र is for Ravana

Aesthetics and India

- Anuradha Shankar and Sudha Ganapathi

र is for Ravana. We know Ravana as THE villain of the Ramayana. But he was also the King of Lanka, a great devotee of Shiva, a musician par excellence and an erudite scholar of the Vedas and the Shastras. Also known as Dashanan or the one with ten heads, Ravana is easily identifiable in art with his 10 heads and 20 arms.

Ravana as a Shiva devotee is a popular figure in South India, though not so much in the North. He is said to have offered his 10 heads to please the Lord, who appeared only when the tenth and final head was to be offered.