| RAMA-SETU ‘Rama’s bridge,’ constructed
for him by his general, Nala, son of Viswa-karma, at the time of his
invasion of Ceylon. This name is given to the line of rocks in the
channel between the continent and Ceylon, called in maps “Adam’s
bridge.”
RAMATAPANIYOPANISHAD An Upanishad of the
Atharva-veda, in which Rama is worshipped as the supreme god and the
sage Yajnawalkya in his glorifier. It has been printed and
translated by Weber in his Indische Studien, vol.
ix.
RAMBHA An Apsaras or nymph produced at
the churning of the ocean, and popularly the type of female beauty.
She was sent by Indra to seduce Viswamitra, but was cursed by that
sage to become a stone, and remain so for a thousand year. According
to the Ramayana, she was seen by Ravana when he went to Kailasa, and
he was so smitten by her charms that he ravished her, although she
told him that she was the wife of Nala-kuvara, son of his brother
Kuvera.
RAMESWARA ‘Lord of Rama.’ Name of one of the
twelve great Lingas set up, as is said, by Rama at Rameswaram or
Ramisseram, which is a celebrated place of pilgrimage, and contains
a most magnificent temple.
RAMOPAKHYANA ‘The story of Rama,’ as told in
the Vana-parva of the Maha-bharata. It relates many, but far from
all, of the incidents celebrated in the Ramayana; it makes no
mention of Valmiki, the author of that poem, and it represents Rama
as a human being and a great hero, but not a deity.
RANTIDEVA A pious and benevolent
king of the Lunar race, sixth in descent from Bharata. He is
mentioned in the Maha-bharata and Puranas as being enormously rich,
very religious, and charitable and profuse in his sacrifices. The
former authority says that he had 200,000 cooks, that he had 2000
head of cattle an as many other animals slaughtered daily for use in
his kitchen, and that he fed innumerable beggars daily with
beef.
RATI ‘Love, desire.’ The Venus of the
Hindus, the goddess of sexual pleasures, wife of Kama the god of
love, and daughter of Daksha. She is also called Reva, Kami, Priti,
Kama-patni, ‘wife of Kama,’ Kama-kala, ‘part of Kama;’ Kama-priya,
‘beloved of Kama;’ Raga-lata, ‘vine of love;’ Mayavati, ‘deceiver;’
Kelikila, ‘wanton;’ Subhangi, ‘fair-limbed.’
RATNAVALI ‘The necklace.’ A drama ascribed
to a king of Kashmir named Sri Harsha Deva. The subject of the play
is the loves of Udayana or Vatsa, prince of Kausambi, and
Vasava-datta, princess of Ujjayini. It was written between 1113 and
1125 A. D., and has been translated by Wilson. There are several
editions of the text.
RAUCHYA The thirteenth Manu. See
Manu.
RAUDRA A descendant of Rudra. A name of
Karttikeya, the god of war.
RAVANA The demon king of Lanka or Ceylon,
from which he expelled his half-brother Kuvera. He was son of
Visravas by his wife Nikasha, daughter of the Rakshasa Su-mali. He
was half-brother of Kuvera, and grandson of the Rishi Pulastya; and
as Kuvera is king of the Yakshas, Ravana is king of the demons
called Rakshasas. Pulastya is said to be the pro genitor, not only
of Ravana, but of the whole race of Rakshasas. By penance and
devotion to Brahma, Ravana was made invulnerable against gods and
demons, but he was doomed to die through a woman. He was also
enabled to assume any form he pleased. All Rakshasas are malignant
and terrible, but Ravana as their chief attained the utmost degree
of wickedness, and was a very incarnation of evil He is described in
the Ramayana as having "ten heads (hence his names Dasanana,
Dasa-kantha, and Pankti-griva), twenty arms, and copper-coloured
eyes, and bright teeth like the young moon. His form was as a thick
cloud or a mountain, or the god of death with open mouth. He had all
the marks of royalty, but his body bore the impress of wounds
inflicted by all the divine arms in his warfare with the gods. It
was scarred by the thunderbolt of Indra, by the tusks of Indra's
elephant Airavata, and by the discus of Vishnu. His strength was so
great that he could agitate the seas and split the tops of
mountains. He was a breaker of all laws and a ravisher of other
men's wives. ...Tall as a mountain peak, he stopped with his arms
the sun and moon in their course, and prevented their rising." The
terror he inspires is such that where he is "the sun does not give
out its heat, the winds do not blow, and the ocean becomes
motionless." His evil deeds cried aloud for vengeance, and the cry
reached hen Yen. Vishnu declared that, as Ravana had been too proud
to seek protection against men and beasts, he should fall under
their attacks, so Vishnu became incarnate as Rama-chandra for the
express purpose of destroying Ravana, and vast numbers of monkeys
and bears were created to aid in the enterprise. Rama's wars against
the Rakshasas inflicted such losses upon them as greatly to incense
Ravana. Burning with rage, and excited by a passion for Sita, the
wife of Rama, he left his island abode, repaired to Rama's dwelling,
assumed the appearance of a religious mendicant, and carried off
Sita to Lanka. Ravana urged Sita to become his wife, and threatened
to kill and eat her if she refused. Sita persistently resisted, and
was saved from death by the interposition of one of Ravana's wives.
