Sri Lankan authorities investigate Ravana’s ‘aviation routes’

by Viruben
Jul 21, 2020

19th Century water painting of Ravana

Sri Lankan aviation authorities have stated that they are leading reach into the mythological character King Ravana’s “aviation routes”.

Ravana is portrayed as an antagonistic figure in the Sanskritised Hindu story of the Ramayana however he is widely celebrated as a Dravidian and Tamil icon in Tamil counterculture. He is presented by Tamils as a king of Eelam and a devotee of Siva. Ravanan is also believed to have built the original, ancient temple of Thirukoneswaram in Trincomalee.

Whilst this is the case, we have seen attempts from Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist community to claim Ravana as a Sri Lankan king. Sri Lanka’s tourism sector promotes the ‘Ramayana trail’ for visitors from India. According to the Hindu, this trail is “one of Sri Lanka’s largest tourism markets”.

The Hindu further reports that a hard-line Sinhala Buddhist group has called itself “Ravana Balaya”, and that first Sri Lankan satellite, sent into orbit last June, was named “Ravana-1”.

Sri Lanka’s aviation authority has stated that their project aims to bring an authoritative narrative about King Ravana.

This comes as there are increased efforts at Sinhalisation of the North-East which includes the erection of Buddhist monuments and shrines as well as military bases on Tamil and Muslim land.

Read more here: Sinhalisation of the North-East: Seruwila-Verugal

Sri Lanka’s Aviation Authority

Civil Aviation Authority stated with regards to their inquiry;

“We are the main aviation regulatory authority in Sri Lanka. Since there are multiple stories over the years about Ravana flying aircraft and covering these routes, we want to study this matter”.

In 2016, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva claimed that whilst modern accounts of aviation attributes the discovery to the Wright Brothers, legend has it that Ravana used a flying machine called “Dandu monara”.

Read more from the Hindu.

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