The island nation of Sri Lanka is famously associatied with King Ravana who according to mythology ruled over the island during the times of the Indian epic Ramayana.
While Sri Lanka’s tourism sector promotes the ‘Ramayana trail’ especially for visitors from India, it is King Ravana that the majority Sinhala-Buddhists hail.
Sri Lanka’s aviation authority has recently said it will lead a research project to study the mythological character Ravana’s “aviation routes”.
A newspaper advertisement was published by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka in Sinhala seeking any relevant documents and literature from the public.
They have asked the public to contact them with information to help research the topic “King Ravana and the ancient domination of aerial routes now lost”.
Addressing a conference for civil aviation specialists in Colombo in 2016, then Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva had remarked that while the modern history of global aviation began with the Wright Brothers, it was common legend in Sri Lanka that a brave king called Ravana, used a flying machine called “Dandu monara” to fly not only within the country, but also in the region.
“Dandu monara” is popularly known as “pushpaka vimana” in the Indian sub-continent.
It is said that King Ravana used Wariyapola and Horton Plains as landing sites for his pre-historic aircraft.
Both socio-religious organisations in Sri Lanka and the state venerate and acknowledge Ravana as “the brave king” from the island nation.
A hard-line Sinhala Buddhist group calls itself ‘Ravana Balaya’, while Sri Lanka named its first satellite, launched into orbit last June, ‘Ravana-1’.
