TÃÂá¹Âakàis a minor yakṣë antagonist in the RÃÂmÃÂyaá¹Âa. Along with her son, MÃÂrëca, TÃÂá¹Âakàwould harass and attack sages performing yajñas in the forest. They were ultimately slain by RÃÂma and Laká¹£maá¹Âa on behest of their teacher, Vià ÂvÃÂmitra.
In the RÃÂmÃÂyaá¹Âa, Vià ÂvÃÂmitra tells RÃÂma and Laká¹£maá¹Âa the story of TÃÂá¹Âakàwhen they reach a forest inhabited by her. Vià ÂvÃÂmitra states that a yaká¹£a named Suketu had undertaken austerities to obtain children, and was given a daughter with the strength of a thousand elephants named TÃÂá¹ÂakÃÂ, but not a son. When she became of age, she was married to Sunda, and gave birth to a son named MÃÂrëca. After Sunda is killed, TÃÂá¹Âakàand MÃÂrëca attack the seer Agastya, who curses MÃÂrëca to become a rÃÂká¹£asa and curses TÃÂá¹Âakàto become an ugly man-eater. Driven mad by the curse, she roams the region where Agastya used to live.
The Critical Edition of the VÃÂlmëki RÃÂmÃÂyaá¹Âa does not mention many details of the previous narrative, but later commentators and recensions have more fleshed out versions of the story. According to three traditional commentaries on the RÃÂmÃÂyaá¹Âa, Sunda is killed due to a curse by Agastya, which Bhandare states gives proper cause for TÃÂá¹ÂakÃÂ's seemingly unwarranted attack on Agastya. The southern recensions of the epic state that TÃÂá¹Âakà(prior to become a man-eater) tries to eat Agastya. An undated MalayÃÂlam script recension states that Taá¹Âakàis smitten after seeing Agastya: stating that she proceeds to strip naked and run towards him singing with love. According to Goldman, this MalayÃÂlam script recension preserves an important part of the TÃÂá¹Âakàlegend that was suppressed in the VÃÂlmëki RÃÂmÃÂyaá¹Âa.
Vià ÂvÃÂmitra, after narrating TÃÂá¹ÂakÃÂ's past, instructs RÃÂma that he must kill TÃÂá¹ÂakÃÂ, and he should not have any compassion for her or disgust for killing a woman, and he recounts other occasions where unrighteous women were killed by moral men. RÃÂma agrees, stating the killing of TÃÂá¹Âakàis uttamam "[an] eminently justifiable action". He twangs his bowstring, which attracts TÃÂá¹Âakàto the scene. RÃÂma then states that he will not kill her on account of she being a woman, but vows to merely cut off her ears and nose and dispossess her of her strength and lair. TÃÂá¹Âakàthen charges RÃÂma, who proceeds to shoot and kill her with a single arrow to the chest.
Only in the southern recensions is the vow of RÃÂma cutting off TÃÂá¹ÂakÃÂ's ears and nose mentioned, and RÃÂma actually fulfils his vow in those recensions. The northern recensions neither mention the vow or its fulfillment, which leads Goldman to believe that the verses mentioning it are dubious.