Mandodari

by Manini J Anandani

  I looked at Rama in disapproval. ‘How can you do that to us? Can’t you see that we can barely stand being under the same roof with him, and you want him to ascend the throne? You are wise enough, Rama. Do you think he is capable of stepping into Lankapati Ravana’s shoes? Our people will never accept him as their king. The council too will never accept him. He has betrayed us.’

  ‘Think rationally, devi. Vibhishana joined us to follow the path of righteousness that Ravana was not on. The right to govern this kingdom lies with me and I enthrone Vibhishana. I wanted to place someone from among you all on the throne,’ said Rama.

  Lakshmana came forward to add. ‘If you change your perspective, you will find Vibhishana being loyal to the new leader of Lanka. How is that a betrayal, then?’

  They were unrelenting. Vibhishana was to be our king in spite of our many protests. In the eyes of Rama, we needed Vibhishana more than he needed our support.

  ‘You may have proved your point, Rama, but our people will never accept him . . . ’ I tried, still adamant.

  ‘Yes, I agree. I took the liberty of discussing our options with Nanashri. We reached the conclusion that only with you as their queen will Vibhishana be popularly accepted. Lanka needs a king. Hence, under the acts of statesmanship, your marriage to Vibhishana will favour him as king.’

  I was reeling under Rama’s proposal. Vibhishana, Nanashri, Mahaparshva and the council members looked at me eagerly. I turned to Vibhishana. ‘Have you no morality? How could you even imagine such a thing? And you,’ I faced the council. ‘You, our trusted advisers, are amenable to this solution?’

  ‘I understand how you feel, Mandodari, but this is the only way. I am the keeper of this throne; I will do whatever is best for the person who occupies it. Our motive is to keep the throne stable by passing the crown to a rightful and reliable heir,’ replied Nanashri.

  ‘We want the same thing but in different ways. I will never agree to marry Vibhishana. He will never be my king or my husband!’ I stormed out.

  I isolated myself in my chambers for several days. Lanka was mourning for Dashaanan and so was I. I missed him terribly. I was torn between sustaining Dashaanan’s legacy and protecting his kingdom. I did not know what to do. On the twelfth day of mourning, Vibhishana requested an audience with me. I denied at once but he was persistent. I grudgingly agreed. I asked my dasi to make him wait in the lounge. When I entered, he stood up to greet me like he used to earlier, as if nothing had changed. I remained stubborn, unwilling to agree on anything that he had to offer.

  ‘I have made it clear I do not wish to be in your company. What is it that you have to say?’

  ‘Rani Mandodari, tomorrow will be the last day of mourning. I have come to you to ask for forgiveness and your consideration,’ said Vibhishana. I noted he addressed me differently and not as his brother’s wife.

  ‘Your treason cannot be forgiven. You have been disloyal to your brother, this kingdom and to this land. And I wonder how you do not have any guilt or remorse for what you have done!’

  ‘Why should I feel guilty when I don’t think I have done anything wrong? I tried to warn bhrata Dashaanan. His stubbornness made him incapable of governance. The results are laid out in front of you.’

  ‘He made mistakes like the rest of us. I agree he was stubborn but it was also his stubbornness to succeed that led this kingdom to glory.’

  ‘Abducting a woman of high prestige as bait to lure her husband . . . how was that right for the kingdom? We were on the verge of a war and yet bhrata Dashaanan didn’t give her up. The Lanka that remains today is only the wreckage of what it used to be. He did that to it. All because he lusted after Sita.’

  ‘Enough! How little you knew your brother! Have you forgotten what Lakshmana subjected your sister to and our people whom Rama murdered? How can you be so ignorant? What would you have done to deliver justice to them?’

  ‘If all he did was right, would we have been here today?’

  I had no answer to give him.

  ‘We can either choose to argue about it or resolve it. I saw my brother mishandling a situation I was certain would culminate this way. I respect your decision to support him. Why can’t you accept mine?’

  I was still silent.

  He sighed, ‘Sometimes, I imagine what would have happened if I had stood by him. I am not exceptional. I would have died in the first two days of the war. I chose the winning side—I was wise—and now I claim the throne that belongs to our dynasty rather than losing it to some other ruler.’

