Reading Notes: Devee's Sita

"Save our Sisters"

 A Taproot ad campaign targeted at reducing violence against women; the campaign was pulled after significant controversy involving several Hinduism websites arguing that this type of imagery was a debasement of the Hindu faith, and that women, and injuries to women, should not be compared or related to the goddesses they worshiped.

The argument for Rama's just exile of Sita to the jungle hinges upon the premise that his kingdom's honor retains a higher value than of his pregnant wife. The theme of sacrifice is strong within this text, and Sita's unflinching obedience to her husband is admirable, even as his own sacrifice (saying goodbye to his wife and unborn children) is lauded as a noble and honorable decision.

Honor and chastity seem to be the highest attainable virtues for women; they are not strictly treated as property, but they are expected to conform to a set of ideals which are laid out by fathers and husbands. I am aching to read a version of the Ramayana where Sita actually stands up for herself. The ability to treat ones self with respect is a cornerstone in the grand scheme of modern values; Rama and Sita both are badly abused by the honor code set out within the Ramayana, and their tragedy is rooted in a lack of self-respect. Rama defines himself by the honor of his kingdom and the pride of his family; Sita defines herself by the honor of her husband (which is seen when she refuses to allow Hanuman to rescue her). I take issue with the Ramayana's endorsement that the value and happiness of a woman's life can depend upon the gossip of day-laborers instead of on the choices and priorities of an entire lifetime.

Alternatively, in other versions, Rama becomes so angry when he hears the gossip of the town that he orders Lakshmana to take Sita to the woods, and kill her. In Search of Sita, by Namita Gokhale, explains that Sita only survives because the earth shook as Lakshmana aimed an arrow towards her. Hindu Manners, Customs and Cermonies, Volume 2, by Dubois and Beauchamp, present an only slightly less offensive version, where Lakshmana takes pity upon her but only because she was extremely pregnant; he proceeds to fake her death after allowing her to escape, and presents Rama with a seemingly blood-stained arrow to prove that she no longer lives.

Sita's character is fraught with sorrow, and Devee's portrayal of her uses several instances of foreshadowing throughout. "Furrow-born" strikes an image of a face wrinkling in sadness or tears, and this adjective is used in several places, even by King Janaka her father. Hints at future miseries cast a pall across the entirety of the work, and even the joy of her wedding or the tranquility of the forest is dampened while reading through this rendition. Sita and Rama, at least in the archaic setting of this tale, are doomed. The sacrifices they make for one another cannot redeem the priorities they hold dear, especially in Rama's approach to town gossip. A modern retelling could grant each of them the respect they owe themselves, and the ending that they deserve.

Bibleography
Nine Ideal Indian Women, Sunity Devee

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