5 Lesser Known Facts About Lord Ram Many Of Us Don’t Know!

For Hindus, he is the God himself, for non-Hindus, he is a legendary figure, and for all of us his believers, he is the ideal man, a complete man, and perfection personified. That’s the reason he’s called Maryada Purushottam – the man who is supreme in honor and righteousness. And about five lesser known facts about Lord Ram, I will write down today. So, let’s have a look at some fascinating facts about Lord Shree Ramachandraji and I hope this knowledge will bring you closer to the Hindu religion’s facts, closer to God, and will enrich your knowledge about the same. Let’s begin!

Shree Ram With Maa Sita, Hanumanji, And His Brothers

1. Lord Ram Is Not A Poorna Avatar(Complete Incarnation)

Now before many of you start feeling that I am trying to say that Lord Ram was any less, let me tell you that you are mistaken. Because Lord Ram is complete and absolute; he is the Lord himself and everything is in him, from him. However, when I say that he is not a complete incarnation, I imply that he possessed the 14 out of 16 Kalas or qualities in him and 2 were not to be seen. Now there is a reason behind it. Although he is a god, why he doesn’t possess all the 16 qualities that are there in Lord Vishnu, whose incarnation Lord Ram is? The reason is, that Lord Ram appeared on this earth to safeguard the righteousness and annihilate the evil, by killing the demon Ravan. And since Ravan had a boon that he could be killed by a man and not a God, Lord Ram had to come like a man in this world. And THAT is the reason why Lord Ram never displayed the remaining two qualities. For if he would, he could no more be called a man born of a man. The two qualities that he never showed were Paripurna & Swarupavasthitha. And the result of the absence of these Kalas could be seen on incidents such as the moment when Lord Ram cried when Maa Sita was abducted by the demon king Ravan, and when he took the aid of monkeys and bears and other beings in his journey to cross the ocean and annihilate the evil; these(crying and taking help from others) are qualities, emotions, and actions that we humans display, not God, and the reason Lord did it was that he was here as a human to kill Ravan. So basically, he had all the qualities, but he never displayed those just to respect the boon received by Ravan from Brahma to be killed by a man.

Shree Ram Killing The Demon King Ravana

Trivia: The remaining two qualities along with others were present in the next incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Lord Shree Krishnaji which is why he is called a Poorna-avatar, God almighty, and Parabrahma, the supreme soul who is the cause of all!

2. Lord Ram’s Weapon And Height

Lord Ram is a master of multiple weapons of diverse powers. He can make oceans dry, he can destroy the whole creation with his single arrow, and he can make any of his opponents cry – Rodayati Nishacharan Yah Sa Rudrah. But it is not the reason why he is God; in fact, since he IS God, he holds such divine powers. But majorly, what we see him holding in his hand in pictures is his legendary Bow known as Sharanga, the Bow of Lord Vishnu. But there’s an interesting incident that tells how Lord Ram got this Sharanga bow in his human form. The story is like this – when Shree Ram went to Mithila(modern-day Nepal) in Maa Sita’s Swayamvar, he was required to tie the string of the legendary bow of Lord Shiva to win Maa Sita’s hand in marriage. While tying the string, the bow broke and he could now marry his divine consort, Maa Sita.

Shree Ram Breaking Bow In The Swayamvar Of Maa Sita

Now as per Valmiki Ramayan, when Shree Ram was going back to Ayodhya with all his brothers and family, Parshuram encountered him and stopped his way, as he was extremely furious as the bow of Lord Shiva was given to him which he had given to king Janak(Maa Sita’s father) for keeping it safe. He was angry at the man who had broken it. In his angry conversation, when he sensed that Ram was no ordinary a man, he asked Shri Ram to hold the famous Sharanga bow of Lord Vishnu which was with Parshuram at that time (I will write about this story in the upcoming post) and pull an arrow on it. Lord Ram, being the Lord who is God yet simplicity personified, did what was asked, and Parshuram finally realized that Ram was none other than the preserver of the creation, Lord Vishnu. It is also said that he actually saw Vishnu in Ram. The very moment, Parshuram gave the bow to Shree Ram, to whom it belonged, and asked him to use it in his Ram avatar.

And that is how Lord Ram received his weapon, his bow from Parshuram, who too was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, although not a complete incarnation.

