Reading Notes: Kubera- The Lord of Wealth

I wanted to read this particular comic because I wanted to see if there were more connections between Ravana and Sita prior to the Ramayana. It was very interesting to read the backstory of Ravana and to realize that he had caused a lot of imbalance in the world long before the time that the Ramayana took place. Ravana, formerly known as Dasagriva, was influenced by his mother's jealousy of his half brother, Kubera, and vowed to become more powerful than him.

I found it interesting that in order to accomplish this task, Dasagriva had to perform various acts showing his devotion to the gods, gaining him attention from Brahma, who granted him immortality. Similarly, Kubera had to perform these tasks, although different from Dasagriva's, and for 1000 years. However, Dasagriva used his gift for evil and continued to take various kingdoms until Kubera begged him to stop. Dasagriva was outraged and stole Kubera's chariot that was given to him by Brahma and seriously wounded him. Eventually, Dasagriva was killed by Rama, after he kidnapped Sita.

Ravana Kidnapping Sita (Wikimedia)

I found more on the history between Sita (Vedavati) and Ravana on Wikipedia. There is some variation in the different stories about Vedavati, but she is supposed to come back and take revenge on Ravana for touching her hair and making her unpure. The ideas about purity and women are very interesting and I felt like Vedaveti's story was somewhat similar to Sati's story because they both end their lives over a man's dissatisfaction. I think I could use the four stories to really put together a storybook with the themes I have been considering.

Bibliography:
Kubera: The Lord of Wealth by Amar Chitra Katha (Bizzell Library)
Vedavati Wikipedia Page. (Web Source)