When the whole country is celebrating Dusshera to mark the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana, there are still parts of India which believes in Ravana’s greatness and also worship his idol on this day. A village in Madhya Pradesh has installed a huge idol of Ravana and Kumbhakarna close to National Highway 3 on Agra-Mumbai road in the village of Rajgarh.
Mythological demons Ravana and brother Kumbhakarna along with Meghnad (Ravana’s son) would be burnt down as symbols of evil on Dussehra across the country, residents of a small village in Rajgarh district would instead worship the demon brothers with fanfare.
These idols are especially worshipped on Dussehra day after the traditional Ram Lila (drama based on Ramayana) is staged in front of them. Though the demon brothers are slain in the drama, their effigies are not burnt in Bhatkhedi.
“Our ancestors told us that Ravana and Kumbhakarna had blessed our village. Worshipping them is an age-old tradition that we are following,” Kaluram Yadav, a villager says.
Why is Ravana worshiped on Dusshera?
Another resident, Shivnarayan Yadav said that though the demon king and his brother are considered evil incarnate elsewhere, the villagers go by the story that they are reincarnations of Jaya-Vijaya. The guards of Lord Vishnu’s abode, who were cursed to be born as mortal beings.
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“They played a role in a divine game of the Lord on earth and we see no reason to think of them as evil,” said Yadav. The villagers of Bhatkhedi also believes that they are blessed by the demon brothers.
The villagers fear that attempt might be to shift the idols for the proposed widening of NH-3. “We are all ready to protest any such move and they are our benefactors,” they say.
