Matted hair-thick as forest-water-flow-consecrated-area The stotra is in the Aryageeti (आर्यागीति) style, a variant of the Arya (आर्य) style. That is when Ravana sings "Tandav Stotra" and he was spared and blessed with chandrahas(moon sword by Lord Shiva)(estimated as one of the most powerful weapons in Hindu Mythology).
He managed to lift the mountain but Shiva immediately placed it back just by pressing his toe crushing Ravana's fingers in the process. He was obsessed with his powers and was egoistic, and to display and prove his powers he was about to move Mount Kailash (the abode of Shiva who was his ancestor god). He had advanced knowledge of mathematics, science and Ayurveda. Ravana's great-grandfather was Brahma (God of Ultimate Knowledge). Attraction was as pure as a love of mother and child. Exploring the modern psychological aspects of this story, choreographer Janaki Patrik links Ravana's passionate devotion to Lord Shiva to his fatal flaw - passionate attraction to Rama's wife Sita. Ravana's poignant cry in the final quatrain of poetry - "When will I be happy?" is echoed by modern man in his quest for earthly fulfillment and ultimate liberation from its bondage.Ī compelling and complex personality, Ravana is for many Hindus a legendary hero, a scholar of immense intelligence and the devoted husband of one of traditional five perfect women, Mandodari. In this version of Ravana's story, his battle with Rama can be interpreted as a pretext to attain death, and through death, liberation. Shiva replied that he had granted Ravana the boon of indestructibility, and that Ravana must instead seek moksha from Lord Vishnu. It is said that when he tired of rampaging across the earth, Ravana returned to Lord Shiva to request moksha, release from the bondage of endless rebirth. India's great epic, the Ramayana, tells the story of this abduction and of the battle between Lord Rama and Ravana which shook the universe. Disdaining the seeming weakness of humans, Ravana abducted the wife of Rama, Lord Vishnu incarnate.
In the final quatrain of the poem, after tiring of rampaging across the Earth, Ravana asks, "When will I be happy?" Because of the intensity of his prayers and ascetic meditation, of which this hymn was an example, Ravana received from Shiva the boon of indestructibility by all powers on heaven and earth - except by a human being. Alliteration and onomatopoeia create roiling waves of resounding beauty in this example of Hindu devotional poetry.
Both the fourth and fifth quatrains of this hymn conclude with lists of Shiva's epithets as destroyer, even the destroyer of death itself. It was sung by the son of Rishi Vishrawas (aka Vishrava), Ravana whose brother is kuber. Shiva Tandava Stotra (शिवताण्डवस्तोत्रम्) is a hymn of praise in the Hindu tradition that describes Shiva's power and beauty.