Mandodari was the daughter of Mayasura, architect of the asuras, and the apsara Hema. When Mandodari was born, Hema abandoned her family, leaving Mayasura to raise Mandodari by himself.
Mandodari grew up to be very beautiful, and Ravana sought her hand in marriage.
"I must warn you," said Maya, "that Mandodari's horoscope predicts her first-born child will destroy her family. Marry my daughter if you want, but you should kill her first-born child."
Following Maya's advice, Ravana took Mandodari's first-born child and buried the baby in the ground far away from Lanka.
Janaka discovered that baby.
He named her Sita.
Inspired by: Devi Bhagavata Purana.
Notes: See the report in the Wikipedia article about Mandodari. In Pattanaik's Sita (p. 143), he reports that in Kshemendra's Dashavatara-charita, Ravana finds a baby inside a lotus, and he gives the baby girl to Mandodari. But Narada foretells that Ravana fill fall in love with that girl, so Mandodari discards that baby in box which is found by Janaka.
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