Ravananugraha or Ravananugraha-murti ("form showing favour to Ravana"[1]) is a benevolent aspect of the Hindu god Shiva, depicted seated on his abode Mount Kailash with his consort Parvati, while the rakshasa-king (demon-king) Ravana of Lanka attempts to uproot it.
[2] The Uttara Kanda of the Hindu epic Ramayana records: the ten-headed, twenty-armed mighty King Ravana defeated and looted Alaka – the city of his half-brother and god of wealth Kubera, situated near Mount Kailash.
After the victory, Ravana was returning to Lanka in the Pushpaka Vimana (the flying chariot stolen from Kubera), when he spotted a beautiful place.
Nandi informed Ravana that Shiva and Parvati resided on the mountain, and that no one was allowed to pass.
In turn, Ravana decided to uproot Kailash, infuriated by Nandi's curse, and his inability to proceed further.
Advised by his ministers, Ravana sang hymns in praise of Shiva for a thousand years.
[3][4] In the Tevaram,[5] a Tamil Shaiva work, Ravana cut off one of his heads and built a veena from it.
In the upper register, the central figures are the four-armed Shiva and to his left hand side, Parvati, who clings to her husband with her two arms flung around him.
Generally, his rear or upper arms hold up the mountain, while the lower ones may rest on ground or his knee for support, or may carry weapons in them.
[9] The relief shows Ravana in a hollowed space beneath a stylised mountain form that represents the divine abode of Shiva, Mount Kailasha.
A sculpture at the Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur, made of buff sandstone, represents the legend with a depiction of Ravana trying to lift the Kailasha mountain, while Shiva and Parvati sit on it.