Book Review: 'Sita'

Book: Sita
Author: Devdutt Patnaik
Publisher: Penguin India
Pages: 318
Price: Rs499

In the last chapter of Devdutt Pattanaik’s latest book Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of Ramayana, Luv and Kush express their disbelief when they come to know that Ram, the King of Ayodhya whose praises they sing, had, in fact, abandoned Sita.

Shocked at the cruelty of Ram’s decision, they declare: “We shall never sing your song again.” The epic and, indeed, the fate of its heroine would perhaps evoke similar reactions today in first-time readers or listeners. For here’s a woman who spends a chunk of her life loving and longing for a husband, only to be rejected not once but twice for no fault of hers. 

On the surface, the story then is about one woman’s experience of patriarchy. But was Ramayana merely designed to validate gender oppression? Composed over 5,000 years ago and retold through the ages, perhaps the epic’s purpose was to illustrate the tyranny of rules. By sticking to unjust and man-made rules, Ram leads an unhappy, lonely life before walking into Saryu river chanting his wife’s name. 

In contrast, Sita, who refuses to return with Ram as the queen of Ayodhya and prove her chastity again to its people, dismisses social mores and chooses to go back to nature that does not judge her. Pattanaik skillfully explores this very aspect of Sita’s character in his retelling. 

Compare this with The Missing Queen, a novel released early this year, where author Samhita Arni looks at Sita and her various truths through the eyes of different people. The book ponders whether she fits into the ideal set-up of Ram Rajya. Arni had earlier collaborated with Patua artist Moyna Chitrakar for the graphic novel Sita’s Ramayana. Through fiction and retellings, the attempt seems to be to look at Sita minus the easy assumption of her victimhood. 

A passive victim?

Perhaps for a number of young people, it is not Valmiki’s Ramayana but Nina Paley’s popular animation film Sita Sings the Blues that informs their opinion of Sita. For them, the epic transforms into a story of “abused-heroine and abuser-hero,” as Pattanaik puts it.

He adds that the film focuses on Sita being abandoned by Ram. It does not focus on Ram not remarrying despite social pressures to do so. He is also the only god in the Hindu pantheon to be given the title of ekam patni vrata, which means true to one wife.

But, then, which epic has been fair to women? “All these stories do exist in a patriarchal set-up and are written by men. And nowhere in this world of patriarchal epics is a female character given such power as in the Ramayana,” he says. 

Paley agrees that Sita is given a lot of power and voice in many old versions but says the canonical Indian Ramayana of the last few decades is the Ramanand Sagar TV series. “This pretty much wiped out older versions from popular consciousness. In it, Sita is very passive and mostly sits around crying.” Paley adds that most criticism in her film stems from this version.

For Arni, Sita is far from a passive victim. “She argues with Ram to allow her to accompany him into exile, and he is forced into agreement. Although a captive, and in a position of little power, she does whatever is within her power to resist Ravana. When she is again exiled from Ayodhya, she raises her sons on her own, and when offered the choice to return to Ayodhya as a queen she decides she's had enough and chooses not to.” 

What’s with the chastity tests?

The trouble comes when Sita is asked to prove her purity and suspicions are raised on her chastity time and again. The question of whether Ram considered Sita to be pure becomes irrelevant because it places the burden of acceptance on him, which is discriminatory.

But Pattanaik illustrates through his book that Ram is maryada purushottama, ideal follower of rules, not ideal man as is popularly understood. “Rules by definition are unfair to one or another,” he says. Here the rules he upholds are unfair to his own wife and he sacrifices her. “He chooses his professional role as king over his personal role as husband. Maybe that was exemplary in Valmiki’s eyes.” he says. 

“If I were to be Ram's spokesperson, I'd start by quoting the famous proverb - ‘Caesar's wife must be above suspicion’," says Arni.

She says it is important to remember that we are discussing the fate of a king and queen of a nation here, the fate of a monarchy and the legitimacy of future heirs.

“Ram and Sita are not private individuals, they are public figures of enormous importance. One of Sita's functions is to bear a legitimate heir -- so Ram, before he accepts Sita as his wife and queen, needs to know that she has not been impregnated by Ravana. After all, Ravana did abduct her, and Ram has a hard time believing that he didn’t force himself on her,” says Arni.

Paley finds that Ram is "perfect" on the surface but his behaviour is not. Having said that, she adds: “Valmiki's Ramayana is quite deep and profound and to reduce it to good/evil, right/wrong is to miss the point.”

Sita: many writers, many lives

Devdutt Pattanaik

* Valmiki saw her as a heroine.

* Tulsidas saw her as the one who completes Ram as god.

* Adbhuta Ramayana of unknown authorship sees her as Goddess Kali.

* 20th-century commentators see her as a victim and a symbol of oppression

Samhita Arni

* Poet Chandrabati’s version of the Ramayana prioritises Sita’s perspective

* The Patua tradition places primacy on Sita’s perspective and voice

* Perhaps she remains a victim, but she certainly expresses her victimhood and is upset about it