The paper seeks to examine the circumstances under which Michael Madhusudan Dutta, the 19th-century Renaissance poet of Bengal chose the slaying of Ravana’s son, Meghnad, as the subject for his magnum opus, with many of its facets being etched indelibly on the Bengali psyche in supersession of other prominent Ramayans. Was Michael trying to show the parallels between the Indian and European mythologies? Was it because of nationalistic fervour that Michael sought to show the Rakshas as defending their nation against invaders? Was he influenced by the glamourised Ravana and Lanka of the Tamil or the Telugu Ramayans?
