# Ravana’s Ten Heads: Symbolism and Sri Lankan Legends - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2119780060001698125 - Source account: [@sona_sebin](https://x.com/sona_sebin) - Source language: Tamil - Target language: English - Duration: 2:18 - Published: 2026-11-09 - Machine translated. Check the original before quoting. - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends - Original-language version: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/ta/%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%A3%E0%AE%A9%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81-%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B3%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%80%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%99%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%88-%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%88%E0%AE%AF%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.md ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends) He must have put Ravana in front before. [0:01](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=1) He wouldn't have put him there. How do you know it's Ravana? He has ten heads. [0:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=5) That's why, Ravana. There's a problem with this. [0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=6) Another child asked about it. You say he has ten heads. [0:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=9) Then Mandodari wouldn't have had any room in bed. [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=12) That worry stops you right there. On this side, five heads. On the other side, four. [0:15](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=15) How would he lie down? That's the question. All right, then. [0:17](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=17) More than that, someone asks a joint question and moves on. [0:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=19) How many ears did he have? Twenty ears. That's what you'd calculate, right, Sir? [0:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=24) That's what he says, the heads were welded head to head. [0:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=27) So I said, all right, two ears like that. [0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=28) Then how would he speak? Just think about it. [0:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=30) If he had to speak to his wife, he'd go to the last ear on the fifth head and tell her Look at all the problems this child has. [0:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=37) I told you. All right, he had ten heads. [0:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=40) He did. So she took it to mean a ten-faced one. [0:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=43) But elsewhere, the child figured it out and wrote “Dashagriva” instead. [0:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=45) It says he had ten necks. Was he like this Hydra? [0:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=49) It's a... What can you do? That's when Desikan gave me a helping hand too. [0:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=53) He called him “Tathodagra Dashendriyanana Manahan.” [0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=55) In Sankalpa Suryodaya, the trouble caused by the ten senses is what the ten heads represent. [0:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=59) It is an allegorical depiction. The view is that he probably had just one head. [1:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=64) Let me tell you something else. Are there a lot of youngsters among you? [1:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=66) A Sri Lankan authoress, in the last couple of years of her life… [1:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=68) He wrote a book. I read it. A book called The Line of Lanka or something. [1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=72) Oh. I can't remember offhand. The book is really good. What does he say? [1:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=74) This is the land that Ravana seized from Kubera. [1:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=78) Kubera bought it and kept it. Back then, Kubera was very wealthy. [1:21](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=81) He gave out private loans and all that... [1:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=82) At twenty-four percent, he bought himself a nice island. [1:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=84) So the concept of buying islands has always existed. [1:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=87) So he bought an island and kept it. That island was captured by him. [1:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=93) Ravana seized it. What does he write in that book? [1:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=96) Based on those local legends, and the beliefs in rural areas of Lanka... [1:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=100) What does he say? When Ravana received the island called Lanka from Kubera... [1:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=106) There were said to be ten regions. Ten provinces. [1:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=110) Ten kings are said to have ruled there. Ravana didn't conquer just Lanka. [1:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=115) He went from region to region, conquering each king. [1:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=119) As proof that he had conquered each king, as a mark, on his own head he'd place one head after another and return. [2:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=125) “A feather in your hat, with another feather” that's what they say, see? He had ten heads like that. [2:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=129) So “ten heads” doesn't mean exactly ten heads. [2:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/mTh9UUPFv9Lo/en/ravana-s-ten-heads-symbolism-and-sri-lankan-legends?t=132) They're placed on the crown. Whether they were real heads, or heads on the crown all in all, Ravana was lying down.