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Much less regularly so, however usually sufficient, a donkey’s face is affixed above his human heads. Well-liked perception interprets this as an emblem of Ravan’s conceited and stubborn nature, which drove him to his unlucky finish regardless of his many accomplishments.
Whereas Ram is all over the place upheld as a really perfect king with human and divine qualities, Ravan’s polyvalent character harbours a spread of polarities. He’s a being of near-infallible energy, multifaceted mind, expertise, and grandeur. Able to excessive valour, austerities, and devotion, he’s a sufferer of unbridled greed, lust, and conceitedness. This enigmatic mix of the heroic and demonic in Ravan’s character has impressed a spread of inventive expressions.
Over the centuries, sculptors and painters have creatively configured the ten heads of Ravan, from arranging them in horizontal and curvilinear sequences to piling them like a pyramid. Newer ‘demons’ in up to date socio-political contexts are regularly included amongst Ravan’s demonic heads. And so, the iconography of the 10-crowned one continues to ignite inventive creativeness.
However when did the donkey – or ass-head – develop into a part of Ravan’s iconography? Throughout the Fifth-Sixth centuries CE, a strong custom of creating Ramayan sculptures for brick and stone temples was in vogue. A number of indifferent terracotta plaques from this era have been recovered throughout archaeological explorations and at the moment are housed in museums inside India and overseas. Such websites have been unfold throughout present-day states of Rajasthan, Haryana, UP, Bihar, and West Bengal.
Initially, visible artists would usually painting the king of Lanka with one head or with three or 5 seen heads, regardless that verbal epic imagery describes him as having 10 heads. It was at the moment, when Ravan’s iconography was being experimented with, that an nameless sculptor, impressed maybe by an area story in an unknown context, created the picture of Ravan with a donkey’s head as a part of a visible Ramayan narrative. The earliest recognized Ravan to be topped with an ass-head is discovered on a Fifth-century terracotta brick (photograph) and is presently housed within the reserve assortment of the Nationwide Museum in New Delhi. With the museum on account of be renamed and relocated to the North and South Blocks as a part of the Central Vista makeover, one hopes to see this uncommon piece of artwork on show in future. The superb aesthetics of this sculpture are revealed within the persuasive expression on Ravan’s bearded face, which fails to cover his lust for Sita, his eyes gazing at her in frank admiration. The donkey’s head couldn’t have been extra opportunely positioned. It’s this misguided second of greed that led to the epic battle and Ravan’s decisive finish.
Its literary parallel is tough to seek out in India. However Sanskritist and Ramayan scholar John Brockington informs us of a Ninth-century Khotanese model with a horse’s head. And final yr, historian and epigraphist Rajat Sanyal did inform me that the Sabda-kalpadrum, citing the Agni-purana, describes Ravan as ‘shanku-karna’ (possessing conical ears) – that’s, an ass or donkey. So, we do have an indirect literary reference in any case.
Among the best-known photographs of a 10-headed Ravana topped with a donkey’s head are seen within the Ellora cave-temples. Medieval Indian miniature work of the Ramayan have exploited this trope to its fullest visible potential. Fashionable, monumental concrete sculptures from Chhattisgarh, as additionally most of the effigies burnt throughout Dussehra, have continued to incorporate the ass-head on the centre of Ravan’s a number of heads.
Clearly, it’s the ass-headedness in us, symbolised by Ravan, that we have to burn each Dussehra, whereas appreciating Ravan’s many accomplishments and studying from his tragic destiny.
The author is professor of artwork historical past, division of Historical past, College of Delhi
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