#Bookreview: The Liberation of Sita
Original title: Vimukta (Telugu)
Author: Volga
Translated by T.Vijaya Kumar & C. Vijayasree
No of. pages: 132
Release date: 22 Aug 2016
ISBN: 9789351772484
My rating: 4 out of 5
THE LIBERATION OF SITA:
There have been many adaptations and retelling of the epic Ramayana, Volga's vimukta takes a fresh look at certain portions of Sita's life and shows us a journey that questions truth, dharma, fidelity, duty, and feminism. few years after slaying the demon king Ravana, Rama abandons Sita in the forest, Sita, now a single mom raises her sons in Valmiki's ashram teaching them kshatriya dharma and practice so that Rama will accept his son when the time comes.initially, Sita was filled with pain, confusion and disbelief, her experience from the past, her meetings, interaction and wisdom gained from those interaction light her way for liberation.
The first story "The Reunion" is the reunion of Sita and her rival demoness surpanaka. knowing that surpanaka still lives in the forest, Sita anguish herself imagining a life with mutilated nose and ears. her guilt forced her towards surpanaka. surprised to see surpanaka living a happy life, sita learned that beauty is a hard thing to conquer and has different ways of representing itself but having a pretty nose isn't one of them. sita could relate to surpanaka, both loved rama.
"was angusish inevitable for women who love sri rama?"
The next one, "Music of Earth" shows us a minor character agalya from Valmiki's Ramayana. as the story is known to us, Indra lusted over agalya, disguised as her husband Gautama, he fulfilled his desire. Gautama disowned agalya for not knowing the difference. But this story does not question the unjust happened to agalya but it deals with the very nature of truth and how agalya dealt with the whole thing. does agalya know it's indra, is it the truth or does it matter.
"what does conducting an enquiry imply,sita? distrust, isn't it?"
"The Sand Pot" is the story of Renuka Devi who got hacked by her own son as his father commanded. the story explores the ideas such as duty and fidelity, one's duty as a son, as a wife.does obey Aryan dharma more important than one's own wife or mother.
"Are such bonds, with a husband and sons, necessary for women?I thought they were not, so I moved away from them?"
"The liberated" when Lakshman accompanied Rama into the forest, Urmila penanced herself into loneliness for fourteen years where she meditated, questioned herself, her duty, her nature, the new changes within herself and with her relationship with her husband. Till her loneliness becomes solitude.
"jealousy, hatred, love,respect--- what's the real difference between these feelings? is there any difference at all or they merely shades of the same feeling"
"The Shackled" it is not the about the chains that bind sita but the chains that bind rama as Rama realizes that he's never been free, he's always bound by the duty of an emperor, son, aryan. the only time where he was free were those fourteen years in the forest with Sita when they roamed as a pair of wild dears.
"I am the one who is weak and incapable. my exalted nobleness is my handicap.with this political power, I have lost control over myself. I have lost my sita.i have lost my son"
My views:
The narration is from Sita's perspective. the writing is non-linear, done to highlight specific points of Ramayana. this book is for those who are already familiar with Valmiki's Ramayana, for people with different ethnicity, this book might be ambiguous. the language was over simplified. they tried to translate word by word in the most case. I felt that's ridiculous, idioms and phrases change from language to language, it's only reasonable to adapt to that language which the book was been translated to. that's the only thing I felt off about this book.
My favorite part is agalya, she is indeed a mystery, Sita's mother in law says that she is a noble woman whereas Rama says she is a characterless woman, as agalya herself said it doesn't matter. Another thing I felt a little weird or cliche-ish is the part where Rama says he's the powerless one and admitting that sita is the only one in all these years who defeated him, in a funny way this remained me of frank miller dark knight returns comics. a wonderful book, I read in a single sit.this book is fresh, and gives a new feminist look to Ramayana. I am giving 4 out of 5.
---YUVA
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