Dunes of Grief

In Mandore, a desert town, the loss of a son-in-law has survived all jubilation over the narrative of good over evil. The town still mourns the killing of Raavan.

- Mahima Choudhary & Animikh Chakrabarty

AS most of northern India erupts with the thunder of firecrackers and effigies of Raavan burn down to ashes, on Dussehra, a quiet haze will descend in the historic town of Mandore in Rajastha n. Just like it always has over centuries.

Once a capital of the Marwar region, now Mandore has to make do with the modest status of being a mere suburb of Jodhpur, which had succeeded it as the capital of the Marwar princely state in the mid-15th century.

But the historic town caught in Jodhpur's slipstream serves as an intriguing intersection, where the threads of history, mythology and culture converge, throwing up a complex but fascinating weave-one that sympathises with the demonised Lankan king, Raavan.

Inscriptions found in the town's ancient ruins and popular memory suggest that Mandore was the home of Mandodari, the queen consort of Raavan, which effectively makes the Lankan king the town's son in-law.

"Raavan is the son in-law of Mandore," insists Sharwan Kumar, a local resident, who runs a small photocopying and rubber stamp store in Jodhpur. Kumar, a local mythology enthusiast, even insists that there are "historical signs" that suggest Raavan and Mandodari got married in Mandore.

According to him, the desert landscape of Rajasthan is directly connected to the Ramayana and, in many ways, to Raavan. Originally a submerged landmass, it was Ram's Brahmastra that transformed this area into a desert, he claims.