  ‘They won only because you betrayed us to them—everything Dashaanan had entrusted you with, you chose to trade with them. It must have been because of you that they knew every gate, every commander and every strategy beforehand. You must have warned them about the Nikumbhila yagna, and definitely told them about the weakest part of Dashaanan’s body to attack.’ It was Vibhishana’s turn to be silent. I questioned him further. ‘Do you think Rama and Lakshmana would have survived the war if you hadn’t disclosed all our secrets to them? You were the closest to your brother, you shadowed him, his wish was your command . . . then why be so cruel? Eventually, you wanted more than his kindness, you wanted his throne.’

  His swallowed, looking away. ‘I was not cruel to him but there were times when he was. I don’t blame him; he had too much on his mind to be patient with an ordinary brother. I didn’t want the throne then but I want it now. I want to continue his legacy on my own terms.’

  He prepared to leave and joined his hands once again. ‘Like I said before, our argument will never conclude without a negotiation. Our kingdom is in dire need of a king. You cannot rule the kingdom alone, and I will need your cooperation to work within my office. Together, we can piece together what is broken. I am not wrong but I still ask for your forgiveness. I am married already but I ask for your consideration to marry me. Accept the proposal and our union will give hope to our people.’

  He handed me a scroll before leaving and said, ‘I leave this with you. It states the terms of our marriage in accordance with the act of statesmanship. It is an agreement. Kindly consider the proposal and if you decide to agree to it, send it to me with your seal.’

  Brahma’s Boon

  Vibhishana had asked me a question I wanted to dismiss at once. Yet I kept thinking about it. What answer could I give when I was looking for answers myself?

  ‘A war between the two sects will be recorded in the history of mankind. A hero will die. You shall reign next to him for years ahead. I saw you seated on your throne as the queen. You looked older than you are now.’

  What had that prophecy meant? Its ambiguity tormented me. Had it meant Vibhishana’s proposal all along?

  The designated thirteen days of mourning were over. Lanka anticipated its new king. Rama couldn’t crown Vibhishana until he had majority approval. My council of ministers awaited my decision. I remembered Dashaanan’s wish for me to serve Lanka. I had made up my mind. We were married in a small ceremony witnessed by notable council members and relatives. Sarama was absent. I had not seen her since the funeral and would not see her thereafter. Nanashri was pleased with my decision. The ceremony brought back the day Dashaanan and I had got married. I quelled those memories.

  My marriage with Vibhishana was a political necessity. Thinking about Dashaanan’s many wives that I had envied and he had claimed to be ‘political necessities’ made me laugh now. For the first time, I was a queen before I was a wife. I had braced myself for the women to look at me differently after my marriage to Vibhishana, but nothing changed. If anything, they respected me. Bajrajala, Meenakshi, Dhanyamalini and Nayanadini and I were bound by the same grief. We had all lost our husbands and our sons. We had all survived to live a life of sacrifice.

  On the sixteenth day after Dashaanan’s death, Vibhishana was coronated by Rama. The ceremony was not grand. There was barely any applause or any people. Nobody announced a grand feast and nobody celebrated. Vibhishana bowed to the ten-headed crown that had
belonged to Dashaanan and expressed his gratitude. He sat on the throne and Hanuman blew a conch shell to mark a new beginning. It was Rama’s support that had turned Brahma’s boon into reality.

  ‘Vibhishana’s era of reign will observe peace, and righteousness will be established.’

  On the first and auspicious day of his reign, Vibhishana returned Sita to Rama. I saw them meet from the corridor of Dashaanan’s palace, now Vibhishana’s. The vanaras rejoiced. I was happy for Sita. Her suffering had finally come to an end. She bid farewell. Before she left Ashokavanam, she turned and took it in one last time. She embraced Trijata, who had become like a mother to her. Fleetingly, I felt envy slither in me. After Sita was introduced to the vanara army, she walked towards my chambers.

  This was the last time I would see my daughter. I hastened to meet her outside my door.

  ‘Rani Mandodari, I wanted to meet you before I left. Thank you for your kindness.’

  ‘I am happy for you. May god bless you.’

  ‘You are the most virtuous woman I have ever met. Forgive me for what I said to you.’

  ‘It does not matter now. I have forgiven you, Sita. I wish you a happy life with your husband.’

  ‘We are going home to Ayodhya. Our exile is over. I would like to invite you, please visit someday.’

  I nodded. She took dust from my feet and I trembled at her touch. I held her shoulders and embraced her for the first time. I could not help but cry. Hurriedly saying goodbye, I rushed inside my chambers.

