Chapter 13

Ravana and Kailasa

Ravana tried to lift the mountain Shiva was seated on — and Shiva, without rising, pressed it down with the toe of one foot

The vimana that stopped

Ravana was returning from his conquests, in his Pushpaka vimana. Above a mountain the vimana suddenly stopped — it would not go on.

Below stood Nandi. "No road onward from here. This is Kailasa. Above are Shiva and Parvati. No one passes."

Ravana looked at Nandi's face — monkey-like — and burst out laughing.

Nandi said: "You laughed at this monkey-like face. Monkeys will destroy your line."

Ravana paid no heed. But the curse was set down all the same. That curse would be fulfilled much later, in the Ramayana.

Twenty arms, one mountain

Ravana got down from the vimana. "The mountain that blocks my road, I will remove it."

He put his twenty arms under the mountain and strained.

Kailasa began to shake. Above, Parvati took fright and clung to Shiva. The ganas rolled about. Slabs of snow broke off and fell.

One toe

Shiva did not rise.

From where he was sitting, he pressed one toe of his foot onto the ground.

The mountain settled back — and under it Ravana's twenty arms were trapped. He could pull them neither forward nor back.

Ravana screamed. So loud that the three worlds shook. Tradition says his name — Ravana, "the one who makes [others] weep" — came from this scream, given by Brahma or Shiva.

A thousand years, one hymn

Ravana stayed pinned — some texts say a thousand years.

At last someone advised him: Shiva can be won over not by force but by a hymn.

Ravana began to sing. Tradition says he drew a sinew from one of his arms and made a veena of it, and sang a hymn to Shiva — the hymn that tradition calls the "Shiva Tandava Stotra," and links to Ravana's name.

Shiva was moved by Ravana's devotion — the same Ashutosh, the same Bholenath. He lifted the mountain, released Ravana.

A boon to the enemy

And then Shiva gave the man who had just tried to uproot his home — a sword. Chandrahasa. And a boon.

It's the same truth about Shiva, once again: he gave freely, without weighing who stood before him. Ravana had shaken his mountain and frightened his wife — and then sang a song, and Shiva gave him a weapon.

Chandrahasa became one more symbol of Ravana's power and standing. But the story of the Rama avatar has its main cause in the boon Ravana won from Brahma — in which he asked no protection against humans.

Note: The story of Ravana lifting Kailasa is in the Uttara Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana (sarga 16) and the Shiva Purana; many modern scholars hold the Uttara Kanda to be a later expansion of the original Ramayana. Nandi's curse about the destruction of Ravana's line and the full reckoning of the Chandrahasa sword are in the Ramayana, not here. The "Shiva Tandava Stotra" is linked to Ravana in tradition, but many scholars hold it to be a much later work. The largest sculpture of this scene is at the Kailasa temple of Ellora (cave 16). Ravana's Atmalinga episode at Gokarna (Ganesha's trick) is a separate story, not part of this chapter.

Source: from several texts, Ravana and Kailasa

Now — how much stayed with you?

Whose son?

What did Nandi's curse mean, and where is its reckoning settled?

That no god would kill Ravana
That Ravana would stay pinned under the mountain for a thousand years
That Ravana's Lanka would burn
That monkeys would destroy Ravana's line

Read the whole story — A curse that bears fruit elsewhere

Nandi's curse is only sown here — the vanara army, Hanuman, the war of Lanka, all of that is the Ramayana's story, told separately on this site.

Call it "a door, not a wall": Shiv-Mahima tells only as much of Ravana as connects to Shiva — the lifting of the mountain, the hymn, the boon.

Worth noticing: Ravana earned a curse by laughing at Nandi's face, and a boon by shaking Shiva's mountain. One and the same man, one and the same day, both.

What happened?

What did Shiva do when Ravana shook Kailasa?

He did not even rise
He raised the trident and struck at Ravana
He sent the ganas to fight Ravana
He took Parvati and came down from the mountain

Read the whole story — One toe, twenty arms

The whole effect of this scene is in the imbalance: Ravana is putting in his full strength — twenty arms — and Shiva answers with one toe, seated.

This is the same as Tripura's "the smile was enough": Shiva does not have to use force.

Ravana being trapped under the mountain is the direct result of his pride — what he tried to lift settled on him.

Who said it?

"This is Kailasa. Above are Shiva and Parvati. No one passes." — Who said this, and to whom?

Parvati, to Ravana
Shiva, to Ravana
Nandi, to Ravana
Brahma, to Ravana

Read the whole story — A doorkeeper whose mockery cost dear

Nandi is not only Shiva's mount — he is also the doorkeeper of Kailasa, and stopping the road was his work.

Ravana's mistake was not objecting to being stopped — the mistake was laughing at Nandi's form and lowering him.

That's why this story gives Ravana two things at once: a curse from Nandi, a boon from Shiva. Shiv-Mahima keeps both together.

Fact

How did Ravana win Shiva over while he was pinned?

Tradition says he drew a sinew from one of his arms and made a veena and sang a hymn to Shiva
He did silent penance for a thousand years
He apologised to Parvati
He cut off his ten heads and offered them

Read the whole story — A veena made of sinew

This picture is the most memorable part of Ravana's story: pinned, helpless, and yet making an instrument of his own body and singing.