But as to the weapon that Ram used to kill Ravana, it was another weapon, a divine bow that was given to him by sage Agastya when the former was in his exile period. Along with the bow, Agastya gave Lord Ram a divine quiver which would never run out of arrows.

Enactment Of Shree Ram Receiving Weapons From Sage Agastya

And after the meeting of Ram and Parshuram, the Sharanga remained with Lord Ram.

Lord Ram’s HEIGHT is something that we can quite often see people discussing. Especially when people call him Aajaanubaahu. Here, people sometimes mistake this name with the one who is very tall with broad shoulders where in reality, this name is used for the one who has hands long enough to reach his knees. And it is needless to say that we all know and have read it at many places that Shree Ram has hands that reach to his knees.

Actually, in Ramayana, Shree Ram is said to be of a height of 4 Kishkus, where,

1 Kishkus = 24 inches; So,

4 Kishkus = 96 inches = 8 feet.

So Shree Ram is considered to be 8 feet in height. Although in some references, he is considered to be 10 or 12 feet tall, depending upon the religious text which is under the discussion. And trust me, it is one of the lesser known facts about Lord Ram.

Interestingly, if he was 8 feet tall, we can say that his bow must have been around 10 feet or so. Mighty and magnificent I must say!

Shree Ram

3. Lord Ram And A Squirrel

How can I not include the story of a small squirrel amongst the five lesser known facts about Lord Ram? So, when Lord Ram was creating a bridge to cross the ocean to set foot in Lanka, all the creatures nearby were helping him vigorously. Not only monkeys and bears, but deers, tortoises, ocean entities, and birds like vultures were there among many.

Huge Animals & Small Squirrel At Bottom Left

Amidst all of them, there could be seen a squirrel who was holding a small pebble to through it in the ocean to create the bridge. Suddenly, when monkeys and other beings saw the squirrel, they burst out laughing, mocked the squirrel, and made the fun of the little being on its petty contribution in the noble cause. The squirrel felt hurt and became sad. However, God was around her in the very manifested form and couldn’t see her sorrow. Lord Ram took the small squirrel in his hands and caressed it, asking her not to be sad as she was God’s creation too and was no less important either in creating the bridge or in its existence in the world. He told the squirrel that it too was very crucial in the process. The monkeys and others around realized their mistake and repented.

Ramji Caressing The Squirrel

While caressing the squirrel, Shree Ram brushed the back of the squirrel with his three fingers and it is said my friends that that is the reason why we see the three lines or strokes in black on the back of squirrels to this day. Yes, the three black lines on white squirrels’ back are the mark left by Shree Ram in the Treta Yug – the mark of affection and love towards the smallest of entities created by God.

Squirrel

And this way, Shree Ram delivered a tremendous motivational lesson as well, that no matter how small you are, or how small your contribution in a cause is, you and your hard work matters along with your existence. He taught that God has created each being for a reason and each one of us matters in this world.

4. Lord Ram’s Death/ His Decision To Go Back. How He Distracted Hanuman?

According to Ramayan, Lord Shri Ram ruled for long 11,000 years. But there came a time when he realized that it was time for him to end his leela (his divine and pleasing deeds on this earth). Maa Sita had already left the earth long back and had gone back to Baikuntha Lok(the place where Lord Vishnu resides with Maa Lakshmi) via mother earth. But how was he going to convince Hanuman? Since Shree Ram was on earth as a human, he needed to co-ordinate with Yamaraj(deity of death in Hinduism) to end his leela. But Hanuman would never let Yama enter the vicinity where Lord Ram would be.

Hanuman – The Protector

However, Lord Ram is almighty. One day, he took off his ring and dropped it inside a crack in the earth and asked Hanuman to get his ring back. Innocent and obedient Hanumanji obeyed and went inside the crack which was deep enough to take him to the underworld/Paataal Lok/Naag Lok(the abode of snakes) where he asked the king of serpents where the ring of Lord Ram was. The king understood the whole scenario and showed Hanumanji a valley of rings where innumerable identical rings could be seen. Each ring was identical and resembled the ring of Shree Ram. Hanumanji got confused! And then, king of serpents told him that Shri Ram is eternal- he is without a beginning or an end. He told that –

Shree Ram takes birth not once but in each and every cycle of this creation. It means that after the whole creation ends and begins once again, then all four Yuga start all over again. And then, in Tretayug, Lord Ram takes birth each time with his consort Maa Sita and the leela begins all over again. And whenever he wishes to end his leela of Tretayug, he drops the ring in this crack to distract Hanuman. Because guess what, Hanuman too is there in each manifestation of Shree Ram, like other characters of Ramayan. That is the reason there are so many rings there. Hanuman got astonished. Although he knew that Lord Ram is God, he got even more surprised to know that Lord Ram has taken so many avatars again and again, by seeing the numbers of rings.