  Vibhishana and his council escorted Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Hanuman, Sugreeva, Angad and a few other commanders from the vanara army to the airport outside the city gates. He gave them the Pushpaka Vimana to fly across the ocean in order reach Ayodhya faster. Later, my dasi told me that Sita had been asked to walk through fire in a ritual. It seemed more of an assessment of her chastity to me. Her captivity in Lanka had raised doubts over her purity—and Rama sought to know by putting her through this test. I cursed Rama. How could he doubt his wife for whom he had doomed a kingdom? I was furious but again helpless to change the order of things.

  Sita passed and they climbed into the vimana and left for Bharatvarsh. A few days later, the invitation for Rama’s coronation arrived. I declined, but Vibhishana took a few council members with him to attend the most prosperous event of Bharatvarsh.

  An Afterword—By Mandodari

  The new beginning that dawned on Lanka was stable. It may not have been prosperous but that is how it was destined. The war between Rama and Lankapati Ravana soon became folklore. Some saw Ravana as the heroic emperor, while some deigned him an immoral villain. Rama’s defeat of Ravana had elevated him to the position of a god in the eyes of his followers. He was now called ‘Maryadapurushottam’ or the supreme being. He was considered an avatar of Vishnu. For the people of Lanka, Rama would forever be the man who took their beloved king from them. They never wanted a new beginning; they simply had to live with it when it came.

  Four months after Sita left for Ayodhya with Rama, she was abandoned by him. It was said that Rama sacrificed his wife for the morality of his kingdom. It was shocking news; unbelievable at first, but our sources confirmed it. He gave away some of his valuable possessions for a penance, including his wife. She was escorted outside his kingdom by Lakshmana. Did this really make him an ideal man? The killings, rituals and sacrifices were all thus justified. This was the fate of a pious and innocent woman after fourteen years of exile—walking through fire and yet being banished by her own husband. The gods did not favour her; estranged from her mother, given in marriage to a man who would eventually disown her and abducted by her own father. What had she done to deserve this misery?

  No one asked about the other wives of Ravana, nor did anyone bother themselves with the occupants of his antapura. Dhanyamalini resisted her father’s insistence to take her back to Trikota to keep me company. Nayanadini returned to her family home overseas. Nanashri, the most trusted keeper of the throne, guided Vibhishana, just like he had guided Ravana. As for me, I devoted myself to bringing up Meghanath’s son for the future of Lanka.

  For ages to come, my story may not be told as it occurred, my name may not be mentioned, but my voice will be heard forever—in this story that I write as the queen of Lanka.

  Glossary

  Antapura Women’s quarters, mainly for wives and concubines

  Ashram Dwelling of a hermit

  Atimaharathi A warrior capable of fighting many warriors at the same time

  Bhabhi Brother’s wife

  Bhavan A multipurpose building with hall

  Bhojan Meal/Food

  Chanwari A porch or platform built for weddings and ceremonies

  Guru Spiritual teacher

  Kundli Horoscope

  Mantras Chants and hymns

  Navagraha Nine (nava), planets (grahas)

  Putri Daughter

  Rajsik Overly tasty and lavish meals

  Sena Army

  Siddhi Enlightenment

  Taamsik Spicy or non-vegetarian food

  Tapasvi An ascetic

  Tapasya Ascetic period of fasting, prayer and meditation

  Tirthas Sacred pilgrimage, holy places

  Upanayana A sacred thread worn across shoulder and torso

  Vyuha War formation

  Yagna A ritual sacrifice performed in front of fire

  Yogi A hermit

  Acknowledgements

  My deepest thanks to:

  —Gurveen Chadha, Penguin Random House India, who has been equally passionate about ‘Mandodari’ as I.

  —My husband, Jeetu Anandani, who backs me in whatever I choose to do.

  —My parents, Nisha Singh and S.S. Thakur, for their unconditional love and encouragement.

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin…

  Follow the Penguin Twitter.com@penguinbooks

  Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube.com/penguinbooks

  Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your Pinterest

  Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook.com/penguinbooks

  Find out more about the author and

  discover more stories like this at Penguin.co.in

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  UK | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  New Zealand | India | South Africa

  Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  This collection published 2018

  Copyright © Manini J. Anandani 2018

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Jacket images © Ahlawat Gunjan

  ISBN: 978-0-143-44268-4

  This digital edition published in 2018.

  e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05165-5

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.