The Forest of Enchantments: Sita’s Ramayana is sure to cast a spell!

Imagine a Sita who asks Lord Indra if he ever regretted what he did to Ahalya. Imagine a Sita who decides at the time of her wedding that King Dasharath wouldn’t dictate her life.

Postergirl for all the beautiful qualities in a woman, when you hear Sita’s narration of the story generations have grown up reading, it is hard not to fall in love with her.

Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee's Sita is a deeply nuanced and well-etched character.

There is Sita the healer with magic in her to treat the ailing, Sita the young girl with a cosmic connection to Shiva’s bow and Sita the warrior princess trained to battle with celestial astras.

There is Sita who repairs the fractured relationship between Kausalya and her husband Dasharath, Sita who duels with Kaikeyi in a battle of wits and strength, and Sita the life companion of Ram who loves and forgives him even when it is hard for her to do so.

In a tale where all decisions and events of the characters are centred around duty and righteousness, Sita in The Forest of Enchantments quietly shatters all glorified notions of what a king’s dharma ought to be. She holds us in rapture with her constant volley of interjections and questions. And never once (to the writer’s credit) does Sita’s characterisation feel too modern or out of place in an epic, even when she makes references to contemporary concerns like animal rights, and inclusive societies (she points out the ‘othering’ of the asura race by humans).

The Forest of Enchantments while retelling the Ramayana from Sita’s point of view, manages to retain all the major events of the epic - from Sita and Ram’s wedding leading up to their exile and the turn of events thereafter.

While some may find certain descriptive portions of the book dampening the pace of the narrative, Banerjee’s lyrical writing style and fresh imagery keeps one riveted. The simple yet fresh language she employs is deeply evocative.

Sample this:“Sweat beaded Kaikeyi’s face like pearl drops. Slim and strong and nimble, she moved like a much younger woman. Something about her stance rseminded me of the symbol on her seal, which she’d clearly chosen with care: the leaping tiger.”

Although The Forest of Enchantments is not the only treatise to dwell on Sita’s story, the multitude of voices that Banerjee blends in within the larger narrative of Sita’s is what makes the book unique amidst the several Sitayans we have today. Urmila, Kausalya, Kaikeyi, Ahalya, Mandodari, Shurpanakha, and even Sita’s mother Sunaina get to tell their stories here.

Love and its myriad associated emotions is the overarching theme of The Forest of Enchantments. Sita deconstructs love for herself and the readers as she goes along her journey, and the last lines of the book, a testimony of the understanding she gains, is sure to linger on.

Ram’s portrayal is realistic with no whitewashing. His ideals and his flaws are represented in equal measure. Raavan too is depicted with his shades of grey.

WATCH | In conversation with Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee

Yes, Sita’s flaws could have been highlighted a little more, to make her more human, and less an embodiment of all the perfect virtues of a woman. Sita’s prescience (there is sometimes an excess of visions and foreboding) of all the pre-ordained events that are taking place too seems a little unreal.

Banerjee is markedly feminist when compared to The Palace of Illusions, her retelling of the Mahabharata that was published 10 years ago. Her spin on the most pivotal moment of Sita’s life, the agnipariksha episode, is a moment of feminist brilliance.

Her Sita answers all the questions we would have had when listening to the Ramayana while leaving us with plenty of food for thought.

“He has come to teach the men, but you have come to teach the women. The lesson you teach will be a quieter one, but as important.”

READ an excerpt from the book HERE: 

The Forest of Enchantments; Author: Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee

Publisher: Harper Collins India

Rs 599.00; 372 pages