Before we discuss how and why the Egoism element overpowered all the other elements in the Self, to cause Kshatriyas to become so spoiled and powerful, we'll have to go back to the period preceding the Mahabharata: The Ramayana. It was during this period that a major event took place, with the technology at that time, that caused the Egoism element to overpower. There was however quite a lot of such developments actually, and so we'll discuss these in parts, up until we have covered that major apocalyptic event.
We'll first start with the following: City of Ayodhya, City of Lanka, Ravana, Dasaratha, The Ashvamedha Yaga, Aircrafts, Fortresses and the Construction of the Bridge to Lanka. Here we go.
The City of Ayodhya
The city of Ayodhya, as Sage Valmiki describes, was a city well laid out by the banks of the river Sarayu. It had many broad pathways, bridges and gateways, and buildings - some of which were towering towards the sky, and some in mountain-like shapes having inline streets and adorned like mountains themselves. The buildings themselves were also adorned with gem stones and had well laid out front yards. The layout of the city was in fact like a game-board, complex in design (and probably with many honey-pot traps, and secret passages). It was also, almost as complex as an aircraft design, with many moveable parts (probably for reconfiguring streets when under attack), and frankly attributing to this, the name Ayodhya itself was given to it because it could not be captured.
Going on further: residential housings were abundant with gardens, and clean water. There was no shortage of food grains and other crops. There was literally no unhappy soul living in Ayodhya. In fact the people living there were able to take regular oil-baths and lotion their bodies with a multitude of fragrances. They were always joyous, and enjoyed theatricals, music and dance on a daily basis. Everyone was learned in some way or the other, be it whatever functions they served, either as a workforce (Shudra), a trader (Vaisya), a warrior (Kshatriya), or a druid (Brahmin). Practically, there was no one who entertained any low thoughts of jealousy, lust or avarice, all because of these.
Animals, too, like lions, tigers and boars also lived among the people. They were used mainly to accompany their warrior-guards. Some of them were in fact geared with suitable weaponry, and some without any and just as is. Then, elephants and horses too, lived among the people but for different purposes.
There were also many large-sized arrow launchers pointing towards the sky, and atop certain buildings, locked with projectiles that could cause serious damage to anything and even wipe out massive approaching armies in one shot.
The city was the capital to the Kosala Kingdom as well as many other kingdoms under its jurisdiction. Hence, there were frequent visitors and ambassadors from these kingdoms partaking in the diurnal activities of the city. The king who ruled this city was, Dasaratha.
The City of Lanka
The city of Lanka, on the other hand, was situated among the peaks of Mt. Trikuta, on the Lankan island. It was a highly guarded city surrounded by a wall and a moat filled with lotuses and water lilies, but infested with crocodiles. Inside the city were many gardens with pine trees, jasmine trees and so on, ponds with swans and ducks, and well laid out pathways and bridges adorned with sculpted rows of vines and adjoining many large lustrously white buildings with golden engravings.
The guards to the city were, however, beastly men having extremely sharp teeth, and adorning spikes, and having weapons projecting out from their hands. A sight which even brought the chills down Hanuman's spine when he saw them (it was literally a Holy Monkey 🐒 !!! situation in his mind) while looking for Seetha in the city. Looking at them, a thought even crossed his mind as to whether these guards could even be entertained with a slight comic tantrum. Plus, adding to everything in all of this, they were also accompanied by many venomous snakes.
[If you wish to know Valmiki's actual descriptions in the Sundara Kanda, its right below:
संपूर्णां राक्षसैर्घोरैर्नागैर्भोगवतीमिव |
अचिन्त्यां सुकृतां स्पष्टां कुबेराध्युषितां पुरा || ५-२-२४
दंष्ट्रिभिर्बहुभिः शूरैः शूलपट्टिसपाणिभिः |
रक्षितां राक्षसैर्घोरैर्गुहामाशीविषैरिव || ५-२-२५ ]
The common people though did not look too horrifying as the guards. In fact at night, they were entertained with music while indulging in other "nefarious" activities. And, these guards were either patrolling the city, or getting drunk, in those times.
Then, much like Ayodhya, there were also many large projectiles in place, looking towards the sky and atop certain buildings. In the midst of these, was Ravana's palace heavily guarded by those monstrosities.