Ram Hanuman Milan

5. Lord Ram’s Journey Back To The Baikuntha. His Order For Lakshman’s Death!

So now when 11,000 years passed, Yamaraj/Kaal went to meet Lord to remind him that he has been sent by Brahmaji to remind the lord that to let the world run according to the plan of creation by Brahmaji, he would have to end his residency on earth. Now let me clarify that Lord Ram is omniscient and he knows everything and doesn’t need any reminder, but he does so just to gives others the golden opportunity to be a part of his leela.

So Kaal/Yamaraj went to meet Shree Ram in a form of a sage, a rishi. Before starting the meeting, he put forward a condition that he wanted to have a word with Shree Ram in private and to maintain the secrecy of the topic that would be under the discussion, Lord Ram will give death sentence to anyone who will interrupt their meeting. Shree Ram agreed. He gave the responsibility of keeping a guard at the door to his beloved, obedient brother Lakshman. At the same time sage Durvasa, known for his fierce anger across the world arrived to meet Shree Ram – again a leela of God!

Sage Durvasa expressed his wish to meet Lord Ram, to Lakshman. And on being denied he threatened to destroy the whole capital city of Ayodhya. Lakshman got confused as to what to do.

LakshmanJi

As Ayodhya is much more dear to Shree Ram than even the best of the capitals of other universes, Lakshman thought he should tell Shree Ram about Durvasa’s arrival. He went inside the chamber and there it was! Kaal was sitting with Shree Ram in his real form, reminding him about his time on earth.

As per the condition, Shree Ram had to give death sentence to Lakshman, but on sage Vashishta’s insistence, capital punishment was converted into Lakshman being abandoned by Shree Ram forever, because, in those days, these two punishments were considered equal under certain circumstances.

And this is how Lakhmanji who is Sheshnaag incarnated, went inside river Saryu and ended his part of Shree Ram’s leela and went back to Baikuntha.

After some time, Shree Ram too left this earth for Baikuntha, where he met his consort Maa Sita/Maa Lakshmi.

Lord Ram As Lord Vishnu With Maa Lakshmi(Maa Seeta)

So these were the five lesser known facts about Lord Ram, our beloved Lord Shree Ram, that I thought I should share with you. Hope you liked it. For more, you may drop a comment or a message on my contact section via Instagram, Facebook, or email. Thanks! Jai Shree Ram.

Lord Shree Ramchandra Ji

8 FORGOTTEN INTRIGUING INDIAN LOVE STORIES VERY FEW(LITERALLY) KNOW ABOUT

India is a land of tales, myths and not to forget, LOVE STORIES! But taking a break from regular love stories that we have come across so many times at so many places and in so many books, let’s have a glance at some intriguing unknown fascinating love stories of India which I bet many of us won’t know about.

Rabindranath Tagore-Victoria Ocampo

Who doesn’t know the national anthem of India but very few people know that there was a chapter in the life of its creator, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, which is unknown to many of us. He too had a story-a romantic one- that never witnessed a happy ending. Yes , you read that right.

Victoria Ocampo was a talented beautiful woman who later became the publisher of a literary magazine Sur. Victoria met Rabindranath much later in his life. Besides the admiration for Tagore, she was in love with him and it is quite clear that he too had a romantic interest in her. Their correspondence, though continued for years, Tagore, it seems never reciprocated her the way she wanted-’romantically’- and always confined the relationship into an intellectual one. Whatever were the reasons behind shunning such feelings, it is evident that they never had a love life together and Tagore couldn’t even see his Vijaya(that’s what he called her) in his last moments of life.

A year before his death in the year 1940, one of the poems in his Sesh Lekha(Last writings) is believed to be about her-

‘How I wish I could once again find my way to that foreign land where waits for me the message of love!….Her language I knew not, but what her eyes said will forever remain eloquent in its anguish.’

