Few know that Mandodari is worshipped in a village of Goa, and fewer still know are aware that this deity is a young namesake of Lord Ravana’s wife
In the village of Betki in Ponda, Mandodari, the wife of demon king Lord Ravana is worshipped, or so it is mistakenly believed. The confusion arises because the object of the villagers’ reverence is a young girl, who happened to be Mandodari’s namesake. The story behind her elevation to divinity is marked with blood, and it goes thus.
Young Mandodari lived in the village of Betki in the 16th century, at a time when the locals were trying hard to establish a water management system.
It is not that Betki suffered from water paucity, in fact, quite the opposite. The lush agrarian hamlet was not only blessed with numerous springs that fed the water table and replenished its many waterbodies, but located as it was in a valley, it was also the recipient of monsoon-fed streams.
Rather than let the water to go waste, the villagers decided to harvest this bounty of nature and channelise it to ensure round-the-year water supply for their agricultural and horticultural activities. For this they decided to dig a huge tank that would serve as a catchment area.
Legend says that, in a bizarre twist, no matter how hard they tried, all attempts by the villagers to raise a mud embankment failed. After several tries, the frustrated villagers turned to superstitions for relief, and as in the tradition of some dark rituals, it was decided that a blood sacrifice would be offered. Spilling blood for purification to appease evil spirits is part of an ancient and complex tradition followed all over the sub-continent.
It so happened that Mandodari and her brother, Narbando, lived near the tank with their widowed mother. And for reasons unknown, the people of Betki decided to offer the blood of these innocent children in sacrifice.
The embankment went up, and Mandodariche tolle, one of the state’s biggest man-made lakes, was completed. But, the course of events leading to Mandodari and Narbando’s elevation to divine status were yet to play out.
In a dramatic turn, the grieving mother, on realising the conspiracy behind her children’s death, placed a curse on the village. “No rice will be cooked in Betki for 24 years,” she said.
What was the use then of having such a huge water reservoir, one that recharged the water table of four villages in its vicinity? The irony of the curse defeated the very purpose behind constructing the lake.
Fortunately, around that time, one community, in a bid to escape religious persecution at the hand of the colonial rulers, migrated from Verna in Salcete and settled in Betki.
Moved by the conundrum facing the villagers, Gaonkar decided to help them in convincing the widow to minimise the intensity of her hex. By then the unfortunate lady had moved residence to a neighbouring village. The villagers and Gaonkar tracked her down and prevailed upon her to change the curse. And so, from not growing rice for 24 years, the widow changed the proscription to ‘no rice will be cooked for 24 hours’.
The relieved villagers on returning to Betki built a shrine in the memory of Mandodari and Narbando near the tank. That was how Mandodari worship came to gain precedence on the village.
In Betki village, the role played by the sacred tank dedicated to deity Mandodari is immense. There is a saying ‘Shil Savoi, Betki aavai’, which mean Betki is the mother of this tank while Savoi is the body.
Every year on Mahashivratri, a palanquin procession is brought to the shrine of Mandodari and the goddess is worshipped.
Once, this tradition served to create a sentiment of sacredness around the water body, which ensured its upkeep.
While this traditional water harvesting system survives and continues to be the main source of water for irrigation, it has fallen into disrepair. The lake has silted, and sustained neglect and growing apathy to ecology is sure to lead to its death.
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