Ravana's Notes

RAVANA’S KULA
BY
MALAVA NANJUNDASWAMI
BANGALORE, KARNTAKA, INDIA
Let us understand the basic issues in finding the Kula of any person in India.
The Indians are very much attached to their family and they value their own family
higher than any other family. The family names or the community names to which
the person belongs are almost all the time in the history of Indian civilization has
remained an integral part the names of the individuals in India as their appellations.
Those appellations would invariably help the historians investigating into the Kulas
of the dynasties or individuals invariably.
The great figures in the history have been wrongly alleged to be connected to
the great people or communities of today. It is a very normal phenomenon to
mystically connect the ancient kings, gods, demons and scholars to appreciate the
value of such communities and persons who show indications of political aspirations
in the present administrative systems. Such efforts speak tons of lies to gain undue
advantages and to put the descendents of that historical figure to suffer at the hands
of the descendants of the antagonists of that figure. I would like to state here that
Ravana has been wrongly identified by the descendants of his antagonists today. In
the following foot notes picked up from the Dravidians written by Gustav Oppert,
the just mentioned rule-theorem would be proved1.
Ravana was a Pulstya or Paulastya Kula Tilaka that is he was a great person
of the Pulastya Kula. The words Pulasta and Paulasta are similar to the ancient
Kannada word Polasta and its equivalent in the present Kannada is Holada. ‘Holada’,
means of or relating to the dry crops agricultural field. I would like to remind you
here that the Illyrian-Thracian word Raja is found in Albanian. It means a farmer,
agriculturist or one who works in the field or manages the field. It is pronounced
Raya. The words Raja, Raya and Rao are equivalent words to the English word King.
Pulasta or Paulsta or Polasta Ravana means King of Polayas or Rajah of Holeya2 .
Ravana was a great scholar of Dravidian language of his time. He is the author
of Telugu Grammar. It is mentioned often with respect in the Ravaniya. Compare
the Andhra Kaumudi in which the Ravaniya, the Telugu Grammar ascribed to
Ravana, is repeatedly mentioned. The Holeyas (Polayas) are in a majority in the
Malavally Taluk in the Mandya district in the state of Karnataka. They are
descendants of Ravana and they have constructed a temple4 for him in Cholanahally,
on the left side of Malavally to Kanakapura road, National Highway No.269. There
are a plenty of Veera kallus (Hero Stones) and Masti kallus (Sati Stones) found
around the temple. They indicate a great battle that happened in the area.
1. A NOTE ON PULAHA, PULASTYA, PULOMAN, & C. BY GUSTAV OPPERT
The previously mentioned names of Pulaha, Pulastya, Puloman, & c., bear
in their first two syllables pula a strange resemblance to the name of the pulayar and
Pulindas. Sanskrit grammarians generally connect the names of these Saints with the
root pul, to be great and the word pulastya is also derived from pulas, standing for
puras, These derivations, however, appear too artificial.
Pulastya is said to be the father of Agastya and Visravas. Visravas had four
sons, Kubera by Idavida (or Ilavila) and Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Vibhisana by
Kesini. The saintly civiliser of Southern India, Agastya, is thus, as previously
noticed, very closely indeed related to the chief of the hated Raksasas, being in fact
the uncle of Ravana, the god-despising king of Lanka. While Ravan conquered India
and reduced the gods to object subjection, from which they were only rescued by
Visnu appearing as Balarama, his uncle Agastya waged war with the demons and
advised Rama how to subdue the Raksasas. Similar family discords assisted Rama
in his warfare against Ravana and Bali, whose respective brothers Vibhisana and
Sugriva joined Rama.
While Ravana is regarded with horror by the Brahmans, Ravanabhet, a Vedic

