Ravana Family Tree ¦ Genealogy ¦ Wives and Children ¦ Ramayana Facts

Welcome back to Anichakra Reads. In this video, we will talk about the genealogy and family of the most famous king of Lanka, who is also one of the main characters of the great epic, the Ramayana. Most of the Hindu scriptures say, everything started from the god Vishnu. From him, the main creator, Lord Brahma was born. Brahma is the sole source of all life forms. Brahma initially created the nine mind-born sons, or Manasputras, to speed up the creation process. In Vishnu Puran, the nine Manasputras of Brahma are These sages are referred to as the Brahma Rishis. Pulastha is one of the mind-born sons of god Brahma, and one of the Prajapatis. He is also one of the Saptarishis in the first age of Manu, the Manvantara. The Ramayana describes Pulastha's wedding to Harvirbhuk, or Manini, who was the daughter of Trinavindu. Pulastha and Manini had a son, Vishrava. Vishrava had two wives, Devavarnini, or Ilavida, and Kaikashi. Among the nine Manasputras, we saw Angira. Angira and Shubha had a very famous son, who later became the teacher of all gods, Brihaspati. Brihaspati, along with his sister-in-law Mamta, produced sage Bharadwaj. Now, Rishi Bharadwaj and Sushila's daughter is Devavarnini, or popularly known as Ilavida. Sage Vishrava and Ilavida had a son, named Vaisravana, or Kuber. On the other hand, Vishrava's other wife, Kaikashi, was a Rakshasi. Now, let's see how she came into being. One day, while reciting the Vedas, Brahma became irritated. His irritation gave birth to Heti and Praheti. Heti manifested as an evil Rakshas, while Praheti emerged as a virtuous Yaksha. Heti married Bhaya, who gave birth to Vidyutkesh. Vidyutkesh married Shalakatankata, and their son, Sukesh, married Gandharva princess Devavati, and had three sons, Malyavana and Mali. They attained a boon from Brahma to become invincible, and then conquered the city of Lanka from the Devas. Sumali was married to Ketumati, with whom he had ten sons, Prahasta, Akampana, Vikata, Kalikamukha, Dhumraksha, Danda, Suparshva, Sanhradi, Praghash, and Bhaskarana, and also four daughters, Raka, Pushpothkata, Kaikashi, and Kumbhinasi. One of his daughters, Kaikashi, was married to Sage Vaisrava, who later gave birth to Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Surpanakha, and Vibhishana. Sumali's brother, Malyavan, married Sundari, and the other brother, Mali, married Vasudha, and produced four children, Anal, Anil, and Sampati. These three brothers' wives, Ketumati, Sundari, and Vasudha, were daughters of Narmada. Now let's move to Kaikashi and Vaisrava's son, Ravana. According to the original Valmiki version of the Ramayana, Ravana had many wives and maids, though the exact numbers are unknown. The most popular one, Mandodari, was the queen. Ravana and Mandodari had two sons, Meghnath, or Indrajith, and Akshay Kumar. Meghnath married Sulachana and was killed by Dasharath Nandan Lakshmana. Ravana's another wife was Dhanyamalini, with whom Ravana had Atikai, Narantaka, Devantaka, and Trishida. In some texts, we find Mandodari and Dhanyamalini to be sisters. They are daughters of the celestial architect Mayasura and Apsara Hema. Mayasura's parents were Kashyapa and Dhanu. Kashyapa's parents were Marichi and Kala. These Kala was also sister of Maya, who married Hiti. Let's come back to Ravana again. Ravana's brother, Kumbhakarna, had two wives, Bajrajwala and Karkati. From Bajrajwala, he had Kumbha and Nikumbha. And from Karkati, he had Bhimasura. Bhibhishan married Sarama. In later adaptations of Ramayana, Trijata is described as a daughter of Bhibhishan. Apart from these, few other popular people were also related to Ravana. Man-eating Rakshas twins Khara and Dushana were younger male cousins of Ravana and sons of Kaikasi's sister Vaka or Raka. They were demons who ruled the Dandaka forest. They were killed along with Trishida by Lord Ram when they attacked Ramachandra and Lakshmana after Surpanakha's humiliation. Thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe to our channel for more videos.