Gifted on my birthday by my sister-in-law I was a bit sceptical to give this book a try. Having read Shivaji Sawant’s “Karnan” and MT’s ‘Randam uuzham” my benchmark for mythological revisits is set high. As expected, this book also failed to excite me, but yet despite knowing the full Ramayana story and its sub stories by heart (at least that is what I thought) this book had a certain quality that made me glued to the pages, sometimes even hoping the ending would be different for the sake of the hero of the story – Sita.
The story of Sita as an adopted baby, growing to an able
daughter and princess, as a newly wed wife trying to blend with in-laws and
their home, as a loyal cohort to her husband who follows him to the depths of forests,
as a helpless hostage who maintains dignity in the clutches of the Asura king
and as the warrior who finally finds peace at the heart of forgiveness – the story
which we all are familiar is narrated from Sita’s point of view. A woman portraying
another woman always does justice and covers those aspects that perhaps the original
creator (He/Him) might have miss-looked. The stories
are retold in a feminist style. Some aspects are unheard of, yet amusing – for example Sita is
told to be conversing with the Pinaka bow before the Swayamvara.
There are some parts in the story which a married woman especially
from an Indian background can relate to:
“But deep inside me someone, was it the Goddess? Said it’s
important to speak your mind to the man you are going to marry. What kind of relationship
would you have if you couldn’t do that”
Sita’s touch rekindled the Pushpak Viman and made it fly
after Ravan’s death; many including Ram and Lakshman tried but couldn’t stir
it. Ram was really impressed with this, the situation is described as follows :
“When Ram saw what had transpired, he looked at me newly,
with a different, considering gaze. Even as I basked in his admiration I realized
until now, he had appreciated me only for qualities that he thought as womanly –
beauty, kindness, the power to heal…..but he considered them all to be domestic
skills. Now for the first time he looked at me with respect, they way one might
glaze and equal. It made me glow with satisfaction. At the same time though I was
saddened. What I’d taken as admiration all these years had really been a kind
of indulgence, the way one might praise a child for her childish achievements. The
womanly skills I’d mastered were important and intricate, and by no means easy.
They required deep intelligence, an intelligence of the heart. But Ram didn’t understand
that. He didn’t understand the complexity of female existence”
“Earlier I’d have believed that I had the ability to
alter that, to make see the world in a different way. But my hear of captivity
had taught me much. I now knew that love -no matter how deep – wasn’t enough to
transform another person.
The stories touch through not just Sita’s but Shurpanaka’s
Urmila’, Kaikeyi's, Kausalya’s all lives. Overall a good read, but I give only 3
stars as it did not appeal me much from a mythological perspective. However its
good to read and get the feel that Sita was just like us.
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