Asura · All traditions · Sri Lanka

Ravana

The ten-headed king of Lanka and a great devotee of Shiva: he tried to lift Kailash and was pinned under Shiva's toe, sang for a thousand years and won a sword and Shiva's own linga, then lost the linga on the way home when a disguised god tricked him into setting it down (Gokarna and Deoghar each claim the spot). Tamil and Sri Lankan tellings make him a musician who sang the Tandava hymn.

devotion pride

Sources: Ravananugraha — Wikipedia; Mahabaleshwar Temple, Gokarna — Wikipedia; Baidyanath Temple — Wikipedia · see Ravana's web

Relations 9

Ravana received a boon from

Brahma (God) · Ravana's boon at Gokarna
Invincibility against all of Brahma's creations except humans.
Shiva (God) Shaiva · Ravana lifts Kailash
A sword and the atmalinga after a thousand years of hymns.

Ravana rival of

Vishnu (God) Shaiva · Ravana loses the atmalinga
As the shepherd Baiju at Deoghar.
Ganesha (God) Shaiva · Ravana loses the atmalinga
As the Brahmin boy at Gokarna.

Ravana appears in

Tevaram (Text) Shaiva · Ravana lifts Kailash

Ravana cursed by

Nandi (Vahana / animal) Shaiva · Ravana lifts Kailash
To be destroyed by monkeys.

Ravana devotee of

Shiva (God) Shaiva · Ravana lifts Kailash

Ravana form of

Jaya and Vijaya (God) Vaishnava · The gatekeepers who chose three hostile births
Third-age birth of the gatekeeper, per the Bhagavata frame.

Ravana slain by

Lakshmana (Mortal) Jain · Rama the monk and Krishna the cousin
In the Jain telling Lakshmana, not Rama, kills Ravana.

Stories 10

Ravana's boon at Gokarna
Legend · as the penitent · 2 tellings
Kamban's Rama stands above the three
How a tradition frames it · as antagonist who names Rama's true nature as he dies · 2 tellings
Rama in Thailand and Cambodia
From the epics · as antagonist, as Thotsakan, merged with Bhasmasura in Thailand · 2 tellings
Rama the monk and Krishna the cousin
How a tradition frames it · as eighth Prativasudeva · 2 tellings
The churning of the ocean of milk
Legend · 3 tellings
Rama installs the linga at Rameswaram
Temple legend · as the slain brahmin-devotee whose death needs expiation · 3 tellings
Ravana lifts Kailash
Legend · as protagonist · 3 tellings
Ravana loses the atmalinga
Temple legend · as the devotee tricked · 2 tellings
Rama's linga at Rameswaram
Temple legend · as the enemy, a brahmin killed · 2 tellings
The gatekeepers who chose three hostile births
Legend · as third birth · 2 tellings

Cited

Ravananugraha — Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Mahabaleshwar Temple, Gokarna — Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Baidyanath Temple — Wikipedia Encyclopedia