Ravana
Born in the bloodline of Sukesha - an ardent but also an adopted son of Lord Shiva and Parvati; and having a grandfather and uncle-grandfathers who actually tried conjuring tricks against Lord Vishnu, was also born from, but cursed by, Vishrava - an elevated soul. His birth was from a marriage between evil and the virtuous. His mother, Kaikasi, though, wasn't evil, and in all actuality, she was in fact persuaded by her father, Sumali, to marry the virtuous soul, Vishrava, so as to get an offspring that could harness the best of both worlds, and lead him and his brothers towards gaining power against the almighty Self. However, Vishrava, having sensed this, cursed Kaikasi saying that she would only beget demonaic offsprings who were incapable of assimilating the Vedas and Shastras (they were 4 Vedas and 6 Shastras). Whoever did, would grow an extra head and pair of arms for each new scripture learned. Kaikasi on hearing this, fell down in tears, saying she did not wish to have such offsprings, but virtuous ones like him. Then, Vishrava, on seeing this, blessed her with only one virtuous offspring. These offsprings then turned out to be Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Shurpanakha as demoaic, and Vibishana as the virtuous one.
Among the demonaics, Ravana was the one with extremely sharp teeth like the guards. So it could have been that Ravana's DNA was infused with the guards so that they could become as horrifying as him. Kumbhakarna and Shurpanakha, on the other hand, had normal human teeth but sharp too (not too much though I guess).
Then, it was Ravana, among the demonaics, who was bold enough to go ahead and master the Vedas and Shastras, while Kumbhakarna learnt a bit here and there from Ravana, and Shurpanakha, even way littler. She, as a demonaic, was actually more lusty in looks and didn't entertain the concept of marriage. In fact, she lead the band (or an occult) of spies in the Dandaka forest to help her brother keep an eye on any yagas that were being conducted in Bharat (not sure if it was actually called Bharat then). And, in this occult, she was known to have been indulging in "nefarious" pleasures with its members.
Ravana, after mastering all 4 Vedas and 6 Shastras, got 10 heads and 20 arms, just like how his father cursed. He was looking even more hideous than ever before, and which was why he went forward with performing the most terrifying yaga on himself. In this yaga, he starved himself of any food and water for years before he chopped off one of his heads and burnt it in the sacrificial fire. And when he was about to chop off his last and final head, his hands weakened, and he blacked out. Now to give you a little visual-gasm here: Think of the most deadly but quiet tune in your head while imagining a camera 🎥 view revolving around this scene 🎬 - dark complexioned bald guy with twenty arms, and with teeth. lying on a tiled ground next to a sacrificial fire (put some yellowish hue if you can in say an evening backdrop), heads cropping out back-and-forth from his neck-line, body struggling to move sideways, eyes with red sclera and without pupils on his face, face trying to move, and then shape-shifting into different animals and humans back-and-forth from his original form, but in different sequences, up until you're done with this deadly game cut scene; that's what went down. [Do not try this on yourselves.... please 🙏]
After this, he began on a quest to raid and ransack many villages and kingdoms in Bharat with his army of monstrosities. No one could stop him, even the best of warriors and marksmen. None could compete against him, and even when they successfully wounded him terribly, he was able to rejuvenate (or regenerate) back into his normal form and resume the raid. As spoils of the raids, he abducted women and other treasures without any guilt (guilt -> Kubera telling him to stop).
Jatayu, too, when he attacked Ravana on the ground, for abducting Seetha, like after downing his aircraft, tried to snip out Ravana's arms. But each time an arm was snipped, it regenerated. As such, Ravana, was just unstoppable.
Dasaratha
Born from a long bloodline trailing all the way back to Ikshvaku, and having ancestors who heavily invested their lives in virtuosity, Dasaratha was a perpetual young chap, despite his age, solely attributing to their esteemed influences. And its probably why he had three wives. But, all things left aside, he owned 10 different chariots, which was why he was called Dasaratha. I mean, having one chariot itself was a big deal for warriors back then, and it was something they would always upgrade every now and then, from whatever they had earned. So, imagine having 10 of them?.... 😲.
