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Top five underrated characters from the Ramayana?
1. Urmila is by far, in my opinion, one of the most underrated characters in the Ramayana. Everyone talks about the sacrifices made by Rama, Sita and Lakshman and everyone knows about them but Urmila is generally forgotten. She willingly allowed Lakshman to leave her behind so he could serve Rama and Sita and then gave up fourteen years of her life so he could fulfil his duty properly. She is regarded as a forgotten heroine by Tagore because of her immense duty.
2. Shatrughan. He governed Ayodhya in Rama’s absence in terms of administration whilst Rama and Lakshman were in exile and Bharat was living like a sage. He also slew Lavansura, Raavana’s nephew, and is mostly forgotten in comparison to Rama, Lakshman and Bharat.
3. Mandodari because she always strove for good and is again for the most part forgotten. She suffered for being Raavana’s wife and yet she still tried to persuade him to return Sita as well as saving Sita from death and rape. She is generally overlooked.
4. I think one of my favourite lesser known events is between Rama and Lakshman where Lakshman claims that as he is the younger brother of Rama he has to serve him which was unfair. It is said this is why he was reborn as Balarama on the Mahabharata so that he could have a chance to be served. I’m not entirely sure how accurate this is but I can certainly imagine it.
5. The birth of Sita is one of the most interesting stories I think. She was found in a field and hence Janak named her Sita but there are different stories about who her birth parents were. The most common is that she is the daughter of Bhumi Devi but other stories suggest that the apsara Menaka was her mother or even that she was the daughter of Raavana and was abandoned because she would cause his death.