Sita - An illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik - A Book Review

"Ravana’s rage separated Sita from Ram. Ayodhya’s gossip separated Ram from Sita but Hanuman’s tongue will never separate Ram from Sita."

The Overview

Most of us are familiar with the story of the epic Ramayana. The Prince of Ayodhya Ram’s wife Sita is abducted by Ravana the King of the unknown faraway island Lanka while he’s living in the forest in exile.It’s a story of a faithful husband saving his wife from the clutches of an unruly King. It seems as if Ramayana ‘the epic’ was written keeping in mind that it had to be on the zenith of perfection nothing more - nothing less.

Ram & Sita

Ram is synonymous to culture and Sita is synonymous to nature. Ram is the one who will uphold all rules and regulations to govern the society, to keep everything and everyone in the boundary but Sita has no boundary, she’s the nature herself. Their characters are in juxtaposition to each other, their lives are like parallels with a few rendezvous.

The Beauty of the text

The beauty of the text lies in the way it scrutinizes matters relevant then and now. Author effortlessly questions the social values, jati, varna, thoughts, judgement, notions of chastity and fidelity in the book

1.)Why does purity matter so much?

2.)Why do we always try to establish a nexus between a woman’s body and purity?

3.)Wasn’t purity since the beginning about being pure and avoiding sin?

4.)Why the victim in the story was considered a sinner and asked to prove her purity and chastity?

5.)How many times do you ask a woman to prove her loyalty?

6.)Why shouldn’t we give women the same choices as the man in the society gets?

Not once, not twice but thrice. If this happens to a Goddess, we all know what women in our societies have been through countless centuries.

Sita

As a reader, I loved the protagonist Sita’s role as a single mother the way she teaches her children to accept and appreciate the difference by saying.."All trees in the Forrest are unique and all trees are valid." Her role as a dutiful daughter and faithful wife sets a benchmark in the society. The mighty endurance of Sita creates a paradigm of an ideal woman in our society.

Ram

Heavy is the head that wears the crown..Ram the husband suffers his entire life, separated from his wife while Ram the King triumphed in serving the people of Ayodhya. In the end,Ram the husband’ walked into the river Sarayu ..chanting her name.

 

Hanuman

"Ravana’s rage separated Sita from Ram. Ayodhya’s gossip separated Ram from Sita but Hanuman’s tongue will never separate Ram from Sita". ( favorite lines from the book) If you ever want to find a more loyal confidant,friend,subordinate and devotee than Hanuman in Indian Mythology, I am sure you will fail because Hanuman in all the epics, myth, tales and folklore is just irreplaceable and unmatchable.

Ravana

I always thought Ravana was the evil in Sita’s life turns out the people of her city had surpassed Ravana in tormenting her.I loved reading Sita, I immersed in it. Readers do give it a shot as it is one of the best books written on Ramayana from the perspective of Sita.

-    Meenakshi Sinha ( An Avid Reader )