"Lanka"

[Katherine K. Brobeck]

Thank you, Yashwant, for all the citations.
I've been burning to know more about this.
I'm not a scholar, so now I'll go back to
being a lurker. KB

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>From: Yashwant Malaiya <malaiya at CS.COLOSTATE.EDU>
>To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
>Subject: "Lanka" (was RE: "Dalitstan" )
>Date: Fri, Mar 10, 2000, 7:05 PM
>

> Katherine K. Brobeck asked:
>
>>Was Lanka perhaps in the Murwara Basin, MP ?
>
> Kathy, I assume you are asking about Lanka in Ramayana,
> ruled by Ravana.
>
> One thing is certain, it is not today's Srilanka.
>
> Several books mention "Lanka" of Ramayana as being distinct
> from the Simhal island (which is SriLanka):
>
> Mahabharata (ArNya 51)
> Markandeya Purana (55.20.29)
>     It mentions that at the time Ravana ruled Lanka,
>     Simhal was ruled by Chandrasena.
> Devi Purana (42.46)
> Bhagavata (5.19, 29.30)
> Balaramayana of Rajsekhara
>     Here during Swamvara, Ravana address another king as
>   "simhala-pate".
> Briharsamhita of Varahamihira (14.11)
> RajtarangiNi of KalhaNa (1.294, 1.298)
> Katha-srtitsagara (18.1.93, 2.4.124)
> Vikramankadeva Charita (4.20-25,7-70;18.15,54)
> Padmavata of Jayasi (p.10,11,12,15)
>
> When I first read Padmavata, I was surprized to note
> that Lanka and Simhal were assumed to be different
> islands. The above list is from Hiralal Shukla's
> "Lanka ki Khoj", 1977.
>
> The fact that some other islands are also called Lanka,
> suggests that the word has been used to mean any island
> as well as a specifc island.
>
> According to practically all modern historians, the Lanka of
> Ramayana was not SriLanka, because the accounts in Ramayana
> does not match it. My best guess is that it was one of the
> islands of the Godavari delta, where the term "lanka" is
> still used for the islands and the local inscriptions suggest
> that some of the rulers derived their descent from  Ravana.
>
> Some authors have indeed suggested it was somewhere in
> modern MP, but I like Godavari delta theory.
>
> Some activists see aryan-dravidian struggle in the Rama-Ravana
> conflict. However that is far fetched. Ravana was a Brahmin and
> Rama was dark-skinned, making the equation difficult.
>
> Yashwant