Akampan the hero²

King Ravana was the greatest hostile force. His Commander-in-chief was Akampan, his uncle. Akampan’s mother, Ketumali, and father, Sumali, were so proud that their son was Commander-in-chief of the great monarch Ravana.

In the Dandakaranye forest, Rama killed thousands of raksasas [demons]. When Akampan brought this sad news to Ravana, the King became furious. He scolded and insulted his Commander badly. “You are useless!” he said to him. “That is why your soldiers could not fight!”

Akampan said, “What can I do? Rama is so powerful, so unimaginably powerful.”

Ravana said, “Powerful? Powerful? You are useless, useless, my Commander!”

Akampan said, “My Lord, you want us to seize Ramachandra’s wife Sita for you. But I tell you, by fighting you won’t get her. You have to play some trick. In some tricky way you have to steal her. In a fair way we will never, never get her.”

Ravana became furious again. “We won’t get her because you have no strength: no physical strength, no vital strength, no mental strength, no soul strength!”

“Soul strength? What is it? I am hearing this word ‘soul’ for the first time from you. What is soul?”

Ravana said, “Forget about it. Forget about it. Physical strength you need. Physical strength!”

“With physical strength we will not be able to get Sita. I am sorry,” said Akampan. “It is only by trickery that we will get her.”

Indeed, it was by playing a trick that Ravana eventually did take Sita away from Rama. But when the fight took place between Ravana and Hanuman, the greatest devotee of Rama, Hanuman threw a huge tree at Akampan and killed him. When Akampan was killed, Ravana’s mother, who was also Akampan’s sister, cried bitterly for the loss of her dearest brother.

Ravana said to her, “My dearest mother, your brother was a great hero. To be a great hero is infinitely more valuable than to remain alive. Akampan is mortal, but his valour, his strength, his capacities — these are immortal. Who cares for his death? Death comes to everyone, but he has fought like a real hero. Therefore, Akampan remains immortal, especially in my life.”