In today’s society, we lament the failing of values and remind ourselves that how in the past Indians had always followed the path of righteousness. However, one thing that we comfortably forget is that in the past also there were people who were negative, foul and simply vicious. Yes, we are talking about the villains of Indian mythology and here we are telling you about some of them.

1) Ravana– A demon Ravana was otherwise a very learned man. At one point intime, there was no one in the universe who could match his knowledge. However, arrogance slowly crept in and he started committing acts which ideally did not match a man of his stature. We all are aware of the story of Ramayana however, his level of intelligence made him a person worth envying.                                                                                           

2) Duryodhan – Son of Dhritrashtra, Duryodhan was misguided by his Uncle Shakuni ever since he was very young. With time the hate cultivated in his heart became dangerous and once that happened there was no stopping him. When Gandhari was carrying him there were many ill omens and sages requested her to abort the child which she did not do. Apart from his envious nature, he will always be despised for ordering the disrobing of Draupadi who was the eldest daughter in law of the family.                                                

3) Shakuni– The vile uncle of Duryodhana Shakuni and his entire family were left for starvation by his own brother in law Dhritrashtra. However, they all combined the food that they used to get to save Shakuni. Eventually, all of them died and Shakuni vowed to take revenge from the Kuru family. His first step in the direction was to manipulate his nephew into harboring jealousy for his own cousin brothers. Rest as we all know is history.              

4) Manthara– Many people blame Kaikeyi for the fact that Lord Ram was exiled for 14 years. However, they forget the contribution of the despicable servant Manthara. If she had not filled Kaikeyi’s mind with thoughts against Ram’s accession to the crown the same would not have happened. Even now the name of Manthara remains synonymous with a person who conspires against his own.                                                                             

5) Kansa– Even though whatever Kansa did was just to save himself from dying his act of killing his 7 nephews mercilessly is deplorable. Kansa remained totally oblivious to his own sister Devaki’s suffering and was only concerned about his own wellbeing. However, he died at the hands of Krishna which somehow eased some of the crimes he had committed.         

6) Suparnakha– Another woman on the list Suparnakha was instrumental in bringing Ravana’s end. Her advances towards Lakshmana and Rama led to her ear and nose being cut. This made Ravana take vengeance and abduct Sita from her home. Suparnakha’s one mistake led to the battle of Ramayana.                                                                             

7) Hiranyakashyapu– In spite of being extremely powerful himself Hiranyakashyapu did not want to acknowledge the presence of God. His own son was a dedicated Vishnu follower and that fuelled his anger more. He inflicted a lot of physical punishments on his sonPrahlad, however, each time he escaped. In the end, Hiranyakashyapu was killed by Lord Vishnu who had to take Narsingh avatar to rid the earth of this demon.                       

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