Rabindranath Tagore with Victoria Ocampo

Baz Bahadur-Rani Roopmati

If you ever visit Madhya Pradesh, do not forget to visit Rewa Kund reservoir of Mandu which still recites the passionate love story of Baz Bahadur and Rani Roopmati.

It was the time of medieval India when Roopmati’s captivating voice completely mesmerized the Sultan of Mandu, Baz Bahadur one day and after beholding her face he got completely charmed by her beauty and proposed her to marry him. She agreed. But like many timeless classic tales of love, this too had an ugly twist. When knowledge of Roopmati’s beauty reached ears of Adham Khan, general of emperor Akbar, he tried to capture Mandu and when Baz Bahadur realized he couldn’t defeat Adham Khan, fled.  

Now the sorrow of Roopmati knew no bounds and instead of surrendering herself to the lust of Adham Khan she swallowed poison and left the world.

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In due course, Baz Bahadur also ended up joining Akbar as his loyal servant as a mansabdar.

This is an unfortunate story of a woman who sacrificed her life because she couldn’t let any other man touch her but at the same time it is a story of a helpless man who fled, leaving his love, to save himself. We can question Baz Bahadur’s actions but we don’t know what was in his mind when he left his wife and fled.

Baz Bahadur & Rani Roopmati in a painting

It was Baz Bahadur’s last wish to be buried abreast his beloved Rani Roopmati, and the death which separated them once, at last commingled their love.

It is believed that if one shouts “Roopmati” at their tomb, the voice reverberates as “Baz Bahadur”.

Tomb of Baz Bahadur and Rani Roopmati -Sarangpur, Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh

“When Baz Bahadur proposed Roopmati for marriage she agreed with a condition that he would construct a palace for her from which she could see river Narmada. It was this place from where she would sing everyday after their marriage, facing Narmada and her love Baz Bahadur would hear her enthralling voice and see her bewitching beauty. That place is Rewa Kund of Mandu!”

Rewa Kund-Mandu, Madhya Pradesh

Jahan Ara- Nicholas Ballantyne

Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s love story is known to the world in the form of Taj Mahal but do you know the unknown love chapter in the life of their eldest daughter Jahan Ara?

Nicholas Ballantyne was a squire to sir Thomas Roe, former ambassador in the court of emperor Jahangir, father of Shah Jahan.

In contemporary records, it has been stated that there was a strange bonding between Nicholas Ballantyne and Jahan Ara, the first lady of the empire. Though it was forbidden for a royal woman to meet a stranger and that too a non-royal foreigner, it is believed that Jahan Ara and Nicholas Ballantyne would meet and talk at length and there were also some occurrences of exchange of letters between them. It is also recorded that there were rumors about their brewing bond but at last, knowing his fate, it is said that Nicholas left for London forever, never to see Jahan Ara again.

Jahan Ara

Whatever truth is there in the story of these two entities bound by their duties, it will always be a mystery as to what was their bond and whatever it was, they apparently faced the separation and a miserable end of their beautiful relationship.

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay- Dheeru- Kalidasi

If you think that it was Shahrukh Khan or Dilip Kumar who immortalised the portrayal of a doomed lover in Bollywood adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Devdas, take a halt and read the real story.

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It was in the streets of bhagalpur, where the story of Devdas was scripted long back. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, who penned the immortal love story of Devdas, it is said, had written his own tragic love tale in the book Devdas. Sarat’s childhood girlfriend Dheeru was his love interest but eventually married someone else. It is said that Sarat spent three nights in a stable outside her sasural just to have a glimpse of her. Like his great book, Chandramukhi also came in his life. Kalidasi of Jogsar area was the real life Chandramukhi who found her love in him.

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Unlike Devdas of the book, Sarat did not succumbed to tragic death but his own story of love was indeed incomplete yet beautiful and is one of the most fascinating love stories which mesmerised the world when came in the form of fictitious Devdas.

Rani Roopba-Rana Veer Singh

Adalaj stepwell near Ahmedabad is an extremely beautiful stepwell which can enthrall the visitors but what is more beautiful is the extraordinary tale of sacrifice and true love behind this magnificent edifice.

