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The Great Epics

She Told Him Every Time

The most feared being in the three worlds had a captive he could not lay a hand on, and it was his wife who pointed out why.

She told him he was going to die, repeatedly, and she was right every time.

Who she was

Mandodari was Ravana's chief queen. Daughter of Maya, the great architect of the asuras, the builder who made the assembly hall in the Mahabharata.

And by every account in the Ramayana, a woman of exceptional judgement and character. She is counted among the panchakanya.

The five women whose names the tradition holds are to be recited at dawn for purification: Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara, Mandodari.

That list is worth noticing. Two of the five are on the wrong side of the epic they appear in, and one of them is the queen of Lanka.

Read the whole story on Setu

The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.