Ravana

Ravana is the antagonist of the Ramayana. He is a rakshasa, usually shown with ten heads and twenty arms, who rules the island city of Lanka. Through austerities he wins a boon from the god Brahma that makes him nearly invulnerable to gods and demons, which he uses to dominate the worlds.

In Valmiki's epic, Ravana takes the Pushpaka, a flying car built by the divine architect Vishvakarma, from his half-brother Kubera by force. He later abducts Sita, Rama's wife, and holds her in Lanka. Rama, aided by Hanuman, a monkey army and Ravana's own defecting brother Vibhishana, besieges Lanka and kills him in battle.

Ravana remains a major cultural figure. His defeat is celebrated at Dussehra, when giant effigies of him are burned, while some regional traditions, especially in Sri Lanka and parts of South India, portray him more sympathetically as a learned king. He is a figure of epic literature, not of historical record.