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While across the country, on the holy festival of Vijayadashami, tall effigies of Lankapati Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Meghnad are burnt as symbols of evil, on the other hand, a unique picture was seen in Mathura, a religiously and culturally rich city of Uttar Pradesh, which deviated from this tradition. Like every year, this time too on the occasion of Vijayadashami, instead of burning the effigy of Ravana, the workers of Lankesh Bhakta Mandal in Mathura worshiped him as per the rituals, performed aarti and remembered his scholarly nature. This unique event has once again attracted the attention of the society and people across the country, where Ravana is revered as a great scholar and devotee of Shiva rather than a villain.
During this special puja organized in Mathura, prominent members and officials of Lankesh Bhakta Mandal, while talking to the media, presented a very shocking and logical claim. The workers of the organization say that in any of our ancient Sanatan texts, Vedas or scriptures, there is no mention or mention of any tradition like setting fire to or burning the effigy of Lankapati Ravana. He argues that Ravana was a knower of the Vedas, a great scholar, an astrologer and a great devotee of Lord Shiva. In such a situation, making an effigy of any knowledgeable and learned person and burning it in public is completely contrary to the basic principles of our culture and scriptures.
Apart from the negative aspects of Ravana, the people gathered in this program in Mathura also had a deep discussion on the aspects of him being a great scholar. The speakers and scholars present said that Ravana may have committed wrong acts in his life like abducting Sita which led to his execution, but at the same time, he was a great king of South India who had profound knowledge of statecraft, music, tantra and Ayurveda. Lankesh devotees believe that the current modern tradition of burning Ravana is not centuries old, rather it is just a symbolic practice that started in the society with time, whereas in Tretayuga, Lord Shri Ram had also ordered his brother Vibhishan to perform the last rites of Ravana with full rituals and state honors after killing Ravana.
For the last many years in Mathura, such events are being organized by Lankesh Bhakta Mandal on the day of Vijayadashami in a very peaceful and disciplined manner. Although many times ideological debates erupt between religious organizations and the general public at the local level regarding this event, the organizers clearly say that their aim is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments, but to put before the society the wisdom present in Ravana and the lesson of staying away from ego. During this puja, by lighting a lamp in front of the idol or picture of Ravana, his wisdom and knowledge are praised, along with this the message is given that a person should burn his inner ego Ravana and not burn any effigy.
As soon as the news of Ravana’s worship in Mathura and this statement of Lankesh Mandal came out through social media and local news channels, a debate broke out on it. On one hand, people of traditional Sanatani ideology consider effigy burning as a symbol of the eternal victory of truth over untruth and religion over unrighteousness, while on the other hand, some historians and intellectuals seem to agree that it is not appropriate to completely deny the scholarly nature of Ravana. This unique event of Mathura has once again forced us to think about the perspective from which our mythological stories and their staging and traditions should be seen in the modern era.
Overall, this event organized in Mathura is a symbol of how much space there is for diversity and different ideas in our culture. While on one hand the entire country celebrates Vijayadashami with fireworks and burning of giant effigies, on the other hand in a small corner of Mathura this attempt to learn from the wisdom and weaknesses of Ravana is unique in itself. This event forces people to think that every story can have many aspects and we should pay equal attention to eliminating the evil within us along with the effigy of evil, only then the real purpose of this holy festival can be fulfilled.