Urmila, Celebrating the unsung goddess
(picture credit – Ganesha.global)
Patriarchy is rooted deep and has existed in our society for a long time. In the Hindu epic Ramayana, there is a portrayal of a patriarchal society too. The epic talks about the sacrifices of kings and armies, but little is spoken about the female characters in the epic. One such unsung woman is Devi Urmila. a daughter, a wife, a sister. But Urmila is neither because she is so much more. The biological daughter of King Janaka of Mithila and Queen Sunaina, Urmila, is known as the younger sister of Sita and as a wife after being married to Ayodhya’s king Dasharatha’s son Lakshmana. The Hindu epic speaks of her sacrifice for Lakshmana by sleeping for 14 years, a prolonged slumber, so that Lakshmana could serve and protect Ram and Sita during exile without sleep, for which Goddess of Sleep, Nidra, gives the share of sleep of Lakshmana to Urmila. The dutiful yet the neglected wife of Lakshman, who had to wait for fourteen painfully long years for him as Lakshmana refused to let her accompany him to the forest, for she would cause a distraction, leaving her behind at the palace.
However, Urmila was not a sufferer. She held the entire family together in the absence of Ram, Sita, and Lakshmana. She loved Lakshmana with all her heart and loved more with passing time. She accepted 14 years of sleep at once, for his sake. She was outspoken, fierce, a scholar no one acknowledged. A lesser-known fact, Urmila had questioned Ram on the trial of Sita after returning from Lanka. She stood by her sister and questioned the duties of a man towards his wife. She was let down by her sister and husband, left alone for 14 years, but devoted herself to Ayodha.
Urmila never found the praise she deserves and a notable place in Indian mythology and remained an unsung heroine in the Ramayana and the question arises, did Ayodha deserve a woman like her who went to extreme lengths only to wake up after 14 years, watch her sister undergo a trial by fire and watch while Ram was crowned as the king?
Devi Urmila speaks of the invincibility of love and the probity in loving selflessly.
What a great woman she was, devoted yet questioned sexist, gender-biased standards of a patriarchal society.