Rana Veer Singh of Vaghela dynasty, in the medieval period, ruled this territory then known as Dandai Desh. His wife Rani Roopba was an extremely beautiful woman and loved her husband more than anyone in the world.

On a hapless day, his kingdom was attacked by Mohammad Begada, a ruler of neighbouring territory. Rana was killed in the battle, leaving his beloved wife forlorn. When Begada saw Rani Roopba’s irresistible beauty, he proposed to marry her. She agreed but only time and Rani Roopba knew what was in her mind. She expressed to Begada that she would marry him only on a condition that he would first complete the construction of adalaj which her husband had commenced. He agreed.

The day came when adalaj was there in front of the people of Dandai for their benefit and Begada was getting ready for the wedding ceremony. But Rani Roopba was missing from her palace. Begada sent all his troops to find Rani but it was too late.

The queen circumambulated the stepwell and jumped into the well. She ended her life because her love Rana Veer Singh was not with her. She exemplified the true love by not allowing anyone else to come near her after her husband. Now it was open that she had agreed just to make sure that the dream of her husband comes true and the people of the territory get water facilities.

Adalaj Stepwell

Mohammad Begada on the other hand, it seems truly loved Roopba and hence did not order to vandalize the stepwell.

The story of Rani Roopba and her immense sacrifice is not just a tragic love story but also restores our faith in true love.

James Achilles Kirkpatrick- Khair-Un-Nissa

Who would have thought that one day, one of the britishers-whom we always think looked down upon us-will fall in love with a girl of Hyderabad in the 18th century. But it did happen.

James Achilles Kirkpatrick, a british resident was a young man who was a resident in the palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Khair-Un-Nissa, on the other hand, was a cousin of Mir Ali, disciple of Aristu Jah who was the prime minister of the Nizam and also a close associate of the Nizam.

After facing much resistance initially by both British power and Nizam, they eventually married but it was not a happy end. Kirkpatrick’s early demise completely devastated Khair. Her kids were already sent to their grandfather in London. She had no one as a stalwart. But as if it was not an end to her agony. Henry Russel, another britisher tried and came close to her and after some time betrayed her and married someone else. However she breathed her last in Hyderabad residency, as a stranger in her home where she once lived with her husband and kids with full glory and extreme happiness. This story not just tells about the tragic end it has but also about how helpless one can be in love.

James Achilles Kirkpatrick and Khair-Un-Nissa

Kach- Devayani

Kacha was the son of sage Brihaspati, sage of demigods. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, sage of demons. Then how did it all happen?

It all started with a mission that Kach was sent on to. The mission was to become the disciple of Shukracharya to get the secret knowledge of resurrecting the dead. But in the process, an innocent love story brewed. It is said that Devayani loved Kacha and Kacha also would spend all his time with her in the hermitage. Other demons did not like it and after many attempts to kill him, finally burnt his body and mixed his ashes in liquor and made Shukracharya drink the liquor. Now, on Devayani’s request, Shukracharya started the rituals to bring Kach back from death and in the process, Kacha tore the body of Shukracharya and came out of his body. Kach’s mission was accomplished as he had imbibed the knowledge of resurrecting the dead(by listening to the process from stomach of Shukracharya) and first thing that he did was to bring Shukracharya back from death who died in the process as he came out of his body.

After few days when Devayani proposed him to marry, Kacha refused as he believed that they were more like siblings as the source of their birth had become one-Shukracharya(as Kach had come to life from Shukracharya’s body only).

Weeping Devayani finally cursed him but her sorrow did not lessen. Kach did not say anything but left for heaven again. He left, may be because he was not allowed to make relationships on the mission but he was to imbibe the knowledge which was his task.

Nobody knows what was in his mind but this was indeed an end of a beautiful love story. This story from the epic Mahabharat is definitely a tragic love story which left the lovers lonely and dejected.

Sage Chyavan-Sukanya

Every girl wants a prince charming right? But this story is about a girl who rejected even the proposal of demigods just to be with her husband who was very much older, blind and unsightly.

Sukanya was a princess who once mistakenly poked in sage Chyavan’s eyes mistaking them to be a part of anthill and to pacify him, Sukanya’s father king Sharyati gave him his daughter in marriage.

