Character of the Valmiki Ramayana
Urmila
ऊर्मिला
Janaka's daughter and Lakshmana's wife, left behind at exile, whose fourteen-year vigil became poetry in later tradition.
Embodies
- Sacrifice — Giving up what you hold dearest so another may walk their path.
- Fidelity — A faithfulness that fire itself cannot touch.
Questions to explore
- Why does later tradition call Urmila the silent sacrifice of the Ramayana?
- What did she give up that the epic rarely names?