work on Phonetics, is ascribed to this Raksasa. His memory is still cherished by the
Jains. It is also curious that Ravana is esteemed and acknowledged by pious pandits
as a learned man, and is supposed to have been the author of a Telugu Grammar.
Though the Raksasas are described in the Ramayana and elsewhere as horrible
monsters both physically and morally, it appears that the condition of being a
Raksasa depended more upon the sins committed by an individual or by his
progenitors than upon the accident of birth. If this be admitted, the physical
monstrosities ascribed to the Raksasas must be regarded as the exaggerated creations
of a morbid and hostile imagination. Even the Ramayana extols the beauty and
grandeur of Lanka, its architectural splendour, and the efficiency of its
administration. This latter was so excellent, that no thief dared to pick up any
valuable thing lost in its streets. The enemies of Rama could hardly, therefore, have
been so rude and uncivilized as they are generally represented. The ancient historical
capital of Ceylon went by the name of Pulastinagara. If Ravana is regarded as the
king of Lanka, and perhaps also as the master of Southern India. And if the present
Pulayar are admitted to be representatives of the aborigines, the startling similarity
of the names Pulastya and Pulayan is at once explained.
The relationship between the Paulastya Agastya and the Paulastya Ravana
opens at all events a new and wide perspective. It thus appears that the mind-born
sons of Brahma should be taken as the progenitors of all the different races of India,
and that, as all men emanate from one common source; no vital difference is
acknowledged to exist between them at first. The degraded condition into which
some sank was, therefore, due to subsequent events. The word pula must be regarded
as a corruption of Palla. This change from a to u is easily accounted for. Not only is
the letter a changed into u, as in the Sanskrit pala which in Tamil becomes pulai, but
the vowel a is often, especially in the North India, pronounced as u. It is even
possible that the names of the demon Ilvala, who was destroyed by Agastya, and of
his son Balvala contain another reference to the original Pallas. At all events the
similarity of the names of Pulaha, Pulastya, Puloman, &c., with that of the Pulayar,
as well as the connection which the near relationship between the Sage Agastya and
the Raksasa Ravana suggests as existing between the Brahmanical civiliser of
Southern India and the representative rule of the aborigines, should command in
future researches the attention of the scholar.
2. Compare the remarks of the Rev. F. Kittel on the root pulai, pule, pole and on
Pulaha and Pulastya in the Indian Antiquary. Vol. VIII (1879), pp. 50, 51,
though I arrived at my conclusions previously to my reading Mr. Kittel’s
suggestive article, I admit high priority in this respect and gladly quote his
opinion: “The pallava …. and the pallavaka, a libertine, a gallant, : I do not
hesitate to connect with Poleya; and who knows whether the “ancient Pallava
dynasty was not a dynasty of certain Poleyas when still a “ powerful tribe.”
3. Megasthenes calls the Singhalese Palaiogonoi and the Periplus Maris Erythrai
calls Ceylon Palaesimundu. See Lassen’s Ind. Alt, I, p. 240 (2nd edition);
compare also Mr. T.W. Rhys David’s in the Indian Antiquary, vol. II (1873),
p. 286. on Pulastipura.
4. Rawana is worshiped in Karnataka. There are at least four to ten lakh people
in the Mandya, Malavalli and in few other Taluks of Southern Karnataka
where he is worshiped. There are a few temples dedicated to him. There is one
such Temple for Rawana in Malavalli Taluk, Mandya district. It is about four
kilo meters away from Malavalli on the Malavalli-Kanakapura National
Highway. The people who worship him are called "Rawaleshwarana
Okkalinavaru", it simply means people of Rawana's Family. They go to the
temple of Rawana. Some people call it Ravaleshwarana Gudi. The people are
ardent followers of Rawana. They say he is their Mane Devru or Kula Devata.
I have visited the temple several times. I have attended a huge congregation
of his devotees in the temple, it is called Ravaleshwarana Jatre.
There are some villages named after Rawana. Rawani is one of them.
http://www.vijaykarnatakaepaper.com/Details.aspx…
***

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RAVANA’S KULA

BANGALORE, KARNTAKA, INDIA

1. A NOTE ON PULAHA, PULASTYA, PULOMAN, & C. BY GUSTAV OPPERT

While Ravana is regarded with horror by the Brahmans, Ravanabhet, a Vedic

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