Maṇḍodarī Vilāpa (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)

After Bhagavān Rāma slew Rāvaṇa, Maṇḍodarī, his chief queen, was brought to the battlefield to see her fallen husband. The Laṅkā Kāṇḍa of Tulasīdāsa’s Rāmacaritamānas gives her lament in full. She praises Rāvaṇa’s great power and grieves that he turned it against Sītā and her husband. Her lament ends with a statement of true knowledge: she salutes Rāma, who gave her husband his own divine abode in spite of all his wrongs.

Maṇḍodarī at the battlefield

Rāvaṇa fell on Caitraśuddha Daśamī. Maṇḍodarī, the wife of Rāvaṇa and daughter of Maya, was a mahāpatīvratā (a wife of the highest devotion to her husband).

When the news of Rāvaṇa’s death reached the inner palace, all the women of Laṅkā, the wives, daughters and women attendants, broke into loud weeping. Maṇḍodarī was overcome. She fell to the ground as if struck by lightning and beat her chest in grief.

Her attendants led and carried her to the battlefield. There lay Rāvaṇa’s huge body, torn into pieces by Rāma’s arrows. His cut-off heads and arms lay around him. The weapons that had once filled the three worlds with terror lay useless beside their master.

The lament

Maṇḍodarī threw herself down before her fallen husband and spoke in a voice broken by sorrow. Her lament went through every part of Rāvaṇa’s greatness and his fatal mistake.

Hā prāṇēśvarā! Ananya-bala-śaurya-sampannuḍavagu nīku eṭṭi duravastaha saṃghaṭillenu!

“Oh lord of my life! You had strength and courage like no one else. What disaster has come upon you?”

She recalled his greatness when his power was at its height. All creation felt his might. Bhūdevī (the Earth) herself trembled at the sound of his step. Sūrya, Candra and the stars crossed the sky with dimmed light in his presence. Vāyu, Varuṇa, Indra and Kubera, the guardians of the four directions, ran to the far horizons when he challenged them. His courage had challenged even Kāla (Death). He had a great family of brothers, sons and kinsmen. His army was like moving mountains.

Jagatkulakaṃṭakuni talulū paiṃ gṛdhrakākamulu kūrcuṃḍunnāyē! Nī daṃḍibāhu daṃḍamulanu nakkalu nōṭa garacikoṃḍi tiruguculunnāyē!

“Now vultures and crows sit on the heads of the one who was a thorn to the world! Jackals carry in their mouths the great arms that shook the three worlds!”

She named the cause with clear eyes.

Nāthā! Kālavashuḍavai nā prārthanamu mannimṃpaka pōtivi. Jagannāthuḍu Śrīpattitō vairamapiṃkshiṃci iṭṭi durdaśaku oḍigativi.

“My husband! You came under the power of Kāla and did not listen to my prayer. By making enmity with Śrīpati, the master of the universe, you fell into this state.”

She named the root cause without fear. It was Rāvaṇa’s own karma (action), his pull towards para-pīḍana (harming others), above all in his treatment of Sītā, that brought this upon him.

Her salute to Rāma

The end of Maṇḍodarī’s lament in the Rāmacaritamānas is what makes it so deep. When she had spent her grief, she did not turn to bitterness or hatred against Rāma. She raised her hands in namaskāra (a greeting with folded hands) towards the place where Rāma stood and said:

Prāṇēśvarā! Jānakī vallabuḍu dayāmayuḍu. Nī dōsamulanu lekkiṃpaka nīku tana divyadhāmamu prasādiṃcina ā karuṇāmūrti Sākēta patiniki idē caṭrētti mrōkkuliḍu cuṃṭiṃi.

“My husband! The beloved of Janakī is full of compassion. Without counting your faults, he has given you his divine abode. To that Sākētapati (lord of Sāketa, Rāma), the embodiment of mercy, I bow with folded hands.”

The suras, asuras, munis and siddhas, with Brahmā and Maheśvara, saw this wonderful answer from Rāvaṇa’s wife. They were filled with wonder and respect. They praised Maṇḍodarī’s paramātma-cintana (deep thought on Paramātmā), her faith in Bhagavān Rāma, which stayed firm even in her greatest personal loss.

Her earlier counsel

This lament comes after two hitabodha (counsel for his good) that Maṇḍodarī had given Rāvaṇa. She gave one before the war, in the Sundara Kāṇḍa. She gave the other early in the war, when she listed Rāma’s deeds and begged Rāvaṇa to give up the fight. Rāvaṇa did not heed either one.

In the lament, her love for her husband and her clear sight of his mistake stand side by side.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa (Rāmacaritamānas), Laṅkā Kāṇḍa, the section on Maṇḍodarī’s lament for Rāvaṇa (Maṇḍodarī Vibhīshaṇādulanu Asurēśunikāi Vilapa)
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa (Maṇḍodarī’s earlier counsel)