A leader among the demons. रावण , the lord of लङ्का , and पातालरावण are different. पातालरावण was the son of the sister of माल्यवान् . हेति , son of ब्रह्मा , begot of his wife भया a son named विद्युत्केश . विद्युत्केश married सालकटङ्का and got of her सुकेश . सुकेश married देववती and got of her three sons, माल्यवान् , सुमाली and माली . Of these सुमाली got प्रहस्त and others who were the ministers of रावण . पाताल-रावण was the son of माल्यवान् 's sister.

A set of demons afraid of महाविष्णु , the destroyer of demons, fled to पाताल . Their leader was पातालरावण . On reaching पाताल he became their leader and emperor and he got the name of पातालरावण from then onwards.

पातालरावण performed severe austerities to propitiate ब्रह्मा and got from him three extraordinary boons:- (1) To travel freely in all the worlds without the use of any vehicle (2) To be well-versed in all magical arts (3) To be alive till the beetle-shaped blue diamond in his possession is broken into two.

पातालरावण used all these boons for the welfare and emancipation of his own people. He was interested in teasing his enemies by the power of his boons. रावण , king of लङ्का , had an alliance with पातालरावण .

पातालरावण had a cruel and huge brother named कुम्भोदर who was an adept in magic. This brother always helped पाताल-रावण in all his activities.

The राम-रावण Yuddha was going on and रावण began to suffer defeat after defeat in quick succession. रावण then sent for पातालरावण and his brother कुम्भोदर . पातालरावण felt sorry at the pitiable plight of लङ्का and both the रावणस् sat together to discuss future plans. Though they had lost a major portion of their army, रावण suggested they should fight with the rest of the army and kill राम . पातालरावण was to kill राम and लङ्का-रावण was to marry सीता . पातालरावण said that it was unwise to continue the fight with a small army but promised he would make a trial by using his magic powers.

पातालरावण and कुम्भोदर on leaving लण्का made themselves invisible and travelled above the camp of श्री राम to investigate the strength and manoeuvres of the राम -army. It was night and the whole place was lit by moonlight. The monkey soldiers were taking rest in different places. विभीषण and सुग्रीव were talking in secret about grave matters. श्री राम was lying resting his head on the lap of लक्ष्मण and लक्ष्मण was mildly massaging the divine body of his brother. हनूमान् was sitting on a big dais created by his tail and keeping watch over the whole camp.

पातालरावण knew from what he saw that any attempt to carry away राम from the surface of the ground was impossible and so he returned to पाताल . From there they made a tunnel up to the base of the seat of हनूमान् and from there to where राम lay. Then they carried राम and लक्ष्मण to पाताल before anybody could find it out by making them smell a सम्मोहनदिव्यौषध (divine medicine causing unconscious ness). They brought them to a temple of महाकाली with the intention of offering them in a sacrifice to the deity the next day morning. They made all preparations for the same. हनूमान् used to inspect the camp often and yet when after midnight he looked at the place where राम and लक्ष्मण were sleeping he could not find them. He immediately woke up all and made a search and they then found the big hole of a tunnel near the place where राम and लक्ष्मण were sleeping. All the leaders including सुग्रीव and विभीषण assembled there and then विभीषण told them what had happened. He then took सुग्रीव , हनूमान् , जाम्बवान् and अङ्गद and a big army to पाताल and went straight to the महाकाली temple. There पातालरावण had already started the ceremonies for the sacrifice.

विभीषण then asked हनूमान् to go and get the beetle-shaped diamond of पातालरावण from a secret place in his bed chamber. हनूमान् took it and kept it in his mouth and attacked पातालरावण who came running to slay him. पाताल-रावण faced हनूमान् in a very indifferent manner and a fight ensued. After sometime हनूमान् lost patience and cracked the diamond within his mouth and the moment it cracked पाताल-रावण fell down dead. (Yuddha Kāṇḍa, Kamba Rāmāyaṇa) .