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A close study of the Ramayana, particularly the last book or Uttara Kanda, reveals that Ravana, the enemy of Lord Rama, was not a Dravidian, but related to the Sri Lanka, who are considered to be Aryans-that Ravana was a migrant to Sri Lanka from the Vedic family of the Yadus, perhaps deriving originally from the city of Mathura south of Delhi. The first wave of migrants to Sri Lanka from the north was from Gujarat and of the Yadu family, which dominated the southwest of India and from the region of Gujarat had access to the sea on which they travelled far in their trading and colonizing ventures.The Ramayana tells the Ravana, the king of Sri Lanka, had close connections with region of the Yadus, which included Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan up to Mathura south of Delhi.
Ravan was related to Lavana, also regarded as a Rakshasa, of Madhupura (Mathura) in the region of the Surasenas, who was conquered by Rama's brother Shatrughana. After worshipping a Shiva Linga on the banks of the Narmada, in the more central Yadu region, Ravana was captured and held under the control of King Kartavirya Arjuna, one of the greatest Yadu kings. Later Ravana abducted Sita nearby on the banks of the Godavari, also in the south-eastern region of the Yadus. It appears that Ravana had territory in this Yadu region of India, reflecting his ancestral connections. In this same region Rama encountered Ravana's sister, who perhaps lived in this region, and that Ravana abducted Sita after Rama and Sita wandered unknowingly into his territory.
Ravan was known to be a Brahmin, a descendant of the Rishi Pulastya.
Ravana was a great chanter of the Sama Veda, and a great devotee of Lord Shiva who had visited Mount Kailash, which he could have very well done from northern Yadu regions like Mathura. Ravana was well versed in Sanskrit and the composer of the famous Shiva Tandava Stotra. While one may argue that such a composition was of a later time than Ravana, it still shows a tradition that connects him with Sanskrit. His native tongue does not appear to have been Dravidian. He is portrayed as a migrant to Sri Lanka from Kubera.
The Rama-Ravana story has similarities to the Deva-Asura conflict in ancient Hindu literature. In the original story fond in the Puranas and Mahabharata there was a conflict between these two groups. The Devas or Suras had Brihaspati of the Angirasas as a guru, the Asuras, Daituas or Rakshasas had Shukra of the Bhrigus as their teacher.
In other words both groups followed the Vedic religion, as the Angirasas and Bhrigus are the two main families of Vedic seers. The Devic culture, as described in the Manu Samhita, was centered on the Sarasvati region in north India. The Daitya (Asura) culture was located nearby in the religion of the Bhrigus which was the southwest of India by the Arabian sea, as evidenced by the Bhrigu city Bhrigu-kaccha or Baruch, near modern Baroda.
Varuna, the God of the sea, was the father of the Bhrigus, as the original Bhrigu was called Bhrigu Varuni. Gujarat was also the region of Sharyata Manava, one of the early sons of Manu, who founded the city of Kushasthali later (Dwarka), who was similarly allied with the Bhrigus as his guru was Chyavana Bhargava, but whose kingdom was destroyed by the Asuras, who were perhaps these same Daityas. After a period of conflict the Deva and Asura groups forged an alliance. Yayati, the king in the line of Manu, had two wives.
The first was Devayani, daughter of Shukra of the Bhrigus, the guru of the Daityas. The second was Sharmishtha, daughter of Vrisha Pavan, king of the Daityas. Thereby Yayati allied himself both with the Daitya kings and their gurus, bringing the blood lines of both Devas and Asuras and their gurus together.
Yayati's youngest son Puru, born of Sharmishtha of the Asuras, inherited his central Sarasvati kingdom, which became the basis for many of the dynasties of later India including the Kurus, under whose patronage the Vedas were compiled, who therefore had Asuric blood in their veins. Yayati's oldest son Yadu, took over the region of the Daityas.
In this regard Rama's defect of Ravana reflects other battles to subdue the Yadus, which are the main conflicts mentioned in Vedic and Puranic literature. These include Parashurama's defeat of the Yadus (Kartavirya Arjuna), Sagara of Ayodhya's defeat of the Yadus (the Haihayas), and Divodasa of Kahi's defeat of the Yadus (Vitihavya). The Yadus had the greatest and largest Kingdoms of the Vedic people, and required keeping their prowess in check.
Ravana was probably another militant Yadu similar to Kansa, the Yadu king of Mathura, who oppressed Krishna and family. Yet the Yadus also produced many great sages, like Krishna and Ravana's own brother Vibhishana, and the other Aryan groups produced their share of evil men as well, like Duryodhana, the enemy of Arjuna, who was of the Kuru-Puru line.The Yadus then became a very powerful military people, perhaps reflecting their Daitya connections. The Dravidians were regarded as descendants of Yayati's second son Turvasha, who was also a son of Devayani and in the line of the Bhrigus.
The Dravidians, to the extent that we might be able to see the portrayal of different countries in the Ramayana, can be identified with Rama's companions like Hanuman and the region of Kishkindha (Karnataka), who at the time of Rama were under the domination of Ravana, though his alliance with their king Bali.
Previously scholars have not placed Aryan migrants into Sri Lanka before 600 BC. However the most recent scholarship reveals that Harappan and pre-Harappan cultures going back to 6000 BC in India were Vedic (note my book Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization: Motilal Banarsidass 1993), as they were based on the Sarasvati river of Vedic fame. Hence the date of their arrival into Sri Lanka may be pushed back much further. Harappan port cities like Lothal or Dholavira in Gujarat and Kutch have been found in the regions of the Yadus going back to the third millennium BC. These were probably the basis for the Yadu migration to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Buddhists, such as predominate in the country today, traditionally held Ravana in respect, perhaps knowing he was one of their own ancestors. The famous Buddhist Sutra, the Lankavatara, looks to Sri Lanka as a holy land and the Sutra is given in honor of Ravana himself, who is styled as the king of the Yakshas, much like Kubera in Hindu thought.
Hence the recent tendency of South Indian politicians to look up to Ravana as a Dravidian hero may be misplaced. Ravana more properly belongs to the peoples of Sri Lanka, whose ancestry derives from the north, as does his brother Vibhishana who was an ally of Rama.
Hanuman, who was Rama's best devotee, better represents the ancient Dravidians(who incidentally were also Aryans, in that they have always been portrayed in Vedic and puranic literature as descendants of Vedic people, including the seers Agastya and Vishvamitra, and traditionally called themselves Aryans). Unfortunately various groups have tried to use the Ramayana for political gain without ever really examining the details of the story! Rama was not the first northerner to come to the south of India.
The Yadus and Daityas had long before migrated to Sri Lanka. Rama came not as an intruder but as a liberator, freeing the south from the rule of Ravana and returning it to the rule of its own native peoples. Rama did not impose the rule of the north upon the south. For this reason he has always been traditionally worshipped in the south as a great hero. Such information requires a rewriting of Indian history, which is necessary on a number of accounts.
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