In portraying Ravana as the first Kanwariya, the myth blurs the line between devotion and ambition, faith and ego, showing that even acts of spiritual discipline can stem from darker desires.

Ravana, the ten-headed king of Lanka, chanted the Shiva Tandava Stotram to appease Lord Shiva. Imprisoned beneath Mount Kailash by Shiva, Ravana's hymn, a testament to his devotion and poetic ...