Akampana and Ravana - A lesson for life

 Did Ravana abduct Sita on his own, or was it suggested to him?

If you are reading this question for the first time, it seems so absurd. Right?

When asked this question personally, many people gave a simple answer, "He did it on his own". Some even asked me a question in reverse, "Is this even a question?", and said, "Ravana was evil. Does someone need to suggest to him to do such an evil act?"

As usual, Valmiki Ramayana has a twist here. Ravana didn't get the idea on his own. It was sown in his thoughts by one of the rakshasas from Janasthana. So, who was that rakshasa? And when did it happen?

So, where was that Janasthana and who was that rakshasa?

Janasthana was where Surpanakha lived with her brother Khara and several other demons (rakshasas). As we all know, the popular story is of Surpanakha approaching Rama and Lakshmana with lustful intent and being punished by Lakshmana when she tried to intimidate Sita.

Generally, in movies and serials, we see Surpanakha approaching Ravana, Ravana becoming furious and abducting Sita with the help of Mareecha. However, it was not that straightforward. 

There was a war between Rama and several demons before the news of Surpanakha reached Ravana. 

Surpanakha used to live in a place called Janasthana. Though the geography of Janasthana was not explicitly mentioned, we can infer that it was near Panchavati, since the incident occurred while Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana were there. After being punished by Lakshmana, Surpanakha went to Khara. As she explained what happened at Panchavati, Khara assembles Dusana, another rakshasa and his army to attack Rama.

Dusana and his army were killed by Rama. Then, he sends Trisira, another demon, to attack Rama. Trisira gets killed on the battlefield, and Khara himself goes to war against Rama and is killed in the war.

As Khara died on the battlefield, Akampana, a demon from Janasthana, escaped the scene and went directly to Ravana. The designation of Akampana was not mentioned. However, we can assume Akampana to be a high-level civil administrator in Janasthana, as he has direct access to Ravana.

Akampana went to Ravana and reported the events between Surpanakha, Rama, and Lakshmana, and the subsequent battle between Rama, Khara, Dusana and their armies. He further elucidates Rama's valour to Ravana. Ravana got furious.

To pacify Ravana, Akampana gives Ravana an idea on how to attack Rama, and that idea was the abduction of Sita.

The same Akampana appears again in Yuddhakanda and was killed by Hanuman. 

Ramayana is not just about the core story of Rama, Sita, and Ravana. It is the episodes that involve discussion between different rakshasas and Ravana (Akampana, Mareecha, Vibhishana, Kumbakarna, Indrajit, Mahodara and Suka) that make it more interesting. 

If we observe carefully, Ravana always listened to the people like Akampana, Surpanakha, Indrajit, and Mahodara, but didn't heed the suggestions of Mareecha, Vibhishana, Kumbakarna or Suka. 

All the ideas and suggestions given by Akampana, Surpanakha, Indrajit and Mahodara have some characteristic to pacify the ego of Ravana, while the suggestions by Mareecha, Vibhishana, Kumbakarna, and Suka were aimed at course correcting Ravana's misdeeds.

Those discussions were not intended to just prolong the story; those conversations subtly highlight the psyche of the characters involved. It highlights how a narcissist always looks for ways to pacify their ego instead of looking at the larger benefit of themselves, their family, and the people who believe in them.

We can apply this observance of how people respond to uncomfortable truths as a litmus test for their ego, so that we can avoid confrontation with mini-Ravanas in our lives.