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The beautiful daughter of Rishi Vishrava and Kaikesi , the beloved little sister of Kumbakarna, Ravana and Vibishna, step sister of Kubera , the widow of Vidhyutjihva .She is Surpanaka, a lady who played a small yet a significant part in the epic, Ramayana.

Born to the revered sage Vishrava and the Daitya princess, Kaikesi , this unconventional character was also called Meenaksi and Chandralekha or Chandramukhi . She was called Surpanaka owing to her fingernails which were like winnowing fans.She grew up under her strict father's and powerful siblings' shadows but was not ready to be one of those conservative women she was surrounded by.

Shurpanakha's appearance has drastic differences in the different versions of the epic. Most versions including the Valmiki's ,mention her as an ugly woman. When Shurpanakha first sees Rama in the forest, Valmiki describes her facially unpleasant, pot bellied, wry-eyed, coppery-haired, ugly featured, brassy voiced, deplorably oldish, crooked talker, ill-mannered, uncouth and abominable. The various other accounts especially Kampan's mention her taking an attractive form to seduce Rama. According to this account, Shurpanakha thought about goddess Sri and transforms herself into a similar form using a mantra.

Some texts describe Surpanakha as thin and slender, with beautiful brown eyes, which were slightly tilted upwards. She is also described as having thick, long hair and a sweet, melodious voice. She was as striking and stately as her mother Kaikesi and her grandmother Ketumati

When Shurpanaka grew up, she fell in love with the Danava prince, Vidyutjihva , even when she knew that the Danavas and Rakshaas are immortal enemies and her family wouldn't approve of her relation. She secretly married her lover much to the anger of her brother Ravana who was later calmed by her sister in law Mandodari. Later Ravana accepts his sister and brother in law and the Danavas as relatives officially and gives them reputable positions in his court. At the time of conquering Rasatala (the underworld), Ravana killed Vidyutjihva. 

The reason of Ravana's act is different from text to text— Some claim that he accidentally killed Vidyutjihva, while other state that in Shurpanakha's absence, Vidyutjihva attacked Ravana, who in self-defense killed his brother-in-law. Surpanaka was devasted by the news and seeing his sister's grief, Ravaana askes her to find another husband. By then, she also conceived a son by Vidyutjihva, known as Shambhri, who was later accidentally killed by Lakshman.

She splits her time between Lanka and the woods of Southern India, sometimes living with her forest dwelling relatives. On one such visit to Panchavati, she sees Ram, the exiled prince of Ayodhya and was instantly smitten by him. Contrastive to the pre set social norms of a lady not making advances, Surpanaka approached Rama and revealed her intentions and asked him to take her as his wife. Ram rejected and told her politely that he can't do so as he has his wife with him and he has taken a vow of having only one wife and sends her to his younger brother. 

She goes to Lakshman who tells her that he is just a mere servant to his brother and ask her to go to Ram itself. Lakshman later mocks her of her appearance and lineage and rudely tells that she doesn't have any qualities that he desire in his wife and she doesn't deserve to be with him. She realizes that she has become a play tool for the brothers and they are just having fun in her expense. 

Enraged by this , she attacks Sita which is thwarted by Lakshman who accidently chops off her nose and in some versions, her breasts also. Crying loudly, Surpanaka first goes to her brother Khara who sent soldiers to avenge the insult but is easily defeated by Ram and his brother. Later he sends a bigger troupe but is met with the same result.

Surpanaka then goes to Lanka and describes everything to her brother Ravaan and also gives a vivid description about Sita's beauty and virtues and suggests him to abduct and marry her. This triggered Ravaan, who later abducts Sita and the whole battle ensued. After the war, it has been suggested that she continued to live in Lanka after Vibhishana succeeded Ravana as king. She and her half-sister Kumbini are supposed to have perished at sea a few years later. There is also a story that after spending years in solitude, she finally found peace within herself and recreated her original beauty in an enchantingly beautiful garden, which Sita happened to stumble upon, much later, during her own exile at Valmiki's ashrama. 

Surpanaka mocks Sita and tells that they have rejected her also like they did to her once , now, Sita is stripped of her status, just as she was stripped of her beauty. But Sita gives her sweet berries and have a talk about justice , victimhood, culture etc and both the ladies eventually become friends and enjoys each other's company.

Based on the popular versions of Ramayana, it is believed that it was Surpanakha and not Sita, who was the anchor behind initiating the battle in the first place. Surpanakha, on learning that Lord Rama was responsible for killing Demons and Asuras (Evils) and her grandmother Tadaka and uncle Subaha . She understood that Ram is to only one who can overpower the king of Lanka. She thus hatched a plan after patiently plotting for months and decided to be the trigger to the epic battle that would eventually kill her brother. 

To avenge the death of her husband who was apparently killed by Ravana, Surpanakha planned the entire battle in Ramayana. Surpanaka was also a member of Raavan's court and she was capable of taking the right decisions. Surpanaka, a demoness by birth, with a persona which could strike terror in the minds of the layman. Yet, there was another side to her, that was far softer and more mellow than one could ever imagine. Surpanaka was indeed one of the central characters of the Ramayana. Valmiki himself stated that, had there been no Kaikeyi and no Surpanakha, the Ramayana would not have existed. She was the catalyst who set into motion the chain of events that led to the destruction of Ravana. She, therefore, is considered to be the driving force behind the Rama-Ravana war.

Though a beautiful woman hailing from a family, Surpanakha was belittled and made fun of by Lakshmana, just because she showed an interest in him. To add to her insult, her nose and ear were chopped off as well, disfiguring her permanently. No man that insults and disfigures a woman like they did to her can be termed as being good or dharmic. In that sense, Surpanakha was the victim of injustice and never deserved the punishment she got, merely for showing interest in a member of the opposite sex. Several scholars state that Surpanakha was, in fact, a wronged woman. Had Rama and Lakshmana calmly reasoned with her, she would probably have understood their point of view and would even have decided to leave the matter alone. But their act of insulting her and severing parts of her body was unforgivable, especially for Kshatriyas (warriors) of their stature. She was a strong-willed, independent woman , who dared to approach a man and tell him that she liked him. That should actually be looked at as a virtue and is not something to be made fun of.

Perhaps, this is the reason she was ridiculed and looked down even today because she dared to oppose the social norms several times. She didn't limit herself or wan't ready to bear the shackles of this patriarchal society and neither was submissive. She went against them whenever she wished. She was also the brave lady who was not only brave to fall in love with a person who she knew would not be approved but also brave enough to marry him against all the odds . Surpanakha was not all that terrible as she is projected to be. There was probably one side of her, that was hapless, downtrodden and frustrated. She too, probably, was the victim of circumstances, just like Sita was. Maybe that is why the two women eventually forgave each other and became friends for life. 

A/N: In Surpanaka, we see a determined, resilient and intelligent lady who knows her worth and who is raged when someone injures her pride. She isn't the shy , coy woman who silently suffers whatever others offers. She is independent and fights for herself and someone who has a voice which can't be silenced easily. A real warrior.

With traditional notions and ideas undergoing immense changes in the present modern world we live in, our perception of right and wrong has also transformed; thus giving us a different viewpoint of the stories we heard and read during childhood. Modern education and modern values make us rethink these legends and wonder if there is more to them that meets the eye. Lets hope that someday Surpanaka also receives recognition for the strong fighter lady that she portrays. 

Bonus :- In the Bhramavaivrata Purana, it is mentioned that Surpanakha later went to the sacred lake Pushkara (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 was straightened by Krishna and later became one of his wives.

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9th September 2021
Thursday