इन्द्रजित् , son of रावण . (Only portions which were left off under the entry Indrajit are given here.

Synonyms of मेघनाद

कानीन , रावणि , मायावी , इन्द्रजित् . The origin of each name is given below:

कानीन

Son of a virgin. In olden times, once, the Sea of Milk was churned. From it arose a beautiful maiden called सुलक्षणा . She became an attendant of पार्वती and one day while bathing in a pond in the garden she sent सुलक्षणा to fetch some clothes for her. शिव who was then in पार्वती 's chamber alone, lost his control when he saw the beautiful सुलक्षणा and had intercourse with her. The maid was perplexed and then शिव assured her that she would give birth to a child only after her marriage.

But when सुलक्षणा returned with the dress पार्वती felt suspicious and she cursed her and made her into a frog and pushed it into that same pond.

Time passed on. Once मय performed severe penance to please शिव to get a daughter and शिव persuaded पार्वती to release सुलक्षणा from the curse and she did so turning her into a beautiful maiden named मन्दोदरी and शिव gave her to मय . रावण married her and their first son was कानीन .

रावणि

Son of रावण .

मेघनाद

(One having the sound of thunder). When he was born he made a sound as loud as thunder and so he was called मेघनाद .

मायावी

He accepted शिव as his Guru and learned all the divine arts of magic like मृगेन्द्रजाल , ब्रह्मेन्द्रजाल , सुरेन्द्रजाल , महेन्द्रजाल खगेन्द्रजाल , वायुस्तम्भ , जलस्तम्भ , अग्निस्तम्भ , आकाशसञ्चार , परकायप्रवेश , रूपभेदस्वीकार and तिरोधान . Because he knew all these tricks he was called मायावी .

इन्द्रजित्

When रावण attacked स्वर्ग he pushed forward too much and so was caught inside an army of the देवस् which surrounded him. When मेघनाद saw it he broke the army circle of the देवस् and getting in caught इन्द्र as a prisoner and brought him to लङ्का . इन्द्र was later released by the mediation of ब्रह्मा and the latter gave him the name इन्द्रजित् meaning "Conqueror of इन्द्र ".

--- Boons ---

When रावण was conducting his world campaign he performed at निकुम्भिला many यागस् and got from ब्रह्मा many boons. मेघनाद acquired powers which had not been possible for मानवस्, दानवस्, वानरस् or राक्षसस् to acquire. He got a विमान (divine car) which could travel in all directions, backwards and forwards, up or down. He received an armour against which no weapon would be of any use. He possessed a weapon which would be effective against anything. Above all these, he had the power to remain invisible. He could be killed by only one person of his age who had lived for fourteen years dutifully and virtuously without sleep. Only इन्द्रजित् knew about this.

In a battle मायावी would show many tricks. If one was found ineffective he would use another. He had in his stock over a thousand such tricks all of which he had acquired with very little effort. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Kamba Rāmāyaṇa) .

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A soldier of सुब्रह्मण्य . [mh-9-44-57 ] Mahābhārata • Śalya parva null .