अहल्या, द्रौपदी, कुंती, थारा, मंदोदरी थाथा,
पंचकन्या स्मारेंनित्यम महापथक नासनम
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Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari thatha
Panchakanya smaranityam mahapataka nasnam
Translation: Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari
constantly revering these five virgins, destroyers of great sins.
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Here is the story of Mandodari.
Eons ago, a celestial nymph called Madhura, a bhakt disciple of lord Shiva was cursed by goddess Parvati to be a meduka, a frog, and live in a well for twelve years. Shiva took pity and blessed her that she will be a beautiful woman and marry a wise man at the end of her curse.
King Mayasura, the king of illusion, had two sons Mayabhi and Dundubhi from his celestial nymph wife Hema. They wanted a daughter and planned a yagna. When they went to collect water from a nearby well to prepare for the yagna, they heard a baby’s wail from its depth. They found a baby girl and adopted her. This baby was named Mandodari. Soon after, her mother left for heaven, leaving the three children to their father's care.
The name Mandodari means one with a slender waist. Her name has many derivations including one which is of meduka, a frog. Another derivation is that of a cursed womb because her firstborn would be the reason for her husband’s death.
Ravana was a learned Brahman with a weakness for beautiful women. Once he went to Kailasha and asked Shiva for Parvati's. Shiva being an aghori himself did not understand the meaning of marriage or samsara and gave his permission. Ravana went looking out for her. When Parvati came to know about it, she commanded maya, illusion, to create a lady of her own image from a frog from a nearby lake. She was Mandodari, the one from the frog, born out of Maya or daughter of Maya. When Ravana saw this damsel in the lake, took her away and married her. It is said the island of Lanka with its capital made of gold, was gifted by Mayasura to Ravana as dowry.
Mandodari bore a daughter. Ravana put that baby in a basket and buried her far away in the foothills of the Himalayas, knowing that this firstborn would be the cause of his death,. This baby was found from the ground by King Janak while plowing his fields and named her Janaki. She was also called Sita and later married the prince of Ayodhya Rama.
Mandodari bore three more children, Meghnand also known as Indrajeet, Atikaya, and Akshaykumara.
Ravana had many wives, Mandodari was the chief queen and most loved. She was deep into dharma and a disciple of the goddess Parvati. She would advise her husband and children always to do karma as defined by dharma. She opposed Ravana when Sita was abducted and brought against her wishes. She advised Ravana not to marry Sita. She stopped Ravana from lynching Sita with a sword, when the king was angry with her constant refusal to marry him, reminding him that dharma does not allow the killing of women.
After Ravana bought Sita to Lanka, he asked Mandodari to pursue her to be his wife. She resisted and advised him to return her back. She was forced to visit her. When she stepped into Ashok Vatika and saw her, milk started oozing from her breast and she instantly realized that Sita was none other than her firstborn.
Hanuman was sent to Lanka to look out for Sita. He roamed around the palaces and countryside looking for her. From one of the palace balconies, he saw a beautiful woman laden with gold and finery, worshiping goddess Parvati. For a moment he thought her to be Sita but soon realized that Sita would not be so happy and peaceful in her captivity. The one he saw was Queen Mandodari.
The war was inevitable and the commanders of Rama’s army were discussing the strategies. Defeating Ravana was impossible as he was protected by the chastity of his wife. They hatched a plan. Hanuman went to the palace of the queen in the form of a bee. He started troubling the queen buzzing around her. At an appropriate moment when the queen's attention was elsewhere, the monkey took the shape of a wild cat and acted to have jumped in from the window gulping the bee. The queen was pleased and started cuddling the cat. The cat scratched her breast and stole her necklace and jumped out of the window. That evening Ravana went to Ashok Vatika to pursue Sita. On the way, he saw a man wearing the queen's necklace walking by. This was Hanuman in another form. The man was caught and bought before the king. He told that he got the necklace from a friend who got it from his lover and that she has a scratch on her breast. The Ravana in his rage doubted his wife, and at that moment he lost the protection of his wife’s chastity. A fire was lit and Mandodari was asked to walk through the agni pariksha to prove her purity.
At the end of the war, Mandodari lost her husband and her three sons. She brought in Sita from her captivity and handed her over to Rama. While she understood why Ravana was killed in the war of dharma, her instinct took the better of her. She cursed Sita that she would also be suspected by her husband of her purity, and will be abandoned by her husband leading a lonely life.
After the war, Vivishana, the brother of Ravana was anointed the king of Lanka. The new king married Mandodari, his widowed sister-in-law, as was the custom of those days. Lanka remained in an alliance with Ayodhya.
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