Lanka

2021-05-16T22:26:08Z

2601:982:300:1C40:487D:65FC:FF4E:3297:

{{short description|the Ancient Historical Country Ruled by King Ravana}}
{{use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{about||the modern country|Sri Lanka|other uses|Lanka (disambiguation)}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2015}}
{{cleanup rewrite|reason= poorly written article|date=May 2016}}
[[File:The golden abode of King Ravana India.jpg|thumb|300px|The golden abode of King Ravana]]
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}
'''Lanka''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ʌ|ŋ|k|aː}}) is the name given in [[Hindu]] epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary [[asura]] king [[Ravana]] in the epics of the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known as the [[Trikuta]] Mountains. The ancient city of Lankapura is thought to have been burnt down by [[Hanuman]]. After its king, Ravana, was killed by [[Rama]] with the help of Ravana's brother [[Vibhishana]], the latter was crowned king of Lankapura. The site of Lankā is identified with [[Sri Lanka]]. His descendants were said to still rule the kingdom during the period of the [[Pandava]]s. According to the ''Mahabharata'', the Pandava [[Sahadeva]] visited this kingdom during his southern military campaign for the [[rajasuya]] of [[Yudhishthira]].

== Ramayana ==
The island was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known as the [[Trikuta]] Mountains. The ancient city of Lankapura is thought to have been burnt down by [[Hanuman]]. After its king, Ravana, was killed by [[Rama]] with the help of Ravana's brother [[Vibhishana]], the latter was crowned king of Lankapura. The site of Lankā is identified with [[Sri Lanka]]. His descendants were said to still rule the kingdom during the period of the [[Pandava]]s. According to the ''Mahabharata'', the [[Pandava]] [[Sahadeva]] visited this kingdom during his southern military campaign for the [[rajasuya]] of [[Yudhishthira]].

===Rulers of Lanka===
According to both the ''[[Ramayana]]'' and the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', Lanka was originally ruled by a rakshasha named [[Sumali]]. Kubera seized control of Lanka and established the [[Yaksha Kingdom]] and his capital was guarded by [[rakshasa]]s. His half-brother Ravana, son of the sage Vishravaya and [[Sumali]]'s daughter [[Kaikesi]], fought with Kubera and took Lanka from him. Ravana ruled Lanka as king of the [[Rakshasa Kingdom]]. The battle in Lanka is depicted in a famous [[relief]] in the 12th-century [[Khmer people|Khmer]] temple of [[Angkor Wat]].{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}
[[File:Hanuman fires Lanka.jpg|thumb|Hanuman set fire to Lanka]]
After Ravana's death, he was succeeded by his brother, [[Vibhishana]].

===Location of Ravana's "Lanka" according to Ramayana===
The Lanka referred to in the still-extant Hindu Texts and the [[Ramayana]] (referred to as [[Ravana]]'s Lanka), is considered to be a large island-country, situated in the Indian Ocean. Studies refer that Palace of Ravana was located in [[Sigiriya]] the palace built by the [[Kashyapa I of Anuradhapura]] as the epic describes that the capital of the kingdom was located between plateaus and forests. Some scholars asserted that it must have been [[Sri Lanka]] because it is so stated in the 5th century Sri Lankan text ''[[Mahavamsa]]''.<ref name="bradddell"/> However, the Ramayana clearly states that Ravana's Lanka was situated 100 [[Yojana]]s (roughly 1213 km or 753.72 miles) away from mainland India.<ref>Valmiki Ramayana 4.58.20</ref><ref>Valmiki Ramayana 4.58.24</ref> Some scholars have interpreted the content of these texts to determine that Lanka was located at the point where the Prime-Meridian of India passes the [[Equator]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQ8iAVwA-yEC&pg=PA20 |title=The Indian calendar, with tables for ... – Google Books |isbn=9788120812079 |access-date=26 January 2011|last1=Sewell |first1=Robert |last2=Dikshit |first2=S. B. |date=31 May 1995 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bharathgyan.com/geo.htm |title=Bharath Gyan |publisher=Bharath Gyan |access-date=26 January 2011}}</ref> This island would therefore lie more than {{convert|100|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} southwest of present-day country of Sri Lanka. The most original of all the existing versions of [[Valmiki]]'s [[Ramayana]] also suggest the location of Ravana's Lanka to be in the western [[Indian Ocean]]. In fact it indicates that Lanka was in the midst of a series of large island-nations, submerged mountains, and sunken plateaus in the western part of the Indian Ocean.<ref>[http://www.venkatesaya.com/255.ramayana/daily.readings.php?m=7&d=1 Valmiki's Ramayana]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkSzznK3VuEC|title=The Concise R_m_ya_a of V_lm_ki|last1=Vālmīki|last2=Venkatesananda|first2=Swami|date=1988-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780887068621|language=en}}</ref>

There has been a lot of speculation by several scholars since the 19th century that Ravana's Lanka might have been in the Indian Ocean around where the [[Maldives]] once stood as a high mountain, before getting submerged in the Indian Ocean.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0A6OK9ODPTwC&pg=PA328 |title=The Hindu Pantheon – Edward Moor – Google Books |isbn=9788120602373 |access-date=2012-11-07|last1=Moor |first1=Edward |year=1999 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bftD5eyU7vgC&q=Ravana+Lanka+Maldives&pg=PA141 |title=Excerpta Máldiviana - H.C.P. Bell, Harry Charles Purvis Bell - Google Books |isbn=9788120612211 |access-date=2012-11-07|last1=Bell |first1=Harry Charles Purvis |year=1998 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XnUgrwuqugC&pg=PA81 |title=Ravana - The Great King of Lanka - M.S. Purnalingam Pillai - Google Books |isbn=9788120605473 |access-date=2012-11-07|last1=Purnalingam Pillai |first1=M. S. |year=1993 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.southasiaarchive.com/Content/sarf.120045/206785/004 |title=Situation of Ravana's Lamka on the Equator |journal=The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society |volume= XVII |issue= 1 |date= 1926 }}</ref> [[Sumatra]] has also been suggested as a possibility.<ref name="bradddell">{{cite journal |jstor=41559897 |title=An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Times in the Malay Peninsula and the Straits of Malacca |first=Roland |last= Braddell|journal=Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume= 15|number= 3 (129) |date=December 1937|pages= 64–126 }}</ref>

