Gender neutral telling of The epic Ramayana

In the contemporary world, we live in today, where opinions and comments flow like free water, it’s not so much about which voices are heard, rather about which aren’t. Women’s voices, largely speaking, have fallen faint to cocksure masculine perspectives, not just in modern India but also in the India of the epics. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s thought-stirring new book, The Forest of Enchantments, by HarperCollins, uses Sita’s voice in a new frame of reference for all that transpired during the time. 

Launched recently to a house full of cheering ladies, and some men, at the DLF5 The Crest Clubhouse in Gurgaon, Divakaruni spoke about the exigent demand of looking at Sita not only as a meek, obedient follower of Ram but as an independent, strong woman. “When I read the many Ramayanas that have been written, I realised that the idealistic Sita was a mistaken interpretation of this wonderful, complex, strong woman. It’s because all of them were so male-focused that she got lost between the celebrated figures of Ram and Laxman. I wanted to belabour her quiet resonance, her strengths, that she harboured within her, that sadly were never spoken about,” says Divakaruni.  

The book looks at the admirable way in which Sita conducted herself as the first single parent from our history. How she falls in love. It explores her wonderful relationship with her sister. How she gets angry sometimes or takes a wrong decision… all exemplifying her humane side and the beauty of that. 

It also excavates Sita’s relationships with other women from the epic, that works as an important tool to understand Sita’s position. “Because we’re not given a glimpse into these other characters, we only see their actions, and therefore they are judged negatively, for example, if you look at  the context in which Kaikai or Surpanakha did what they did, you’ll understand that they cannot be held in judgement,” says the author.  

Forest of Enchantments is a wonderful read, vastly different from all other conventional writings of The Ramayana. Here, Sita’s voice leads you through all the poignant episodes of this great epic that deserves a gender-neutral telling.  

Sita’s life
The book looks at the admirable way in which Sita conducted herself as the first single parent from our history. How she falls in love. It explores her relationship with her sister. How she gets angry or takes a wrong decision.