Tales of Mandodari

Lambodhara is the name given to Ganesha because he has a big belly Damodhar is the name given to Krishna because a rope was tied by his mother around his waist to ensure the overactive toddler would not run too far away Then there is the name Mandodari It is the name of a woman who has a slender waistHowever the word Mandodari has other etymologies One being a bad womb This meaning was given because her womb was destined to give birth to a child who caused the death of her husband RavanaAnother derivation is from the word Manduka which means a frog It is said that the goddess Parvati turned a female frog into the likeness of herself so that Ravana could marry this woman The story goes that Ravana once wanted to marry Shivarsquos wife and Shiva gave him permission Shiva being simple did not understand the concept of marriage wife or fidelity But Parvati got annoyed with Ravanarsquos audacity and created a frogwoman to teach the arrogant Rakshasaking a lesson Parvati is supposed to have cursed Ravana that this woman would bear a female child who would be the cause of his death Mandodarirsquos daughter was therefore cast into the sea and then she was caught by the Earth She emerged from the Earth to Raja Janak This is one of the folk beliefs on the origins of SitaIn many folk Ramayanas it is believed that Mandodari is a nymph She is some kind of a celestial creature She is given by the Rakshasa called Maya and Lanka is part of her dowry Shersquos the mother of Meghanadha Atikaya and Akshay Kumar In some stories she is the one who warns Ravana of how he can be cursed by abused women who do not give their consent to come to his bed In other stories it is she who tries to persuade Sita to accept Ravana as a husband for the sake of peace In still others it is she who tries to stop Ravana from abusing Sita who is Ramrsquos wife Thus she is portrayed as virtuous in some stories and complicit in othersIn the Kashmiri Ramayana when Mandodari sees Sita milk starts to overflow from her breast She then realises Sita is her birth daughter In the Bengali Ramayana it is she who returns Sita to Ram after Ravanarsquos death But she also curses Ram that just as she had been widowed by Ram Ram would experience separation after marriageIn the Assamese Ranaka Charitra Ravana creates a false Ram and Lakshman who try to force Sita to marry Ravana In the same way Hanuman takes the form of a bee and enters Mandodarirsquos quarters and turns into a cat She tries to feed him He scratches her breasts steals her necklace throws it up in front of Ravana Hanuman then tells him to check Mandodarirsquos breasts for proof that she has been with another man In fury she blames Ravana that this was only possible because he misbehaved with another woman Hence a male stranger could touch her body even though she is as pure as Sita and even she can do the Agni Pariksha like all chaste wivesThus in Mandodari we see a complex story of a woman with a complex relationship with a demonkingDevdutt Pattanaik writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times Reach him at devduttpattanaikmiddaycom