Between the Maryadapurush Ram, the diligent wife, and mother- Sita who faced the wrath of the society and the faithful Hanuman, often the story of Ravana has been portrayed as the typical bad guy. With very little backstory to the complex personality. Here are a few facts that perhaps you didn’t know about the ten headed Dashanana.
Ravan’s grand-father Prajapati Pulastya was one of the Brahma’s ten psychologically born sons. So, in a result, Ravan was Brahma’s Great-grandson. He is also the Half-Brother of Kuber- God of Wealth.
He was the emperor of Three Worlds, with his mightiness and intelligence combined. Ravan had not only conquered a big land with a lot of humans but also celestials and other demons that made him the almighty of asuras.
Lord Shiva gave this name to Ravan. It is said that Ravan wanted Shiva to relocate from Kailash to Lanka, and to make this happen, Ravan tried to lift the mountain. But Shiva, as he is, put down his foot on the mountain, thus crushed Ravan’s finger with his one toe. In the pain, Ravan screamed loud of pain, but at the same time, by observing the power of Lord Shiva, he performed the Shiva tandav. It is believed that Ravan plucked out nerves from his hand to provide accompanying music. Shiva, thus found it amusing and named him Ravan(the one who roars loud.)
Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, but what most people don’t know is that Ravan had also composed a beautiful hymn called Shiva Tandav for lord Shiva. The hymn is very popular among Shaivites.
He had acquired a boon from Lord Brahma by beseeching that no god, demon, kinnar or gandharva could ever kill him but forgot Human Beings, for which Lord Vishnu took birth as Rama in a human form.
According to the Jain version of the ‘Ramayana’, Ravana was the father of Sita.
In one of the depictions of Ravan, he also was seen carrying a veena. The legends have that he had a massive interest in Music and was a highly accomplished veena player.The Rudra Veena, an Indian classical instrument, was invented by Ravana.
It is believed that Ravan was powerful enough who could even interfere with planetary alignments. Epics say that during the birth of his son Meghnad, Ravan ordered the planets to stay in 11th house of the child, that would grant him immortality. But, Saturn, or Shani, refused to do so and stood in the 12th house. Ravan got so angry that it is believed that he attacked Shani Dev and even imprisoned him.
Some versions of Ramayana say that Ravan did not have ten heads, but it was the optical illusion that is created by the 9-pearl necklace which was given by Ravan’s mother to him the other version says that to please Shiva, Ravan chopped his own head into pieces, but after seeing his devotion shiva made each piece spawn into another head.
In Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh – Ravana and Shiva are worshiped together.Thousands of Kanyakubja Brahmins of the village Ravangram of Netaran, Madhya Pradesh perform daily puja in the Ravan temple.The Dave Brahmins of Mudgal Gotra Jodhpur who is originally from Gujrat claim to be the descendants of Ravana. Every year on Dussehra they perform shraddha (death anniversary rituals) for Ravana.
Ravana was a scholar of science and medicine. Owning a personalized pushpaka vimana is a strong example of his interest in science.
He is also believed to have authored the Ravana Samhita, a treatise on astrology, and also had an excellent knowledge of Ayurveda and political science. In fact, when he lay dying on the battlefield, Ram sent Laxman to him to learn about how to be a wise ruler and also on statecraft.
Source: Quora