Anyways, so when Ravana began raiding and ransacking villages and kingdoms, like after his yaga, he had this habit of first sending his ambassadors to the kings of the kingdoms he wanted to annex, you know, giving them a chance to first comply before he went ahead to ransack them. His ambassadors would demand cession of their kingdoms to Lanka, which if they didn't would otherwise be met with dire consequences such as forced annexation. And, it so happened that when his ambassadors came to Ayodhya, Dasaratha, on hearing their demands literally laughed 🤣 on their faces. This was quite unusual to them, and not to their liking, but then they just waited patiently for him to complete with his mirth. Then, after he was done, Dasaratha brought them to his balcony where one of the projectiles was in place. He adjusted the angles a bit and then launched it. Now, if it was just one of the usual projectiles, it would have fallen only within the vicinities of the kingdom's boundaries. But the one he launched in front of them, instead went all the way to Lanka and in fact damaged one of their city gates. Seeing this, the ambassadors went dumbstruck 😯, and could not do or say anything after that. Dasaratha was then pretty much like, "How about now? 🙃" [This was taken from Sri Sathya Sai Baba's: Ramakatha Rasavahini].
Such was the might of Dasaratha, which made his Kingdom of Kosala and all its allies, safe and untouched ever, by Ravana and his army of demoniacs.
The Ashvameda Yaga
Though Dasaratha was a mighty king, he was devoid of children. And it was something he always wanted to have, you know, owing to his youth. Being quite depressed about this, feeling as if the divine Self did not have it in it to give him children, he thought of doing the Ashvamedha Yaga.
This yaga, invented by Emperor Maha Bali (or Bali Chakravati), was a yaga that could let anyone conjure anything they desired from the almighty Self, itself. Maha Bali, performed this about 100 times just to give whatever his people needed. However, the catch was that, at the 100th performance, he would uproot Indra's position as the lord of the physical world (the tangible world), from which he would then become all powerful, and in fact rule the whole tangible world instead, all by himself. So, it was at the 100th time that Vamana arrived, asking for him to be able to walk in all the three worlds. Vamana, who was the Self incarnate, demanded this in order to keep his presence in all three worlds eternally, and keep Indra's position as the ruler of the tangible world safe, thus restoring balance to the whole system. He then absolved Maha Bali and gave him salvation.
Dasaratha, thus wanted to perform this yaga to beget children. When, he told this to his royal association of druids, they were willing to do it, and his minister Sumantra, who was also part of this conversation, advised Dasaratha to get Sage Rishyasringa to lead it, as he was the one who was well versed with such yagas. In this yaga, the Ashvins were invoked as the central element, so as to open up (or conjure up) a new reality (or parallel universe so to speak) and catalyse the connection between the original and the new by means of some sacrifice. For Dasaratha, this sacrifice was the instability in his mind for not having children in the current reality. This sacrifice of the unstable mind into a stable mind would then take him to the new reality where he would beget children. And all the horse stuff, was just a physical representation for all of this to happen. No horse was actually required to be slaughtered. Only pokes by needles.
Once the yaga was completed, time (also depicted as a horse in the Vedas) changed its course into a new string of events, and as a result a sort of viscous liquid conjured up in Dasaratha's palms, which he was then put to pour in a bowl, by the sages. It was this liquid, he gave his wives: Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra, to drink, from which Rama, Bharatha, Lakshmana and Shatrughna were born.
However, not only did that happen. Since the yaga was used for obtaining human offsprings, it had an effect of bringing offsprings on closer life-forms too, like the monkey and the bear. And since monkeys were more closer in form to the human, there were more offsprings that came out of those, while only one for the bear. These offsprings were enhanced with specific deities (or qualities). And as such, Vali came with Indra (A Ruler), Sugreeva with Surya (A Ruler of Higher Prominence), Hanuman with Vayu (Flight and Adaptable Body), Tara with Brihaspati (An Innate Guru), Gandamadana with Kubera (A Wealth-Giver), Nala with Vishvakarma (An Engineer), Neela with Agni (A Youthful Intellect), Mainda and Dvivida with The Asvins (The Twins: Seeing Two Sides to Everything), Sushena with Varuna (An Innovator), Sharabha with Parjanya (A Plan-Maker), and lastly Jambavan, the bear, with Brahma (A Creator). This meant that the monkeys and the bear were capable of human-like intellect, but only with what they were enhanced with, and with a more deadly appearance capable of damaging an army of demonaics.
