Brahma and Indra

Raavan had many wives and concubines. Queen Mandodari, daughter of Mayasur, was his principal wife. She was beautiful, elegant and decorous. She was also renowned for her wisdom. His harem too was considerable. During his conquests, he captured beautiful women and enjoyed them. There was a time when he would ravish any woman he took fancy on. Once he met an apsara named Rambha when she was on her way to meet Nalakabara, son of Kuber. Unable to resist her beauty he violated her. When Nalakabara learnt of this, he cursed him; “He violated Rambha when she was not agreeable. Now he will not be able to do this to any other woman. If he ever tries, his head will split into seven pieces.” When Raavan came to know of this curse, he did not defile any more women against their wish. He changed his ways and won women over by his exemplary behaviour. Women yearned for him. All, except Seeta!

His stepbrother, Kuber, who was a really nice, ethical, moral celestial, tried to put some sense in him, to no avail. In fact Kuber’s advice provoked Raavan to attack the heavens and defeat the gods. He conquered everything he could get his hands on and carelessly took what he wanted. He conquered the gods and made them submit to slavery. He also humiliated his brother and gloated on his victory. Raavan’s domination of all human and divine worlds was complete! He could even command the sun's rising and setting, and the mighty oceans went still in his presence.

Though he displayed the qualities of masculinity, honour, faithfulness, dependability, and justice to a great extent, his arrogance multiplied with each conquest. His good qualities and intelligence were eclipsed by his improper behaviour and his atrocities. Now the gods were in turmoil. They did not know how to escape from him, how to save themselves. He had then no qualms about troubling the helpless. He oppressed all devas, and other celestials, all Brahmans and sages. They had no alternative but to bear his tortures. There was no way he could be humbled. There was none that could counsel him. Kuber had tried and failed. Having overthrown the guardians of the earth, he even humbled Indra himself. He enjoyed rollicking in the garden of Indra, violating nymphs and slaying gandharvas.

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Unable to bear the humiliation, Indra approached Lord Brahma. He asked Brahma why had he so carelessly granted Raavan his boon? Brahma admitted that he was a little careless when granting the boon to the demon king. The earth goddess, Bhudevi, also came to the creator-god Brahma begging to be rescued from evil kings who were plundering her resources and destroying life through bloody wars and evil conduct. The gods along with Brahma and Indra decided to seek Vishnu’s help.

Vishnu heard them out. Then said, “Brahma has given him invincibility from gods, celestial beings, and demons! He did not ask to be safe from humans or animals. So I will have to take birth as a human, to destroy the evil forces.” He would go to earth as one of King Dasharath’s sons. There he would be born as Raam, and destroy Raavan with the help of monkeys and bears, restoring the balance of the universe.

The gods rejoiced. Lord Brahma too shared in their jubilation, but he realised that gods too have a duty to assist Vishnu in whichever way they could. He therefore beseeched the celestials: “It is now up to us to support him by taking birth on Earth as monkeys, especially as the demon Raavan is contemptuous of monkeys, and Lord Vishnu will take their help to defeat him. You, as monkeys, should be adept at magic, nimble, virtuous, astute, mighty, and invincible. You must have celestial bodies and you should be expert in combat. Fighting fit always! You could also become nymphs and women ascetics and bear monkey children to participate in a mighty war.  Even I have created a mighty bear, Jambuvant when I yawned a while ago. He is already on the Earth, ready for combat!”   

The gods were straightaway energised; they now had a focus and a task. They got down to work. Indra created Vali, and Sun created Sugreev. The guru of gods, prudent Bruhaspati created the wise Tara, who married Vali and gave birth to powerful Angad. Kuber produced Gandhamadan with undefeatable strength. Celestial architect Vishwakarma created the mighty ape Nala who became engineering master. Agni too fathered the fiery and fearless Neela, who along with Nala created wonders! Gods’ doctors Ashwini Kumars created immortal apes, Minda and Dvivida, who could fight fearlessly. Varun, the god of rain produced Sushena, and Parjanya, the god of thunderclouds produced Sharabh, the mighty ape. The celebrated Hanuman was son of Pawan, the lord of wind. Hanuman was blessed with immense strength, and an ability to fly by other gods. He excelled all the other warriors in wisdom and power.      

Thus were born the monkey leaders and bear chiefs. The monkeys and bears resembled their progenitors in characters and competence. There were countless monkey and bear warriors born with divine powers, to assist Lord Vishnu to humble the great demon, Raavan.