No One Remains Free
Bala Kanda, Sortha 182
Sortha 182 · Movement 2 of 2
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By the strength of his arms, Ravana holds the whole world beneath subjection. Kingdom after kingdom, species after species, and realm after realm lose the power to act outside his command.
No one remains free. The golden capital at the centre of the ocean becomes the seat from which one will governs the lives of multitudes through fear.
Called the crest jewel among overlords, Ravana rules by his own counsel alone. No scripture, elder, deity, or moral boundary stands above the throne. The empire appears complete precisely where it has become most radically separated from dharma.
Across the conquered worlds, every head bows except the ten that accept no counsel.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Sortha 182
Grouped source dohas182क/182ख; Ravana's dominion and rule by own counsel selected
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 185 · printed pages 183. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-183. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- FIRST: by arm strength Ravana holds the whole world subject, no one free; crown-jewel of overlords rules by OWN COUNSEL. Ruling portrait selected, not a speaking command or literal outcome diagram.
- SECOND retained: by his arm strength he conquered and MARRIED many beautiful excellent maidens of DEVA, YAKSHA, GANDHARVA, HUMAN, KINNARA, NAGA classes; not only naga maidens, not merely carried off. Conquest/marriage wording retained, coercion interpretation distinguished from literal wording; no assertion of freely consenting romance.
- Stable reader Sortha ID183 groups TWO source DOHAS182क and182ख, not source doha183. Displaced Shiva eyes/blue throat/moon English/Hindi not used.
- All TEN faces shown; all TWENTY arms/hands and lower body beyond deliberate upper-chest crop.
Artistic choices
- C181 Ravana identity preserved: ten crowns/faces, warm brown angular features, thick upswept moustaches, pointed chin goatees, black hair, gold/ruby crowns/necklace, cream/deep purple neckline/red forehead mark. All mouths CLOSED, serious surveying expression for ruling scene; no new portrait identity.
- Stylized necks into one broad chest; gold floral throne-back ornament/court arch, rust field, white flowers, exact jewels and head angles imagined. Audience, conquest and women/marriages outside selected frame; no actual violence, sexual scene or Shiva appearance.
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
भुजबल बिस्व बस्य करि राखेसि कोउ न सुतंत्र। मंडलीक मनि रावन राज करइ निज मंत्र।।182(क)।। देव जच्छ गंधर्व नर किंनर नाग कुमारि। जीति बरीं निज बाहुबल बहु सुंदर बर नारि।।182ख।।
By the strength of his arms he kept the whole world in subjection; no one remained free. Ravana, the crest-jewel among overlords, ruled by his own counsel alone.