Tataka in Ramayana

Tataka was the daughter of Yaksha King named Suketu. She was a Yaksha princess-turned-demoness. She was a beautiful princess that was wooed by and married an Asura King named Sunda. She had two sons named Maricha and Subahu. When Sage Agastya cursed Sunda to death, Tadaka took it upon herself to wreak vengeance on the sage.

Sage Agastya cursed Tadaka with the loss of her beautiful physique and transformed both Tataka and Subahu into hideous demonic creatures with a cruel, cannibalistic nature. The curse transformed Tataka into a man-eater with an ugly and fierce figure and she started living in a place near the habitations of Malaja and Karusha in a forest near the River Ganges. She terrorized the people, devouring anyone who dared to set foot in that forest.

As revenge, both attempted to harass many sages by destroying their Yagnas with rains of flesh and blood. Sage Vishwamitra finally approached King Dasaratha for help. King Dasharatha obliged by sending Rama and Laxmana to the forest with Vishvamitra. Both of them went to protect the sages and the sacrificial fires.

Rama was hesitant to kill Tataka as she was a woman and initially maimed her, chopping off her hands so that she could not attack him further. Sage Vishwamitra advised Rama to carry out his duty regardless of his own personal reservations about killing a woman. As per his advice Rama killed Tataka.

Tataka in Ramayana

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