Author Amish Tripathi feels that Ramayana has always been told and retold in Indian history. Not only retellings by authors but each time a parent, grandparent, a story book for children narrates the story of Ramayana, a little bit of the narrator or writer’s mind makes the story their own retelling. Apart from Sita, the book also follows the journeys of other women who were overlooked or abandoned in the epic. In fact, Volga’s The Liberation of Sita, which follows Sita’s journey into self-realisation into the forest, instead of Ram’s, is one of the most significant retellings of Sita for its symbolism and thoughtfulness. She chose her husband through swayamvar, to live in exile and to step out of Lakshman Rekha, yet to remain fidel and be a single mother.
That Sita was strong and courageous is only true. She was courageous, adventurous, outspoken and strong,” she says. When I read the ancient texts for myself, I saw that this was not so. “I always felt that there was more to Sita than the traditional patriarchal interpretation which presented her as meek and mild, obedient, passive and long-suffering. So, is the Sita we have been watching on screen, big and small, the creation of a filmmaker or a writer’s mind? If yes, then who was Sita? How has she been written about in the original texts which very few of us have gone through? Was she a warrior? Was she strong? And if we have gotten the wrong interpretation-that of a pious woman who is voiceless, suffering and wronged-is there a need to retell her story? Authors believe so.Īuthor Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who retold the story of Sita in her 2019 book The Forest of Enchantments, seconds Tripathi’s views. After all, the author has revisited mythology several times to give it his own twist-be it the Shiva trilogy or the Ram Chandra series. When author Amish Tripathi says that his interpretation of Sita in his 2017 novel Sita: Warrior of Mithila is closer in spirit to the ancient versions -rather than what most modern urban Indians know of the Ramayana, which is largely based on a 1980s’ TV serial-his words make one introspect and reimagine.
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