Panaji, Sep 23 (IANS): Ravana was born in Noida unlike late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's belief that the Lankan king was a Dravidian like him, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said here on Sunday.
Speaking at an event in South Goa, Swamy claimed that contrary to popular notions, Ravana, the villain in Indian epic Ramayana, was born in the village of Bisrakh in Noida, located in the National Capital Region.
"And Rama was a hate figure for these people because he was from the north and he killed Ravana who was from Lanka and therefore Dravidian. Well, Ravana was not from Lanka. He was born in a village near Delhi, it is called Bisrakh. You can still go and see it. There are big billboards. The area is called Noida...," Swamy said.
He said that Ravana performed 'tapas' (penance) at Manasarovar, after which Lord Shiva bestowed a boon upon him, following which Ravana went to Lanka and defeated his cousin Kuber to eventually become the 'Lanka Naresh'.
"And he was a Brahmin, incidentally... He practiced, he was a scholar of Sama Veda and Karunanidhi thought he is like him. And so, Karunanidhi was against anything I did which didn't suit the Dravidian concocted notions," Swamy said, adding that the 'divide' between northern India as an Aryan domain and the Dravidian south was a notion implanted in the Indian subconscience by the British colonists.
"Therefore, I say to you that first of all, recognise that we all are one people. We did not come from some faraway place, as the British wrote in their history books...," he said.
"It was taught to us through schools, through Bishops, the Christian clergy and soon enough it became an accepted gospel."