The "Shiva Tandava Stotra" is held in tradition to be Ravana's composition — though many scholars hold it to be a later work. This retelling says it is "linked to Ravana in tradition," not that it is certainly his.

This quality of Ravana is often forgotten: he was not only a mighty rakshasa — he was also a reciter of the Vedas, a player of the veena and a great devotee of Shiva.

Why is that?

Why did Shiva give a sword and a boon to the Ravana who had just tried to uproot his home?

Because Parvati pleaded for Ravana
Because Ravana promised he would not do such a thing again
Because Nandi told Shiva to do it
Because this is Shiva's nature

Read the whole story — Before a hymn, no reckoning

It's a direct echo of the Bhasmasura chapter's core truth: Shiva responds to devotion without first weighing the devotee's worth. Ravana had shaken his mountain and frightened his wife — and then sang a song.

For Shiva the song was enough. All the rest — the mountain, the pride, the insult to Nandi — fell behind in that moment.

Shiva's gifts added to Ravana's formidable power, but the central reason Rama could defeat him lay in the boon Ravana had received from Brahma, which did not protect him from humans.

Who am I?

I am Shiva's mount and doorkeeper. A rakshasa laughed at my face, and I cursed him that the one he laughed at would destroy him. Who am I?

Hanuman
Nandi
Jatayu
Virabhadra

Read the whole story — A doorkeeper's curse

Nandi is usually a calm, seated bull in front of every Shiva temple — but in this story he is the one who gives a curse.

His curse is not fulfilled in Shiv-Mahima — it bears fruit in the Ramayana, where the vanara army brings down Ravana's Lanka.

It's another instance, across these stories, of a minor figure close to Shiva planting the seed of something much larger — like the Bhairavas of the Shakti Pithas, or the Ganga caught in his matted hair.

Put it in order

Which is the correct order of events?

Ravana's vimana stopping above Kailasa → Nandi stopping him and Ravana laughing at him → Nandi's curse → Ravana lifting the mountain with twenty arms → Shiva pressing the mountain down with a toe and Ravana's arms being trapped → Ravana screaming for a thousand years, then the hymn on the sinew-veena → Shiva pleased and releasing him and giving the sword-boon
Ravana lifting the mountain → Nandi's curse → the vimana stopping → the hymn
Shiva giving the boon → Ravana lifting the mountain → Nandi's curse → the vimana stopping
Ravana's hymn → the vimana stopping → lifting the mountain → Shiva's toe

Read the whole story — Laughter, strain, scream, song

This chapter shows four faces of Ravana: the proud one (the laugh), the mighty one (the mountain), the helpless one (the scream), and the devotee (the song) — and Shiva answers only the last.

Everything turns on the toe scene — that is where Ravana's strength is proved useless, and only the hymn remains open to him.

The last scene — a boon to the enemy — repeats the pattern once more, and also sets up the next chapter (Kirata), where Shiva tests another warrior before giving him a weapon.

The texts disagree

Where does the story of Ravana lifting Kailasa come from, and what is its standing?

This story is from the oldest part of the Valmiki Ramayana
It is only in the Shiva Purana, not in the Ramayana
This story is in no text, it shows only in sculptures
This story is in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana and the Shiva Purana; many modern scholars hold the Uttara Kanda to be a later addition to the Ramayana

Read the whole story — A later kanda, an old image

The Ravana-Kailasa story is in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana (sarga 16) — the same kanda that has Hanuman's forgetting, the abandonment of Sita, and the story of Lava and Kusha, and which many scholars hold to be a later expansion of the original Ramayana.

But the image of the story is very old and deep — at the Kailasa temple of Ellora (cave 16) there is a vast sculpture of this very scene, where the whole mountain is cut from stone and below it Ravana is shown with his arms set under.

Shiv-Mahima tells it, but records that its source-kanda is held to be later — as was said of the Uttara Kanda in Hanuman-Gatha.

Later tradition

What do tradition and scholars say about the "Shiva Tandava Stotra"?

Both agree it is Ravana's composition, with no doubt
It is a Vedic hymn and older than Ravana
Tradition holds it to be Ravana's composition; many scholars, on the basis of its language and style, hold it to be a much later work
This hymn is given in full in the Uttara Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana

Read the whole story — One hymn, two claims

The "Shiva Tandava Stotra" ("Jatatavigalajjala…") is famous for its difficult, spinning metre — and this very craft is held in tradition to be proof of Ravana's learning.

But that same metrical style forces many linguists to think it a much later, deliberately made composition — perhaps of the medieval period.

Shiv-Mahima does not call either side "right" — it records what tradition says and what scholars say.

Riddle

I tried to lift the mountain a god was seated on. My twenty arms were pinned under it. After screaming for a thousand years I sang — and that same god gave me a sword. Who am I?

Ravana
Banasura
Bhasmasura
Hiranyakashipu

Read the whole story — An enemy who was also a devotee

Ravana is among the few figures in these stories who are both enemy and devotee of Shiva at once — he shook Shiva's home, then composed, according to tradition, his most famous hymn.

For Shiva this contradiction is no problem. He saw the devotion and gave the boon — leaving all the rest aside.

The Ramayana carries the weight of that boon forward. Shiv-Mahima only shows how and why it was won — without any weighing.