Now one day when Ashwini Kumaras(twin demigods) saw Sukanya bathing, mesmerised by her beauty, they asked her to marry one of them and to leave her ugly, old and blind husband. When she refused, they also promised to restore the youth and sight of Chyavan so that she could identify and choose either him or one of them. Sukanya, being a faithful wife rejected their proposal. When she told everything to her husband, Chyavan asked her to request Ashwini Kumaras to do what they had told her.

As promised, on request of Sukanya, Ashwini Kumaras restored the sight and youth of Chyavan. Now-when all three men came in front of Sukanya after taking a bath in the river and asked her to identify Chyavan, Sukanya identified Chyavan-as only his footprints were there on the ground and not those of Ashwin Kumaras as they were demigods-and chose him only.

Ashwin Kumaras with Chyavan in front of Sukanya

Her rejection of heaven for hermitage and that of demigods for an old, blind and ugly husband does not only make her an epitome of womanhood but also shows her unconditional love for her husband. It proves that love has got nothing to do with physical appearance as many of us believe.

The Chyavan-Sukanya love story is one forgotten love story but definitely one of the sweetest and fascinating love stories we have in our mythology.

AND YES, if you think you have heard name of Chyavan before-He is the same genius of ancient India who is responsible for the Chyavanprash that we eat today to boost immune system and for longevity.

So this was a sneak peek at some forgotten yet fascinating love stories from the land of our country which I hope you all enjoyed and would remember as many of them definitely restores our faith in true love and true relationship.

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9 Most Beautiful Women in Hindu Mythology

Hindu mythology has characters that are so formidable, impressively large and larger than life that it sometimes seems impossible to believe that such characters ever walked this planet or ever existed. Today I would write about such female characters of Hindu mythology who are not only considered magnificently strong but also had magnetic and extraordinary beauty and charm in terms of physical appearance. These beautiful women were not only mere objects of beauty but they also changed the course of Hindu mythology time to time.

Tilottama– In Adi Parva of Mahabharata, when Pandavas marry Draupadi, sage Naarad tells them that a woman can become a reason of quarrel between brothers and recites  the story of two demon brothers Sunda and Upsunda who loved each other so much that when Lord Brahma refused to grant them boon of immortality, they asked for the boon that only they could kill each other for they knew the fact that they would never kill each other as there was no object that could come between the brotherly love that they had had. But a woman became the reason of quarrel between them. You are right. That woman was Tilottama!

Half-clothed Tilottama flying in the sky playing with a red ball. Painting by Raja Ravi Varma

When Sunda and Upsunda wreaked havoc in the universe, drove devatas out of heaven and started killing and harassing the sages and common humans, devatas witnessed that there is no reason of quarrel between these demon brothers and there is no hope of their death, they went to Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma ordered the divine architect Vishwakarma to create a woman whose beauty is something never witnessed in the three worlds so that she could seduce them and bring them to their fate i.e. death by each other. Now Vishwakarma collected all the valuable gems he could possibly gather from the three worlds and created a woman who had the beauty unrivaled and unparalleled. She was sent for the task and she started plucking flowers at the bank of the river in Vindhya Mountains where the two brothers were relishing liquor. After witnessing the beauty they never had seen in the three worlds they both wanted to marry her but none of them wanted to hand her to the other. They eventually started the duel and ultimately killed each other. The reason of the contention between brothers was made and had won the battle from devatas’s side.

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Name given to her was Tilottama. Now ‘Til’ means sesame seeds and ‘Uttam’ means of very high quality or best quality making the meaning of Tilottama=every bit (even the size of sesame seed) of whose body is perfect. Such was her beauty that even Lord Shiva who is known for his ascetic nature and no materialistic wish or desire was enchanted by her beauty.

There is a story that lord Brahma despite of the fact that she was like his daughter, was aroused by her charm and luster emanating from her body and hence sent her to mount Kailash so that she could offer her obeisance to lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was spellbound and since goddess Parvati was sitting beside him and he couldn’t see Tilottama because of her presence, faces emerged on all four sides of his head so that he could see Tilottama while she was circumambulating around him and goddess Parvati. Goddess Parvati put her hands on his eyes veiling the universe in darkness and thus his third eye emerges.

Another version says that Shiva revealed himself to Tilottama as the five Brahmans, with his five faces. The east face signifying his sovereignty over the world, the north face to sport with Parvati, the west to ensure the happiness of creatures; the south face, to destroy the universe and the fifth face was invisible as it was beyond the comprehension of Tilottama.