Rama called to his assistance his allies Su-griva and Hanuman, with
their hosts of monkeys and bears. They built Rama's bridge, by which
they passed over into Lanka, and after many battles and wholesale
slaughter Ravana was brought to bay at the city of Lanka. Rama and
Ravana fought together on equal terms for a long while, victory
sometimes inclining to one sometimes to the other. Rama with a sharp
arrow cut off one of Ravana's heads, " but no sooner did the head
fall on the ground than another sprang up in its room. "Rama then
took an arrow which had been made by Brahma, and discharged it at
his foe. It entered his breast, came out of his back, went to the
ocean, and then returned clean to the quiver of Rama. "Ravana fell
to the ground and expired, and the gods Bounded celestial music in
the heavens, and assembled in the sky and praised Rama as Vishnu, in
that he had slain that Ravana who would otherwise have caused their
destruction." Ravana, though he was chief among Rakshasas, was a
Brahman on his father's side; he was well versed in Sanskrit, used
the Vedic ritual, and his body was burnt with Brahmanical rites.
There is a story that Ravana made each of the gods perform some
menial office in his household: thus Agni was his cook, Varuna
supplied water, Kuvera furnished money, vayu swept the house,
&c. The Vishnu Purana relates that Ravana, "elevated with wine,
came on his tour of triumph to the city of Mahishmati, but there he
was taken prisoner by King Karta-virya, and confined like a beast in
a corner of his capital " The same authority states that, in another
birth, Ravana was Sisu-pala. Ravana's chief wife was Mandodari, but
he had many others, and they were burnt at hip obsequies. His sons
were Megha-nada, also called Indra-jit, Ravani, and Aksha; Tri-sikha
or Tri-siras, Devantaka, Narantaka and Atikaya. See
Nandisa.
RAVI The Sun. See
Surya.
RENUKA Daughter of King Prasenajit or
Renu, wife of Jamad-agni, and mother of Parasu-rama. A sight of the
connubial endearments of King Chitra-ratha and his wife inspired her
with impure thoughts, and her husband, perceiving that she had
“fallen from perfection,” desired her sons to kill her. Ru-manvat,
Su-shena, and Vasu, the three seniors, declined, and their father
cursed them so that they became idiots. Parasu- rama, the fourth
son, cut off her head, which act so gratified his father that
Jamad-agni promised him whatever blessings he de- sired Among other
things, Parasu-rama asked that his mother might be brought back to
life in ignorance of her death and in perfect purity. He also
desired that his brothers might be restored to their senses. All
this Jamad-agni bestowed She was also called
Konkana.
REVA The Narmada
river.
REVA 1. Wife of Karna. 2. A name of
Rati.
REVANTA A son of Surya and Sanjna. Ire is
chief of the Guhyakas, and is also called
Haya-vahana.
REVATl Daughter of King Raivata and wife
of Bala-rama. She was so beautiful that her father, thinking no one
upon earth worthy of her, repaired to the god Brahma to consult him
about a husband Brahma delivered a long discourse on the glories of
Vishnu, and directed Raivata to proceed to Dwaraka, where a portion
of Vishnu was incarnate in the person of Bala-rama. Ages had elapsed
while Raivata was in heaven without his knowledge. When he returned
to earth, "he found the race of men dwindled in stature, reduced in
vigour, and enfeebled in intellect." He went to Bala-rama and gave
him Revati, but that hero, "beholding the damsel of excessively
lofty height, he shortened her with the end of his ploughshare, and
she became, his wife." She had two sons. Revati is said to have
taken part with her husband in his drinking
bouts.
