Pulastya Rishi (Grand Father of Ravana)

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Dear All, Again by VV Raman at : http://www.siddha.com.my/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000053-7.html

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Pulastya Rishi and his progeny

In the biological world with which we are familiar there are many birds andbeasts, insects and mammals, and so on. These are different species of lifeforms. In the Hindu mythic world, there are also special types of creatures.Some of these are anthropomorphic and don't belong to any of the commonlyknown species. How did they come about?

In the Puranic framework they had supernatural origins. Consider at leastfour such classes of beings: yakshas, vanaras, rakshasas, and kinnaras.

Yakshas are creatures that live in forests. They are fond of trees that areheld sacred. Some yakshas are good, and some are bad. These are believed tobe real creatures, but invisible to ordinary mortals; therefore, they haveto be feared, and they are sometimes worshiped. Some yakshas have attainedreputation as important characters in the epics. Perhaps the most widelyknown of them is Kubera, the god of wealth.

Then there are the rakshasas. The term is related to the root, raksh: toguard. It is believed that they were created to watch over the elements whenthey were first formed. In the mythologies, rakshasas are superhuman beingswith subhuman qualities. In other words, they have enormous physical andeven mental capacities, but generally speaking, they are evil ininclinations and prone to destruction. The puranas trace their origins indifferent ways. One view is that it was Pulastya Rishi who gave rise tothem. Elsewhere Kashyapa Rishi is credited with their genesis. According toanother purana, they arose from Brahms's toenail.

Rakshasas appear in all shapes and shades. Some are grotesque and ugly: some fair and friendly. Some are huge and monstrous; others are less frightening.

Many are cruel and bloodthirsty, but some are also calm and peaceful. Someare fat and some lean, some are dwarfs and others gargantuan. In theRamayana we read that Hanuman saw all kinds of raskshasas, some with justone eye, some with pendulous breasts, some with huge protruding teeth, somewith crooked thighs, etc. Such variety and numbers of Rakshasas in Sri Lankais no surprise since Ravana, its ruler, was their chief.

Then we have the Vanaras or forest-denizens, represented withtails and monkey faces. Hanuman is the best known of them. Historicallyspeaking, they could well have referred to another aboriginal tribe thatlived in the southern regions.

Finally, there are the kinnaras of Hindu mythology, corresponding to theGreek centaurs. These are beings with human-like bodies and horse-likeheads. Again, it has been suggested that the reference was probably to someaboriginal people who used horse masks in their festivities.

In the puranic worldview it was the prajapati Pulastya who engenderedyakshas, rakshasas, vanaras, and kinnaras. From this perspective, the battlebetween Ravana and the vanaras in the Ramayana was actually a confrontationbetween two families of half-brothers.It is said that once Bhishma, the grand-sire in the Mahabharata, did manyyears of austerities at the end of which Pulastya appeared before him andpromised him any boon of his choice. There is a long chapter in theMahabharata (Vane Parva: 82) in which Pulastya explains to Bhishma theimportance and benefits of making pilgrimage. Specifically, he explains,whereas it requires considerable wealth to perform great sacrifices which,therefore, can be done only by kings and other rich people, even the verypoor can go to a tirtha (place of pilgrimage with a sacred river or pond)and achieve the same benefits as from a sacrifice.

Pulastya is said to have had three wives and several sons. The oldest of hissons was the great Vishrava. In the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana (Sarga II),Agastya speaks about the austerities of Pulastya whom he describes as arenowned and mighty Brahmarishi, very much like Brahma himself, of whom hewas born (praj?teh putra). Pulastya went to the ashrama of Trinabinduwhich was on Mount Meru, and stayed there, performing many austerities. Itwas a wonderful place graced by maidens and nymphs who sang and danced joyfully, but they distracted the rishi. Pulastya was angry and warned them they would become pregnant if they showed up there again. So they alldisappeared, but Trinabindu's daughter strayed in the rishi's presence bymistake, and promptly became with child. Now her father married her toPulastya.

It is thus that Vishrava was born. He married Devavarnini, a daughter ofRishi Bharadvaja, but through a series of circumstances he also begotchildren through his other wives. Vishrava is remembered in the tradition asthe father of many major characters in the Ramayana. These includepersonages like Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishana, Kubera, and Shurpanakha:all members of the Sri Lankan royal family.

Such are the stories related to Pulastya Rishi. They are part of Hindusacred history.

V. V. RamanSeptember 21, 2005

 

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