At last, Lord Brahma granted Tilottama a boon that no one could stare at her for more than few seconds for her glittering luster and enchanting beauty and also that she could roam freely in whole universe without any restriction.

Urvashi– When Nar–Narayan(Nar later on took birth as Arjun of Mahabharata, and Narayan was of course Lord Krishna aka Narayan) were practicing penance and meditating in Badrinath region, Indra(King of demigods in heaven) got scared due to the intensity of their meditation of one thousand years and didn’t want them to acquire divine powers and hence, in order to break their meditation sent two celestial nymphs or apsaras–Rambha and Menaka along with other supporting apsaras. Indra was of course ignorant in knowing the reality of Nar and lord Narayan.

When apsaras told Nar and Narayan that Indra has presented Nar–Narayan the most beautiful apsaras of heaven and Narayan realized that she was supercilious about her beauty and was extremely proud of herself, he struck his thigh with a flower and from there emerged a woman whose beauty was more than enough to put the apsaras of Indra to shame. She was born from the ‘UR’ part of the thigh, and thus was named Urvashi by Narayan.

Narayan did so to make apsaras realize that physical beauty and materialistic possessions are not to be so proud of and then asked the apsaras to take Urvashi with them and to present her to Indra from his behalf. Apsaras finally realized their mistake and apologized to Nar–Narayan and left for the heaven.

Since Urvashi was born from the thigh of lord himself, her beauty is considered as unparalleled. After this incident, Urvashi became the glory or the most beautiful apsara of Indra’s court. Not only this but she is also considered as one of the most beautiful women in Hindu Mythology.

Mandodari- Mandodari(wife of demon king Raavan)is described in Ramayan as a ‘beautiful’ woman.

Though her beauty is not much discussed in the epic but her beauty can be understood by some versions of Ramayan which narrates that when Hanuman visited Lanka for the very first time to search Sita, he thought Mandodari to be Sita because the description of Sita’s beauty by Ram and others matched that of Mandodari’s appearance. That, in itself is sufficient to tell that Mandodari was extremely beautiful and virtuous lady.

Ahalya- What can be said of the woman who is considered as not born of a woman. Yes you read that right. According to Ramayan it is considered that Ahalya was created by Lord Brahma by molding pure creative energy.

According to Mahari dance tradition, Brahma created her with water as the most beautiful woman in order to break pride and arrogance of Urvashi whose beauty is already known to us and has also been stated above. Such was her beauty that Indra(king of demigods in heaven) couldn’t control his desire to get her and took form of her husband sage Gautam to seduce her, eventually getting a curse both for himself as well as her.

Ahalya is considered as one of the most beautiful woman ever created.

Damyanti- Princess of Vidharbha kingdom, Damyanti was extremely beautiful. It was her beauty that made demigods like Indra, Yama, Agni, and Varun come from heaven  to participate and marry her in her Swayamvar. 

But she fell in love with Nala of Nishad kingdom just by listening about his virtues. Described in Vana Parva of epic Mahabharata, Damyanti is one of the most beautiful and revered woman in Hindu Myhtology.

Mohini- What can anyone say about the beauty of a woman who was god almighty himself who took form of a woman and that too to entice the asuras. After Samudra manthan i.e. the churning of the ocean when devatas and asuras got into a quarrel about the possession of amrit i.e. nector of immortality, lord Vishnu came himself for the solution taking form of a woman named Mohini(one who attracts) who was so beautiful that asuras couldn’t resist her beauty and forgot all about amrit giving Mohini the chance to present all the amrit to devatas. She also beheaded a demon named Rahu who, by deception tried to consume amrit.

But this is not enough. Known as an ascetic who is completely detached from the worldly affairs, Lord Shiva also got allured by Mohini’s beauty. According to many different versions of Mohini’s story, Shiva went completely mad and crazy about Mohini and wanted to consummate with her.

As per Brahmanda Puran, as a result of Lord Shiva’s love for her, two deities, Ayappa of Kerala and Aiyanar of Tamil Nadu were born. At last, Lord Vishnu revealed his real form to Lord Shiva and told him that even Lord Shiva could not escape his Maya(illusion).

