Urmila, Marathi Novel

by Samar. (Contributor)

उर्मिला कादंबरीची वैशिष्ट्ये -
1. लक्ष्मणाची पत्नी उर्मिला हिच्या जीवनावर आधारित मराठी कादंबरी.
2. उर्मिलेच्या जन्मापासून ते मृत्यूपर्यंत समग्र जीवनाचे चित्रण करणारी पहिली कादंबरी.
3. मिथिलेतील बालपणापासून ते दोन राज्यांची राजमाता होईपर्यंत तिच्या जीवनाचे अनेक पैलू कादंबरीतून समोर येतात.
4. उत्तम दर्जाच्या कागदाचा वापर, तसेच उत्तम बांधणी.
5. 'महाकाव्य शिवप्रताप', 'तथागत' (कादंबरी) आणि 'वेडात मराठे वीर दौडले सात' लिहिणाऱ्या समर यांची नवी कांदबरी

Genres: Marathi

302 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2022

About the author

Samar
Founder, Samar Publication
Education: NET, M.A. (Marathi), B.A. (Marathi)
Location: Pune, Maharashtra

◼ Literary Series Milestone
The series ‘Three Songs of Jasmine’ encompassing Radha, Urmila, and Parvati has been translated into English and Hindi, and has achieved a landmark success, collectively selling over 1 Lakh (100,000) copies across three languages combined.

◼ Published Works (English and Hindi)

Series : Three Songs of Jasmine
Urmila (Novel): Penned in 2019 and published on October 8, 2022. This novel explores the profound inner world and isolated journey of Lakshmana’s wife, Urmila, marking her first complete biographical novel in Marathi. The original edition sold over 30,000 official copies within three years. This title has been translated into English and Hindi.
Radha - Part 1 (Novel): Published on February 20, 2024. The core narrative centers on a dialogue between Radha and a modern-day young woman named Shravani. Through their conversation, multiple facets of love, masculinity, and morality are unraveled. The Marathi edition crossed a record milestone of 30,000 official copies sold. This title has been translated into English and Hindi.
Radha - Part 2 (Novel): Boasts a rare first-edition print run of 17,000 copies, an exceptional feat in Marathi literature. The novel was simultaneously published in three languages.
Parvati (Novel): Delves into the known and unknown dimensions of Lord Shiva’s consort, Parvati. The novel rapidly crossed the 14,000 official copy sales mark. This title has been translated into English and Hindi.

Not the Mahabharata You Think You Know (Non Fiction): Written in 2020 and published in March 2023. This book brings unfamiliar and astonishing stories from the Mahabharata to readers, complete with original shlokas and their contextual translations.

◼ Published Works (Marathi Only)

Mahakavya Shivpratap (Epic Poetry): Written at age 16, this is the first metrical epic in the Marathi language composed in 19 distinct meters (Vruttas). It features 3,500 shlokas structured into 10 volumes and 119 cantos, detailing the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It was officially published on November 9, 2021, by Maharashtra Bhushan Babasaheb Purandare.
Sangeet Chandrapriya (Musical Play): Written, directed, and produced at age 17. Based on the life of Emperor Chandragupta Vikramaditya of the Gupta Empire, the play was performed across Pune, Ratnagiri, Mumbai, and Nashik. It was also recorded and broadcasted by the Sahyadri television channel.
Mahabharatatil 108 Adbhut Rahasye: Written in 2020 and published in March 2023. This book brings unfamiliar and astonishing stories from the Mahabharata to Marathi readers, complete with original shlokas and their contextual translations.
Tathagat (Novel): A 400-page novel based on the life of Gautam Buddha, written at age 20. It was published on February 13, 2022, marking the launch of Samar Publication. It is the first Marathi novel to present the life of Tathagat Gautam Buddha in an autobiographical, first-person narrative style.
Samudramanthan (Science Fiction Novel): Published on February 16, 2023. Written with the vision of establishing a science-fiction series in Marathi, this is arguably the first Marathi novel based on the concept of parallel universes.
Maharajadhiraj (Novel): Published in 2023, this novel chronicles the comprehensive life of Emperor Samudragupta, richly illustrating various episodes of his life grounded in historical contexts.
Dharma (Novel): Published on February 19, 2025. A fictional novel based on the quest for 'Dharma' by Karna, Ashwatthama, and Ekalavya. The narrative follows their journey to a religion-centric village, exploring their philosophical reflections on Dharma based on their experiences.
Chahul (Poetry Collection): Published in 2023. A collection of nearly 100 poems (including metered and free verse) and over 100 Marathi ghazals.
Smrutiviplav (Science Fiction Story): A serialized sc

Reviews

[Sameer Gudhate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For every epic hero history remembers, there is usually another life standing just outside the spotlight. Not absent. Not insignificant. Simply overlooked.

