Mandor residents mourn death anniversary of Ravana

25 October, 2012

On the day of Dussehra, many residents of Mandor town in Rajasthan, who are the descendants of Dave Godha clan, mourned the demise of Ravana. Mandor is a garden town about 11 km away from Jodhpur, which also has a Ravana temple. The town also has a temple of Devi Maa Kharanana, claimed to be revered by Ravana himself and referred to as kuldevi of his clan.

THE DAVE Godha clan here believes that Ravana was married to Mandodari, daughter of king of Mandawar (Mandor now). On Dussehra, the Godha clan people take bath in the late evening to visit Ravana temple to offer special prayers and chanting of verses in praise of the deity.

Ravana, revered as a scholarly and a benevolent soul who had earned the blessings of Lord Shiva by the clan, is also given a formal funeral on this day,

The Ravana temple Pujari deems the deity a great scholar and a maestro of the Veena. His ten heads are symbplic of his thorough matery over the 4 Vedas and 6 Upanishads. His knowledge is deemed equivalent to 10 Vedic scholars by his devotees.

Though traditionally, Ravana symbolizes evil, and his killing by Lord Rama is celebrated on Dussehra.