Memory as Counter Narrative: A Subaltern Ramayana

In Manini.J.Anandani's Mandodari, Queen of Lanka the author employs memory as a tool for the narrative of the persona as well as an era. The narrative is in the form of recollections by Mandodari, who is extolled as the pious and virtuous queen of the mighty king of Lanka in the epic tale. In this process of recreation, the hidden aspects of his personality and character came to the fore. As her memory took the form of a narrative, it is revealed how he shouldered the responsibility of the emancipation and the upliftment of his race from a very early age onwards, how he along with his siblings were treated as half-castes, how the knowledge of Vedas was denied to him and so on. Mandodari's recollections never attempt to obliterate the dark corners of Dashaanan's character. Her narrative provides an alternate representation of the cliched narration of the epics, thus creating a counter narrative of the familiar tales of Ramayana. As Mandodari walks down the memory lane, the entire discourse of Ramayana necessitated a reconstitution as Ravana is viewed through the eyes of a person who knows him from within. Her memory recreates Ravana as Dashaanan, remoulded him to an individual who is not familiar to the readers of mythology.