The Righteous Wife

Rao Nahar Panwar made Mandore the capital of Marwar, Rajasthan, until Rao Jodha shifted to the Mehrangarh Fort. Mandore, a few km from the blue city of Jodhpur, now stands as a tourist spot with an archaeological park of ancient temples. Dated back to around the 6th Century and older, these temples are an example of wonderfully curved stone architectural wonders. Amongst them stands a temple to an unusual deity. The King of Lanka, the demon devotee of Shiva, Ravana. Surprised? The Brahmins of this place religiously worship him twice every day. Why?

Temples at Mandore

During the Puranic times, Maya Danav, the architect among Demons, son of Rishi Kashyap and his wife Aditi, used to rule Mandore, with his consort, the Apsara queen Hema. They had two sons, Mayavi and Dhundhuvi, but yearned for a daughter. Devotees of Shiva prayed to him for a daughter.

Once, an Apsara, Madhura, visited Kailash in the absence of Devi Parvati and tried to seduce the Lord. Angered at her action, the Devi had cursed her to be born as a human and suffer ill fate because of a husband. Because of her Karma, Madhura was born to Hema and Maya Danav as their daughter Mandodari. Another version says that, after the curse, Lord Shiva had given her the boon of having a valiant warrior as her husband.

A young maiden, learned, full of Dharma and beauty, grew up in Mandore, pampered and considered blessed by the Lord himself. Meanwhile, Ravana's newly transformed terror form, after the Lord tricked him and refused to live in Lanka, was spreading Far and wide. Ravana, on his visit to Mandore, fell in love with the dignified and independent-minded Mandodari. One version says he had forcefully married her against her wishes, and she was told to do so to save her country. Another version says his bravery attracted Mandodari.

On her setting foot in his household, his luck changed; he had victories across the three Loks and became the Trilokadhipati, the Lord of Heaven, Hell and the Universe. She gave him three sons: Indrajit or Meghnad, the crown prince, Akshay Kumar, and Atikara. Some tales say she also had a daughter, ordered to be killed by Ravana as he was cursed by his Doom because of a woman. Mandodari, being the mother, could not kill her own blood and set her afloat in the name of the Lord in the seas of Lanka. Some stories suggest that the very daughter reached Janaka, as Bhudevi's daughter Sita, hence causing Ravana's doom. Whatever the reason was, Mandodari was always affectionate towards the captured Sita.

She was righteous; she always tried to stop her husband from his wrongdoings in vain. She suffered the loss of her children for his deeds. As some suggest, as the Karma of the last life, Ravana's passion towards other women in the Harem and his nature to look down upon women always hurt, insulted and made life difficult for Mandodari. Still, as a wife's Dharma said, she stood by him till his last day, knowing his doom was near, as his Ardhangini. On Ravana's death, she apologised to Lord Rama for his misdeeds.

Lord Rama, being a follower of Dharma, ordered Vivishana, the youngest brother of Ravana, to be the Ruler of the new Lanka. But the rule of the Aryans suggested he needed to marry the reigning Queen to be the king. Mandodari married her brother-in-law as an act of statesmanship for the future of Lanka. She, for her chastity and extreme sacrifice in her life, is often remembered among the most powerful five women in Hinduism. She is often termed "Water", turbulent from the surface, deep in her spiritual journey through life.

Mandodari, who had always asked Ravana to return Sita to Rama in vain, was a lady of substance. A lady who followed the virtues of Dharma, but was never happy. A lady whose life was a struggle and full of pain because of Ravana's deeds. Because she was the one who suffered an ill fate, much like most women in Lanka, yet never left the ways of Truth and Dharma, and got the strength to live life as a fighter till the end. Even when it meant losing her children, husband and everything for the sake of Dharma. She supported Sita and prayed that Dharma would win.

She lived as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and a queen, but somehow the woman Mandodari lost herself, trying hard to hold on to her chastity and righteous nature among the wrongdoings of her kins. The Mandodari, who bore no fewer tortures than Sita, is only remembered as Ravana's wife. Because she could not stop the Demon's vain self and wrongdoings.

The Mandodari should be remembered for her love, her dedication to her husband, her chastity, her righteousness, her Dharma, her independent protests, and her sacrifices for Mandore and Lanka. Mandodari was the Righteous better half of the Villain of Hinduism's greatest epic.

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