The Hindu mythology has a number of women characters who played very significant roles. There are few names which I can name for example like Draupadi, Sita, Tara, Ganga and many others. One such name was  Mandodari. One of the most righteous and virtuous female character in the Hindu mythology is Mandodari. Mandodari was the wife of Lanka King , Ravana.

It is said Mandodari had accepted Ravana as her husband when she saw a dream of Ravana praying Lord Shiva wholeheartedly.

Mandodari was born in water. There is a renowned tale about the origin of Mandodari. Mayasura , the son of sage Kashyapa was married to an Apsara called Hema. They had two sons named Mayavi and Dhundhuvi. Although they had two sons, they wanted to have a daughter.  They wanted to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva so they performed penance. 

On the other hand there was an Apsara called Madhura, who expressed her love Lord Shiva. She performed dances to impress him. But Lord Shiva refused her advances. Goddess Parvati, the wife of Shiva got tremendously on Madhura. She cursed Madhura to become a frog in the well for twelve years. However Lord Shiva blessed Madhura to become a beautiful woman and that she would get married to the most fearless man on earth.

 After twelve years when she recovered from the curse, she became a maiden. She started crying for getting her out of the well.  Hearing her cry, Mayasura and Hema got her out of the well and adopted her as their daughter. They thought that at last Lord Shiva blessed them with a daughter.

During the years of her curses she used to meditate the names of Lord Shiva and Parvati and so she became very beautiful and a very righteous woman. Soon Mandodari became the wife of Ravana. She gave birth to three sons named Meghnada, Atikaya and Akshaya Kumara. Mandodari introduced the game of chess in Lanka for the first time for the recreation of Ravana.

She had tried to stop her husband many a times from the imprisonment of the  Navagrahas and the abduction of Sita. But Ravana did not listen to her and carried out his will.

Mandodari had tried to drive her husband into the path of Dharma but her advice was not granted by Ravana. 

So we see how Mandodari played a significant role in Ramayana, an epic  of India from time immemorial.