Surpanakha is one of the most important characters in the Ramayana. Indeed, if there had been no Kaikeyi and no Surpanakha, then there would have been no Ramayana. In fact, Surpanakha was the arrow that set in motion the chain of events leading directly to the destruction of Ravana. Surpanakha, therefore, is often considered as being the evil genius behind, and the cause of the Ramayana war. But, there is another side to the whole story......
One character that I felt, was deeply misunderstood in the Ramayana is Surpanakha. As per the popular story, she was the sister of a powerful King and wasn’t what you call conventionally beautiful. She must transform herself into an object of beauty. This is what we got as her description....
Surpanakha, the name was given to her for her Sharp nails she had....., she was one of the key women characters of the epic Ramayana. Surpanakha was named Meenakshi which means fish-eyed,at birth and like her mother was extremely beautiful. She was married to Asura Dushtabuddhi and enjoyed great favours from Ravan at his court. But Dushtabuddhi’s greed for more power saw him soon lose favour of Ravan, and in due course of time, Ravan had him killed.
When she saw Ram and Lakshaman in the forest, she proposed first to Ram and then on Ram’s recommendation, to Lakshaman. To cut this part of the story, she is supposed to have tried to attack Sita, as she was the reason, behind Ram’s denial, and Lakshaman ended up severing her nose.This is what we all know about the incident....isn't it??
And It was this act that provoked Ravan to kidnap Sita as an act of revenge. However, there are a few versions of the Ramayana that claim that Surpanakha had no real romantic interest in the brothers and that she had planed the war for no reason other than to seek revenge against Ravana for her husband's murder. She had been trying to avenge her husband’s death, but was unable to do so, as Ravana was quite powerful and invincible.It needed someone with divine powers, to defeat him. She knew about Rama and felt that Rama could be perfect for the might of Ravan and it was her idea of pitching the two in a battle, which she did succeed at the end of it.
Rama had killed both Surpanakha’s grandmother, the ferocious Thataka, and her uncle, Subahu. Her cousins were terrified of the young Prince and Surpanakha decided to pit her brother against Rama, knowing that no one else was powerful enough to slay Ravana. Accordingly, she planned her encounter with Rama, the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana and the resulting war between Ravana and Rama, all with the sole intention of having her brother killed. Although Surpanakha is not mentioned in the Ramayana again and Valmiki does not comment on her eventual fate, it has been suggested that she continued to live at her brother Vibhishana's court, when he succeeded Ravana as King of Lanka. She, and her half-sister, Kumbini, are supposed to have both perished at sea a few years later.
As per Valmiki's Ramayana, Surpanakha was an ugly woman (gora mukhi), pot bellied and cross-eyed. She has thinning, brown hair and a grating voice that is harsh on the ears........this is the description we have of her...... but don't you think that her real name.... Meenakshi.....says a different story...
The Tamil poet, Kamban, however differs in his description of Surpanakha from Valmiki, describing Surpanakha instead as a very beautiful woman with long, beautiful, fish-shaped eyes (validating her given name of "Meenakshi" at birth), a slender shape and a bewitching personality. In addition, she possessed magical powers and could assume any shape or form.There is a hidden lesson for us, the society. We never think what circumstances have made a person ‘bad’. Why our sutras have no major description of Surpanakha? Why was she insignificant?.....Maybe, we need a shift of perception?
In the Bhramavaivrata Purana, it is mentioned that Surpanakha later went to the sacred lake Pushkara (in Rajasthan) and prayed to Brahma to get married to Rama in her next birth. And then she was reborn as Kubja, the hunchbacked woman who became one of the wives of Lord Krishna – the incarnation of Rama.
So this was Surpanakha....... May be this tale isn't entirely true. The source of this article are books and stories which are related to her...... which differ in many points. After knowing this..... I can say that many people know only one side of the story....... even though, this does not prove that she was innocent or right in any sense..... but this time atleast we got more points for our judgement...... This proves that we don't really know about many things but we still tend to think that we are qualified enough to give our judgements.... May be this isn't true because there are many different stories about her appearance.....her intentions......Many people would know about this but this article is for people like me, who we unaware about this....... this is the reason I am sharing this story....Do write your opinions in the comment section and let me know what you think about this......