What if the person you call a villain is someone else's son-in-law?
In Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur, a local tradition gives Ravana a completely different identity. Instead of being remembered only as the antagonist of the Ramayana, he is honoured as a jamai, or son-in-law, because of the local belief that his wife Mandodari belonged to Mandsaur. At a Ravana shrine in the Khanpura area, some local women have traditionally covered their faces with a ghoonghat while passing before his idol as a mark of respect.