Mohini, known as femme fatale and a beauty that brings doom to the seduced male, again comes in Hindu Mythology. This time to save Lord Shiva from demon Bhasmasur who at last met his end by using the boon given by Shiva on himself which said that anyone on whose head he would put his hand, would burst into flames and would turn into ashes. Mohini seduced and allured Bhasmasur and he forgot about boon and put his hand on his own head while dancing and imitating Mohini.

Known as an ultimate enchantress, Mohini is one of the most or some say, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN in Hindu Mythology.

Rukmini- Incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi herself, Rukmini is considered as one of the two most beautiful women in Mahabharata. Daughter of king Bheeshmak, king of Vidarbha, Rukmini was a perfect princess. In Mahabharata, it is said that she was such a beauty of Dwapar yug that every king of that era wished to marry her but she was already in love with Lord Krishna whose virtue, valour, gallantry and charm was enough to make her fall in love with him.

Rejection of Shishupal by Rukmini was one major reason of hostility in his heart for Lord Krishna.

Draupadi-  As I wrote above that Rukmini was one of the two most beautiful women of Mahabharata, its obvious to write about the other one as well who was none other than one of the main characters of Mahabharata i.e., Draupadi. Born out of sacrificial fire of Yagna, Draupadi’s beauty was fiery as well. Dark in complexion, Draupadi was a beauty whose swayamvar was attended by almost all the greatest warrior kings and princes of that era but it was the hero of Mahabharata, Arjun who won her in the swayamvar.

Draupadi’s virtue and beauty was known to whole world since she was born as an adult from sacrificial fire. According to Mahabharata, she was the most beautiful woman of Dwapar yug whose beauty could be matched only with Rukmini. It was her beauty which made Naarad recite Pandavas the story of Tilottama telling them how such a beautiful woman can make even brothers enemies of each other.

In Hindu Mythology, Draupadi is considered as one of the most beautiful women ever walked this earth.

Sita- We often talk about the best creation in any list of best people in the last and that logic applies here as well. Last but definitely not the least but in fact the MOST beautiful woman ever created or known to the creation of God in Hindu Mythology is undoubtedly Goddess or Maa Sita. Unlike many other women stated above, Sita was neither created by god nor born of some divine course. She in fact was a self manifested form of Goddess Lakshmi in Treta yug to be with his divine consort Lord Vishnu in Ram Avatar and was found from the womb of earth by King Janak of Mithila who raised her as his own daughter.

In Ramayan, it is said that her beauty was unparalleled and was second to none. It is even written that even Goddess Parvati and Goddess Lakshmi could not match her beauty as they had particular physical appearances and attires because of living in mountains and ocean respectively. But Sita was completely PERFECT in all the manners possible. If Mandodari’s beauty was not described in much detail in Ramayan then a reason behind it is the presence of Sita in the epic.

The beauty that she had can be understood by the fact that Raavan(demon king who had conquered the three worlds and who abducted her later) who had all the apsaras or heavenly nymphs, and all the most beautiful women from the three worlds as his maids was spellbound when he, for the very first time had the opportunity to behold her. Raavan who had become crazy for Sita just by the description given by Shurpnakha was speechless after witnessing it himself and ultimately abducted her.

In Kamba Ramayanam,Tamil version of the epic, it is written how Raavan got maddened by Sita’s beauty. When Raavan sees her for the first time he compares her hair with thunderbolt, he compares and asks himself if he is watching the second moon on earth! He feels so numb that he gets confused if it’s all a reality or he is under some kind of illusion. At last he convinces himself that she could only be the lady that her sister Shurpnakha had described to him.

But all this just describes Sita’s physical beauty. Sita’s inner beauty was many times more beautiful than her physical appearance. Her virtue, her morality, her motherly affection, her love for every single creature-living and non living, her nobility and all aspects in her nature can be compared only with her and not with anyone else born before or after her.

She forgave all those who pointed fingers on her chastity and her character. In fact, before leaving earth and going back to mother earth’s womb, she requested Lord Ram to forgive all those who questioned and blamed her character. Such was her love for all that all the creatures called her Van Devi (prime deity of forest)and considered her as their mother when she was in 14 years of exile with Ram and also when she was abandoned by Ram and lived in sage Valmiki’s hermitage.

Due to her persona and perfection, Sita is considered as an epitome of perfection of womanhood making all the women described above second to her and also making her the most beautiful woman in Hindu Mythology.