Women in Mahabharata - Sukumari
She is the youngest daughter of the Panchala King Srinjaya. She is also known as Damayanti or Madayanti or Malati.
When Narada and his nephew (sister's son) Parvata come to stay with Srinjaya once, they both are enamoured with Sukumari's beauty and they scold the king for delaying her marriage. When Narada doesn't tell Parvata about his intentions to marry princess, the latter curses Narada.
He decrees that if Narada marries the princess then she would see a monkey's head in place of Narada's actual face. Narada, in turn, curses Parvata so that he is not able to return to svarga. Sukumari, however, doesn't seem to mind it very much as she obeys her father's wishes.
After some time, they both retract their curses, but now when Narada returns home, Sukumari chases him away, not recognizing him in his true form. Later, Parvata intervenes and reintroduces the princess to his uncle.
After this, Parvata blesses King Srinjaya with a son, called Suvarnashthivi, who displays somewhat similar powers as the Greek King Midas. His touch, as well as bodily fluids turn into gold.
Once Suvarnashthivi's powers become widely known, he gets kidnapped by dacoits, who murder him and dismember his body but they are disheartened to find that there is no more gold. When the prince died, all things that had turned to gold also returned to their original forms.
After talking a lot about other famous kings woh have died, Narada brings Suvarnashthivi back to life.
A similar dynamic to her story is seen in a Bangla fairy tale where a princess marries an anthropomorphic monkey after the latter goes through a set of tribulations (Budhhu Bhutum). It also bears slight narrative similarities to the fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast'.
