled there and then Vibhīṣaṇa told them what had happened. He then took Sugrīva, Hanūmān, Jāmbavān and Aṅgada and a big army to Pātāla and went straight to the Mahākālī temple. There Pātālarāvaṇa had already started the ceremonies for the sacrifice.

Vibhīṣaṇa then asked Hanūmān to go and get the beetle-shaped diamond of Pātālarāvaṇa from a secret place in his bed chamber. Hanūmān took it and kept it in his mouth and attacked Pātālarāvaṇa who came running to slay him. Pātāla-Rāvaṇa faced Hanūmān in a very indifferent manner and a fight ensued. After sometime Hanūmān lost patience and cracked the diamond within his mouth and the moment it cracked Pātāla-Rāvaṇa fell down dead. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Kamba Rāmāyaṇa).