Have you ever listened to Shiva Tandava Stotram?? It was sung by Ravana in the praise of Lord Shiva after his hand was trapped under the Kailasa Parvatha. If you know your Ramayana well, you would be able to recall it. For those who do not know anything about our mythology, the story goes like this: Ravana was vain and proud of his indestructibility and powers but he was tired of his own powers. So, he goes and asks Shiva to grant him moksha. Shiva says he has already granted him indestructibility and he should go to Vishnu. He becomes very restless and at the end his patience runs out and in his vanity, he makes a show of his pride and power by lifting the Kailasa Parvatha, the abode of Shiva and Parvathi. He does lift the mountain but Shiva immediately places it back by just pressing the toe of his foot. When his fingers get crushed trapped under the mountain, he realizes his mistake and sang this hymn in praise of Lord Shiva. This hymn describes the beauty and power of Lord Shiva. It is an extremely beautiful and powerful hymn which I have always loved since I first heard it in Ramayana when I was probably 8 or 9. This is the video of the hymn. The hymn is also written as it is sung.
Now, I came across another video of the same hymn. It is a remixed version of the hymn. The confusion is that I don't know should I be angry or love it coz it goes so in sync with the original version without destroying the spirituality and peace of the hymn. It is a lovely version of the hymn.
I really want to learn this hymn. It is pretty complex and not very easy to learn it in a day or two. So, as a future project, it still in pending. Actually, I did see an uncle who uncle who remembered the complete hymn and he sang it in the bus when we were on vacation. It was just lovely.
Personally, I really like Ravana. I know many people hate him as he is the bad guy who had eyes on Sita. But, let us look at the positives - he was a son of a Brahmin father and a Rakshasa mother, he had been learning since he was quite young and he was very proficient in all the vedas and upanishads, mathematics, science and ayurveda, he is still today the greatest devotee of Lord Shiva, he was a very devoted husband too (yes he did love Sita but it was a different love which was very pure that is why he said to her that he would not touch her until she would have him as her husband), he was immensely powerful. He was a complex personality. Had he not kidnapped Sita, he would have lived to become one of the most legendary heroes of the Hindu mythology.
PS: The pics in this blog are the paintings done by Mayank Anand. You might have seen him on tv. He is a tv actor who has done prominent roles in Dil Mil Gaye and Hotel Kingstonn if you have seen either of them. For a refresh, this is his pic:
I loved the paintings extremely. And, I do like the guy too but heard that he is too high-handed. He has gorgeous eyes though he falls short on height.
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