===Description===
[[File:Hanuman Watches Lanka Burn.jpg|thumb|Hanuman Watches Lanka Burn]]
Ravana's Lanka, and its capital Lankapuri, are described in a manner that seems superhuman even by modern-day standards. Ravana's central palace-complex (main citadel) was a massive collection of several edifices that reached over one yojana ({{convert|13|km|mi|0|abbr=on|disp=or}}) in height, one yojana in length, and half a yojana in breadth. The island had a large mountain range known as the Trikuta Mountain, atop which was situated Ravana's capital of Lanka, at the center of which in turn stood his citadel. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://sanskritdocuments.org/sites/valmikiramayan/sundara/sarga9/sundara_9_frame.htm |title=Valmiki Ramayana – Sundara Kanda – Sarga 9 |publisher=Sanskritdocuments.org |date=2008-12-07 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWlsWQ8foNgC&pg=PT140 |title=The Society of the Rāmāyaṇa – Ananda W. P. Guruge – Google Books |isbn=9788170172659 |access-date=2012-11-07|last1=Guruge |first1=Ananda W. P. |year=1991 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gFJlAAAAIAAJ&q=Ramayana+Lanka+city+Yojanas+long+breadth |title=Srimad Valmiki-Ramayana - Vālmīki - Google Books |access-date=2012-11-07|author1=Vālmīki |year=1976 }}</ref>

==References to Lanka in the Mahabharata==
Many of the references to Lanka in the Mahabharata are found in sage [[Markandeya]]'s narration of the story of [[Rama]] and [[Sita]] to king [[Yudhishthira]], which narration amounts to a truncated version of the [[Ramayana]]. The references in the following summary are to the Mahabharata, and adhere to the following form: (book:section). [[Markandeya]]'s narration of the story begins at Book III (Varna Parva), Section 271 of the Mahabharata.

===Sahadeva's expedition to South===

[[Sahadeva]], the son of [[Pandu]], conquered the town of Sanjayanti and the country of the Pashandas and the [[Karnata Kingdom|Karanatakas]] by means of his messengers alone, and made all of them pay tributes to him. The hero brought under his subjection and exacted tributes from the Paundrayas ([[Pandya Kingdom|Pandyas]]?) and the [[Dravida Kingdom|Dravidas]] along with the [[Kerala Kingdom|Udrakeralas]] and the [[Andhra Kingdom|Andhras]] and the Talavanas, the [[Kalinga (Mahabharata)|Kalinga]]s and the Ushtrakarnikas, and also the delightful city of Atavi and that of the [[Yavanas]]. And, He having arrived at the seashore, then dispatched with great assurance messengers unto the illustrious [[Vibhishana]], the grandson of Pulastya and the ruler of [[Lanka Kingdom|Lanka]] (2:30).

===Presence of the King of Lanka in Yudhishthira's Rajasuya===
''Lanka king is listed as present in the conclave of kings present in [[Pandava]] king [[Yudhishthira]]'s [[Rajasuya]] sacrifice.''

.. The [[Vanga Kingdom|Vangas]] and [[Anga Kingdom|Angas]] and [[Pundra Kingdom|Paundras]] and [[Odra Kingdom|Odras]] and [[Chola Kingdom|Cholas]] and [[Dravida Kingdom|Dravidas]] and [[Chera Dynasties|Cheras]] and [[Pandya Kingdom|Pandyas]] and [[Mushika Kingdom|Mushika]] and [[Andhra Kingdom|Andhakas]], and the chiefs of many islands and countries on the seaboard as also of frontier states, including the rulers of the [[Sinhala Kingdom|Sinhalas]], the barbarous mlecchas, the natives of '''Lanka''', and all the kings of the West by hundreds, and all the chiefs of the seacoast, and the kings of the [[Pahlava Kingdom|Pahlavas]] and the [[Darada Kingdom|Daradas]] and the various tribes of the [[Kirata Kingdom|Kiratas]] and [[Yavana Kingdom|Yavanas]] and [[Scythians in the Mahabharata|Sakras]] and the [[Hara Huna Kingdom|Harahunas]] and [[China of Mahabharata|Chinas]] and [[Tushara Kingdom|Tukharas]] and the [[Sindhu Kingdom|Sindhavas]] and the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the [[Kekaya Kingdom|Kekayas]] and the [[Malava Kingdom|Malavas]] and the inhabitants of [[Kasmira Kingdom|Kasmira]] ... (3:51).

===Other fragmentary references===

*Lanka, with its warriors, and horses, elephants and chariots (3:149).
*Lanka with its towers and ramparts and gates (3:147)
*The walls of Lanka (3:282).

== See also ==
*[[Sri Lanka]]
*[[Kingdoms of Ancient India]]
*[[Ancient clans of Sri Lanka]]
*[[Naga people (Lanka)]]
*[[Sinhala Kingdom]]
*[[Vishwakarma]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm Mahabharata] of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated from Sanskrit into English by Kisari Mohan Ganguli

{{Tribes and kingdoms of the Mahabharata}}
{{Ramayana}}

[[Category:Kingdoms in the Ramayana]]
[[Category:Kingdoms in the Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Mythological islands]]

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Lanka