Laṅkā
Tāṭakā
Yakṣī turned man-eater, mother of Mārīca. Rāma hesitates to strike a woman. Viśvāmitra argues him into it.
Bāla Kāṇḍa sarga 26Vālmīki (primary text)In the text
Vālmīki makes Tāṭakā a yakṣī, daughter of Suketu: after Agastya killed her husband Sunda, his curse turned her into a man-eater, and the text then calls her rākṣasī too. Viśvāmitra leads Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa through her forest first and presses Rāma to kill her. Her son is Mārīca.
Primary text: Śrīmad Vālmīkīya Rāmāyaṇa, Gita Press, Gorakhpur. Later traditions and living-tradition associations are labelled as such. Return to the Rāmāyaṇa World.