Not many in India choose to worship Ravana, the evil demon king from the celebrated epic of Ramayana. However, there are a few examples of tribal communities who consider Ravana as their ancestor and worship him with reverence. Obviously the worship of Ravana is not a taboo. Here is a curious tale,  how a village ended up worshiping Ravana as their village deity. Sangola village in  Akola district of Maharashtra, worship Ravana during Dusshera and Diwali,  by offering him puja instead of burning his effigy as the rest of India.

According to the locals, around two hundred years ago, villagers of Sangola, decided to install a new idol in their village temple. They contacted a well known sthapathi or sculptor, living in the nearby village of Babhulgaon, and  requested him to make the idol of their god for their temple.  They supplied him with wood from the holy tree that grew in the temple premise, and asked him to carve out an idol of lord Rama as per his imagination.  The sculptor quoted  a  very steep fee and he also wanted all the money in advance; so every villager chipped in their share of a few rupees and raised the funds.

A few months later the sculptor asked the villagers to come and collect the idol as he had completed the finishing touches. With much anticipation and with due preparation to receive the deity,  village elders proceeded to Babhulgaon beating drums and cymbals to celebrate the arrival of the god. The sculptor handed them the idol , wrapped up in a piece of cloth and walked away without exchanging any words.  When the villagers unveiled the idol they were taken aback. Neither the sculptor had carved the idol out of wood as they had ordered,  nor could they recognise the idol (as they assumed it would be of lord Rama).  Instead the idol was made of stone , and was of a fierce warrior with ten heads and ten hands, holding a weapon in each hand. Obviously, the sculptor had played some kind of a prank on naive gullible villagers, by sculpting the idol of Ravana instead of Rama

Confused and perplexed, villagers eventually decided to accept the idol after prolonged deliberations. They put the idol on the bullock cart and accompanied by drumming of  dhols and cymbals they started  back for the village. But as soon as the procession reached the village boundary, the bulls could not move any further. As villagers gathered around the idol; they heard their elders narrate the story how they were tricked by the sculptor. They unanimously decided to receive Ravana with same devotion  that they had for lord Rama. They installed the idol at the village boundary and decided to worshiped Ravana as the village deity. They believe that after the arrival of Ravana Maharaj, as they lovingly call him,  Sangola village became a prosperous town.   The tradition of worshiping Ravana continues till today, with a special puja being offered during Dusshera and Diwali.
Story Collected by: Vidya Kamat

Text Source: Vinake, Santosh,  Lokaprabha, 23rd October, 2015, Vol: 76, pp40-41

also see; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTqaCuGoZ5Q

Location: Maharashtra

Image Detail: Idol of Ravana, from the collection of British Museum

Image Source: Wikipedia