Women
Ravana was known for his virility and his aggressive conquests of women but he had only one wife, Mandodari - daughter of Mayasura and an apsara named Hema.
Mandodari was renowned for her wisdom and grace as well as beauty and chastity. The first was the encounter with the sage-woman Vedavati. Vedavati had been performing penance with the intention of winning Lord Vishnu as her husband. Ravana met her at her hermitage, her beauty enhanced by the austerities she had performed. He proposes to her and is rejected. Ravana mocks her austerities and her devotion to Vishnu; finding himself firmly rejected at every turn, he tries to molest Vedavati, pulling her hair. This greatly incensed her, and she forthwith cut off her hair, and said she would enter into the fire before his eyes, adding, "Since I have been insulted in the forest by thee who art wicked-hearted, I shall be born again for thy destruction." So she entered the blazing fire, and celestial flowers fell all around. It was she who was born again as Sita, and was the moving cause of Ravana's death, though Rama was the agent.
Vedavati is said to have been reborn as Sita, causing Ravana's death and winning Vishnu (as Rama) as her husband.
Read more about this topic: Ravana
Famous quotes containing the word women:
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