Later on, Rama too performed the Ashvamedha Yaga, when he learned from Sage Agastya that Ravana had actually entered the Self upon death, and was pretty much ransacking it. This time, Rama had to sacrifice his sin of killing a person at the level of a druid, Ravana, for Ravana had actually mastered the Vedas and Shastras. An idea, Lakshamana gave him when Rama was considering performing the Rajasuya Yaga (more on this later).
Aircrafts
Much like what we imagine about desolate labs constructed in the middle of a jungle, conducting evil research, you know like Far Cry, Lanka too had something similar. Here is some of Sage Valmiki's writings in the Aranya Kanda, that describe this:
अनूपे सिन्धु राजस्य ददर्श त्रिदिव उपमम् |
तत्र अपश्यत् स मेघ आभम् न्यग्रोधम् मुनिभिर् वृतम् || ३-३५-२७
समंतात् यस्य ताः शाखाः शत योजनम् आयताः |
यस्य हस्तिनम् आदाय महा कायम् च कच्छपम् || ३-३५-२८
भक्षार्थम् गरुडः शाखाम् आजगाम महाबलः |
तस्य ताम् सहसा शाखाम् भारेण पतगोत्तमः || ३-३५-२९
सुपर्णः पर्ण बहुलाम् बभंज अथ महाबलः |
तत्र वैखानसा माषा वालखिल्या मरीचिपाः || ३-३५-३०
अजा बभूवुः धूम्राः च संगताः परमर्षयः |
तेषाम् दयाअर्थम् गरुडः ताम् शाखाम् शत योजनाम् || ३-३५-३१
भग्नम् आदाय वेगेन तौ च उभौ गज कच्छपौ |
एक पादेन धर्म आत्मा भक्षयित्वा तत् आमिषम् || ३-३५-३२
निषाद विषयम् हत्वा शाखया पतगोत्तमः |
प्रहर्षम् अतुलम् लेभे मोक्षयित्वा महामुनीन् || ३-३५-३३
स तेन तु प्रहर्षेण द्विगुणी कृत विक्रमः |
अमृत आनयनार्थम् वै चकार मतिमान् मतिम् || ३-३५-३४
अयो जालानि निर्मथ्य भित्त्वा रत्न गृहम् वरम् |
महेन्द्र भवनात् गुप्तम् आजहार अमृतम् ततः || ३-३५-३५
तम् महर्षि गणैः जुष्टम् सुपर्ण कृत लक्षणम् |
नाम्ना सुभद्रम् न्यग्रोधम् ददर्श धनद अनुजः || ३-३५-३६
In the above writings, you'll find a lot of mentions of Garuda, which will make you wonder how Garuda is related to an evil lab in the midst of a jungle. Well, that's something we'll keep for a later discussion. However, long story short, the entire Garuda Purana narrates in Vedic terms the concept of civilization arising. And civilization in a miniaturized form can be a lab or any ecosystem for that matter.
And in the vicinity of this lab facility in Lanka, there were people playing around with aircrafts, from which sounds were emanating due to the speeds with which they were traveling at. Here's Sage Valmiki's narration:
पाण्डुराणि विशालानि दिव्य माल्य युतानि च |
तूर्य गीत अभिजुष्टानि विमानानि समंततः || ३-३५-१९
तपसा जित लोकानाम् कामगान् अभिसंपतन् |
गन्धर्व अप्सरसः चैव ददर्श धनदानुजः || ३-३५-२०
Now, as for the design of the aircrafts, details of it are mentioned when Valmiki writes about Jatayu's attack on it, when Ravana was abducting of Seetha. Valmiki writes that, Jatayu first knocked off its forward thrusting engines that were gushing air backwards, and then broke its three hovering engines that gave the aircraft its lift. Lastly, he broke the aircrafts beak, something we know that typically gives air vehicles their good set of aerodynamics, including birds themselves. And this final blow destroyed the aircrafts ability to stay airborne, and thus fell on to the ground, with Ravana and Seetha in it. Below, are Valmiki's writings that details these:
कांचन उरः छदान् दिव्यान् पिशाच वदनान् खरान् |
तान् च अस्य जव संपन्नान् जघान समरे बली || ३-५१-१५
अथ त्रिवेणु संपन्नम् कामगम् पावक अर्चिषम् |
मणि सोपान चित्र अंगम् बभंज च महारथम् || ३-५१-१६
पूर्ण चन्द्र प्रतीकाशम् छत्रम् च व्यजनैः सह |
पातयामास वेगेन ग्राहिभी राक्षसैः सह || ३-५१-१७
सारथेः च अस्य वेगेन तुण्डेन च महत् शिरः |
पुनः व्यपाहरत् श्रीमान् पक्षिराजो महाबलः || ३-५१-१८
However, what was the fuel used for the aircraft to run it, is not mentioned. But considering the fact that Ravana set out to burn Hanuman's tail by first applying some kind of oil, would only suggest that the aircraft too was run on something similar. May be a plant based oil 🤷♂️... who knows? Or could it have been run by electric discharge thrusters? You know like Ion Thrusters? We have no idea.
