Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c27.s2.15

c27.s2.15

⁵ This does not harmonize with the story that, when Arjuna Kārtavīrya captured ‘Rāvaṇa’ and imprisoned him at Māhiṣmatī, Pulastya appealed for leniency, and Arjuna then released ‘Rāvaṇa’; for Arjuna was much earlier than Tṛṇabindu: Vā 94, 35–6; Bd iii, 69, 35–7; Hv 33, 1876–8; Br 13, 184–7; Mat 43, 37–9; Pad v, 12, 136–8. Fancifully elaborated, Rām vii, 31 to 33. Rāvaṇa is probably not a personal name, but a Sanskritized form of the Tamil word ireivan or iraivan, ‘God, king, sovereign, lord’ (JRAS, 1914, p. 285); and if so, Arjuna may have captured a Dravidian rāvaṇa or king, and Pulastya may have been introduced afterwards (Viṣ iv, 11, 6 says nothing about Pulastya), when the Rāvaṇas were confused.