Ravana's Lanka
By G. Ramadas
Summary
This article investigates the geographic identity of the legendary island fortress ruled by the demon king Rāvaṇa in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa. The author reviews descriptions of Lanka in the epic: its location is said to be across a vast sea south of the Indian mainland, its cliffs crowned with golden palaces, and its inhabitants ruled by rakṣasas. He notes that although later commentaries equate Lanka with present‑day Sri Lanka, early Sanskrit and Prakrit sources offer varying distances and directions. Some texts describe Lanka as situated a hundred yojanas from the southern shore, others place it near the Godavari delta, and Jain versions situate it in the Vindhya region. The article surveys foreign accounts: Greek geographers like Onesicritus and Strabo mention an island called Taprobane, while Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’ locates a city named ‘Raubana’ on an island south of India. Medieval Arab travellers describe a prosperous kingdom of Serendib inhabited by Buddhists and Hindus. The author evaluates archaeological evidence from Sri Lanka, such as megalithic fortifications at Sigiriya and the rock fortress of Ravana Kotta, to see whether any could correspond to Rāma’s Lanka. He argues that literary motifs such as the bridge of monkeys (Setubandha) across the ocean and the burning of Lanka by Hanuman likely combine historical memories of island kingdoms with mythic embellishment. Nevertheless, he notes that Sri Lanka has a long tradition associating itself with the epic: chronicles like the ‘Mahāvaṃsa’ narrate how Prince Vijaya arrived on the island shortly after the supposed events of the Rāmāyaṇa. The article concludes that while precise topographical identification remains elusive, the weight of textual, linguistic and cultural evidence favours the traditional identification of Rāvaṇa’s Lanka with Sri Lanka; alternative hypotheses lack sufficient corroboration. The author suggests further interdisciplinary research combining comparative mythology, archaeology and historical geography to shed light on this enduring questionimage/.
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Conclusion
By weighing textual descriptions, foreign accounts and archaeological findings, the article leans toward identifying Rāvaṇa’s Lanka with Sri Lanka while acknowledging that the epic narrative blends history with myth. The discussion highlights the challenges of matching poetic geography with actual landscapes and underscores the need for cautious interpretation of ancient epic literature.