Fortresses: Mt. Mainaka and Simhika
At some point in the history of Bharat and Lanka, like you know during the Treta Yuga period when the Ramayana took place, there was a clean division happening between those who wanted to just live peacefully and those who wanted just more. And those who wanted more, found their place in Lanka, where they in fact began coming up with ways to trouble the others in Bharat to gain power and wealth. So as a counter measure, the Mt. Mainaka was built as a fortress by the inhabitants of Bharat to hinder the entry of those coming from Lanka. This mount would rise up from the ocean upon the moment a habitant of Lanka tried to enter Bharat. Except birds. And this mount functioned pretty much like a keyhole, wherein many land projections would rise up from the sea only at the precise locations of the Lankan habitant trying to enter. So, the Lankans, on the other hand, made a titan, they called Simhika, to rise up from the ocean as their fortress for anyone who tried to enter from Bharat.
Also, it was this mount that helped Hanuman in his jump towards Lanka, and back, when he was going to look for Seetha. The mount usually did not rise up for any thing that left Bharat. But it made an exception for Hanuman, as it sensed that his jump wouldn't fall in Lanka directly. It gave him new places to repeat his jumps towards Lanka, and likewise, when returning. It didn't block him, but instead gave him new places again.
So frankly, this explains why aircrafts were built in Lanka. It was all because of this Mt. Mainaka. It was their alternative solution to entering Bharat without being stopped by it. And they did so by looking towards the birds.
However, when Jatayu downed Ravana's aircraft, Ravana was left without any means to take Seetha to Lanka. So, instead, he just darted out, like on a skyway, towards Lanka from where he was, carrying Seetha with him. I mean, seriously, what else could he not do? 🧐
Bridge Construction
After Hanuman came back from Lanka confirming that he saw Seetha there, Rama, Lakshamana and all the other Vanaras became extremely happy. Rama then set out to cross the ocean no matter what. He then began to triangulate, with his bow and arrows, a perfect landing point of a bridge on Lanka. But this, as one would expect, actually was, and also became, an abyss of innumerous possibilities for Rama. He spent three days just triangulating and triangulating without finding or zeroing in on a perfect landing point. Frustrated with his attempts, he then resorted to contemplating on whatever he learnt from the ocean, as in the ripples he received from each arrow shot he made.
I mean, think about it for a second, the many variables that were to be considered: 1) the direction, 2) the angle, and 3) the force of the arrow shot. All of these, with the accompaniment of ripples obtained from each. It was a pretty much a difficult search problem. Something we computer scientists 👨💻🤓👩🔬 love to call as NP-hard problems.
Then, after much contemplation (and probably accompanied by several mathematical calculations with the data he had), he was able to finally zero in on a perfect landing point. Then to confirm it, he shot one more arrow towards the ocean. This time it hit land, and the sound and ocean ripples he received confirmed it.
He then told Nala (our monkey engineer), the direction and how far the landing point was, for him to build a bridge. Nala then set out tasks for his band of Vanaras to build his bridge. Some collected big rocks, reeds, logs and trees - some with roots on them and others without, while some pried up even bigger rocks from the ground. Another group made poles from collected material to make the bridge stand on the ocean bed, while another made long strings to align the bridge correctly, helping those who were fastening the rocks, poles and other material together, and tying them up. They took about 5 days to build the bridge, setting themselves bigger goals each day. The first day, they constructed 14 yojanas, while on the second they did 20, then 21 on the third, 22 on the fourth and finally 23 on the fifth (👈 check out the incremental plan here). This totaled to a length of 100 yojanas. It also had a width, a tenth of its length.
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