Who Is Shurpanakha (Surpanakha)?
The demoness who set the disaster in motion
Shurpanakha is a demoness (rakshasi) in the Ramayana and the sister of Ravana, the demon king. Her name is said to mean "the woman with nails like winnowing fans."
In the forest of Panchavati she saw Rama, fell for him at once, and demanded that he marry her. When Rama and Lakshmana turned her down in a teasing way, she grew angry and attacked Sita. Then, on Rama's order, Lakshmana cut off her ears and nose.
Shurpanakha fled to her brother Khara and begged for revenge, and an army of 14,000 demons marched on Rama. When that army was destroyed, she went to Ravana in Lanka, praised Sita's beauty, and stirred him up. In this way she set off the great disaster of Sita's kidnapping.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 5
One Rejection. Fourteen Thousand Demons.Shurpanakha and Khara's Army (Aranya Kanda)
Rama vows to protect the sages of the forest. When he turns down a marriage proposal from the rakshasa princess Shurpanakha, an army of fourteen thousand rakshasas descends on him. Rama sends his wife and brother to safety in a cave and faces the horde alone.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
The Deer They Never Should Have ChasedThe Golden Deer and the Abduction of Sita
A golden deer far too beautiful to be real appears outside the forest hut, but it's a trap set by Ravana, the ten-headed demon king. One by one, love and kindness open the doors, and Sita is carried off into the sky. Only the aged bird king Jatayu rises alone to stop him.
19 pages