Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.18
॥
Devanāgarī
स रावण इति ख्यातो यद्वा रावाच्च रावणः । तद्व्याजेनेक्षितुं सीतां रामो लक्ष्मण एव च
Transliteration (IAST)
sa rāvaṇa iti khyāto yadvā rāvācca rāvaṇaḥ | tadvyājenekṣituṃ sītāṃ rāmo lakṣmaṇa eva ca
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सः रावणः इति ख्यातःsaḥ rāvaṇaḥ iti khyātaḥhe is famed as “Rāvaṇa”; he is named Rāvaṇa
यद्वा रावात् च रावणःyadvā rāvāt ca rāvaṇaḥor else from “rāva” — Rāvaṇa; or he is called Rāvaṇa from the howl
तद्व्याजेन ईक्षितुम् सीताम्tadvyājena īkṣitum sītāmunder that pretext — to seek Sītā; under that pretence, to find Sītā
रामः लक्ष्मणः एव चrāmaḥ lakṣmaṇaḥ eva caRāma and Lakṣmaṇa; Rāma together with Lakṣmaṇa
Translation
He is famed as “Rāvaṇa”, or else is called Rāvaṇa from “rāva” — the howl; and under that pretext Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa went to seek Sītā.
Version
d28f14ea946e · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The book cannot pass by a name without parsing it: so it dealt with the name of Rāma and with the word “mantra”.
Rāvaṇa — from the root ru, “to roar, to howl”: “he who makes howl”. Tradition explains the name doubly: he wrung a howl from the vanquished, and he himself howled, pinned under mount Kailāsa. Here only rāvāt is given — “from the howl” — and both readings remain possible.
Set this beside the name “Rāma”, in which were heard giving, subduing and joy. One name is of him who gives; the other of him who wrings out a scream. Two names as two ways of being in the world.
The verse's second half introduces the word on which the whole theology of this tale rests: vyāja — “pretext, occasion”.
The abduction is called a pretext. Not the cause for which Rāma went south, but the occasion. So the campaign was not the consequence of a misfortune; the misfortune only gave the chance to begin.
This device is constant in Vaiṣṇava books: the outward cause of events is declared a pretext, and the true one is other. Here the true one is not named; but whoever has read the first three Upaniṣads knows that the form and the deeds are fashioned “for the sake of the worshippers' work”.