RlBHAVAS See
Ribhus.
RIBHU 'Clever, skilful.' An epithet used
for Indra, Agni, and the Adityas. In the Puranic mythology, Ribhu is
a "Son of the Supreme Brahma, who, from his innate disposition, was
of a holy character and acquainted with true wisdom." His pupil was
Nidagha, a son of Pulastya, and he took especial interest in his
instruction, returning to him after two intervals of a thousand
years" to instruct him further in true wisdom." The Vishnu Purana,
"originally composed by the Rishi (Narayana), was communicated by
Brahma to Ribhu." He was one of the four Kumaras
(q.v.)
RIBHUS Three sons of Su-dhanwan, a
descendant of An-giras, severally named Ribhu, Vibhu, and Vaja.
Through their assiduous performance of good works they obtained
divinity, exercised superhuman powers, and became entitled to
receive praise and adoration. They are supposed to dwell in the
solar sphere, and there is an indistinct identification of them with
the rays of the sun; but, whether typical or not, they prove the
admission, at an early date, of the doctrine that men might become
divinities.- Wilson. They are celebrated in the Rig-veda as skilful
workmen, who fashioned Indra's chariot and horses, and made their
parents young again. By command of the gods, and with a promise of
exaltation to divine honours, they made a single new sacrificial cup
into four. They are also spoken of as supporters of the
sky.
RIBHUKSHAN The first of the three
Ribhus. In the plural, the three Ribhus.
RICHIKA A Rishi descended from Bhrigu and
husband of Satyavati, son of Urva and father of Jamad-agni. (See
Viswamitra.) In the Maha-bharata and Vishnu Purana it is related
that Richika was an old man when he demanded in marriage Satyavati,
the daughter of Gadhi, king of Kanya-kubja. Unwilling to give her to
so old a man, Gadhi demanded of him 1000 white horses, each of them
having one black ear. Richika obtained these from the god Varuna,
and so gained his wife. According to the Ramayana, he sold his son
Sunah-sephas to be a sacrifice.
RIDDHI 'Prosperity.' The wife of Kubera,
god of wealth. The name is also used for Parvati, the wife of
Siva.
RIG-VEDA See Veda.
RIG-VIDHANA Writings which treat of
the mystic and magic efficacy of the recitation of hymns of the
Rig-veda, or even of single verses. Some of them are attributed to
Saunaka, but probably belong only to the time of the Puranas. -
Weber.
RISHABHA Son of Nabhi and Meru, and father
of a hundred sons, the eldest of whom was Bharata. He gave his
kingdom to his son and retired to a hermitage, where he led a life
of such severe austerity and abstinence, that he became I mere
“collection of skin and fibres, and went the way of all flesh.” The
Bhagavata purana speaks of his wanderings in the western part of the
Peninsula, and connects him with the establishment of the Jain
religion in those parts. The name of the first Jain Tirthakara or
saint was Rishabha.
RISHI An inspired poet or sage. The
inspired persons to whom the hymns of the Vedas were revealed and
under whose names they stand. “The seven Rishis” (saptarshi), or the
Praja-patis, “the mind-born sons” of Brahma, are often referred to.
In the Satapatha Brahmana their names are given as Gotama,
Bharadwaja, Viswamitra, Jamad-agni, Vasishtha, Kasyapa, and Atri The
Maha-bharata gives them as Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu,
Pulastya, and Vasishtha. The Vayu Purana adds Bhrigu to this. list,
making eight, although it still calls them "seven." The Vishnu
Purina, more consistently, adds Bhrigu and Daksha, and calls them
the nine Brahmarshis (Brahma-rishis). The names of Gautama, Kanwa,
Valmiki, Vyasa, Manu, and Vibhandaka are also enumerated among the
great Rishis by different authorities. Besides these great Rishis
there are many other Rishis. The seven Rishis are represented in the
sky by the seven stars of the Great Bear, and as such are called
Riksha and Chitra-sikhandinas, ‘having bright
crests.’
RISHI-BRAHMANA An old Anukramani, or
Index of the Sama-veda.
RISHYA-MUKA
A mountain in the Dakhin, near the source of the Pampa river and the
lake Pampa. Rama abode there for a time with the
monkeys.
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