Few literary traditions illustrate this more clearly than the Ramayana. Generations have reflected on Rama's duty, Sita's endurance, and Lakshmana's devotion. Yet one question lingers quietly in the background: what happens to the person who is left behind while others become legends?

Samar's Urmila is built around that question. Rather than retelling the Ramayana through battles, divine interventions, or royal intrigue, the novel turns its attention toward absence itself. It asks readers to inhabit the emotional landscape of Urmila, Lakshmana's wife, whose fourteen years of separation become not merely a narrative detail but an entire human existence worthy of examination.

What surprised me most was not that Urmila suffers. Mythological retellings often rely on suffering as a shortcut to sympathy. Samar chooses a more demanding route. He is interested in how a person continues living when life refuses to follow the script they imagined for themselves. The novel follows Urmila from her childhood in Mithila through marriage, separation, motherhood, ageing, and eventually her role as a matriarch. In doing so, it transforms a marginal figure into the emotional centre of an epic world.

The strongest achievement of the novel lies in its refusal to reduce Urmila to sacrifice alone. Modern readers are familiar with public recognition. Social media rewards visibility. Success is measured through attention. Yet much of human life unfolds without witnesses. Parents make sacrifices their children may never fully understand. Spouses carry burdens that remain unnamed. Caregivers devote years to others while receiving little acknowledgment in return. Urmila becomes a symbol of these invisible lives.

One of the novel's most compelling insights is that loneliness and insignificance are not the same thing. A person can be forgotten by history and still profoundly shape it. Urmila's isolation in Ayodhya is not portrayed merely as waiting. It becomes a test of identity. When the person around whom one's future was imagined suddenly disappears, who remains?

That question gives the novel contemporary relevance. We live in an era obsessed with presence—online presence, professional presence, public presence. Yet emotional absence has become increasingly common. Long-distance relationships, migrant families, demanding careers, and digital communication have created new forms of separation. Samar's interpretation of Urmila speaks to readers navigating similar emotional distances, even if the circumstances are vastly different.

The novel is at its strongest when it explores interior experience. The emotional rhythms of longing, uncertainty, resentment, hope, and endurance feel convincing because they emerge gradually rather than dramatically. Readers are invited to sit with Urmila's solitude instead of merely observing it from a distance. That patience gives the narrative much of its emotional credibility.

At the same time, the book occasionally reveals the limitations that accompany its ambitions. Because Samar seeks to provide a comprehensive account of Urmila's life—from birth to death—the narrative sometimes prioritizes completeness over depth. Certain later-life episodes feel more documented than fully explored. There are moments when readers may wish the novel lingered longer within psychological complexity instead of moving forward chronologically. The desire to illuminate every phase of Urmila's journey occasionally dilutes the intensity found in its most intimate sections.

There is also an interesting tension at the heart of the novel. In its effort to restore Urmila's importance, the narrative sometimes risks idealizing her. Real people are rarely as coherent as legends. A little more ambiguity, contradiction, or emotional messiness might have made her feel even more human. Yet this criticism emerges largely because the novel succeeds in making readers care about her inner life in the first place.

What stayed with me long after finishing the book was not a particular event but a realization. Epics often celebrate those who leave home to fulfill destiny. Urmila quietly honours those who remain behind and pay the emotional cost of that destiny.

That distinction matters.

History tends to record journeys. Life, however, is often shaped by waiting.

The achievement of Urmila is not that it changes the Ramayana. The achievement is that after finishing the novel, it becomes difficult to read the epic again without noticing the empty space Urmila once occupied—and impossible to believe that space was ever empty at all. Samar reminds us that every celebrated act of devotion is sustained by someone whose story rarely reaches the centre of the stage. By giving voice to that silence, he transforms a forgotten presence into one of the most human and memorable figures in the epic imagination.

[Priyanka Patil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Urmila from the epic of Ramayana...This book describes the dedication and sacrifice of Urmila.
When we hear the word Ramayan, three main characters come in front of us, that's Ram, Lakshman & Sita. We just talk about the hurdles of their life & their sacrifices. No one remembers the loneliness that Urmila had to go through during the entire 14 years of vanvas..

The author very well describes the untold story of Urmila , her dedication & sacrifice towards her husband. I really loved reading this Novel.., 😀

[Pranjali Bhumbe]

Nice

[Kushal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an excellent read.

a point of view of Urmila, I never thought of..

But it's amazing. and heartwarming to understand Urmila's point of view.

[Srushti Shinde · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a rubbish app this is only shit

[योगेश भावसार · Rating 3 out of 5]

सुरुवात खूप छान झाली. पण नंतर नंतर कुठेतरी focus हरवत चालला आहे असं वाटलं आणि शेवटी शेवटी तर अक्षरशः कंटाळवाणं झालं होतं वाचायला.