![]() Sita’s maternal sensibility lends itself to a commitment to pluralism and pacifism in interesting ways. Ironically, she gives birth to the twins in Valmiki’s ashram after Ram banishes her to the forest, and they turn out just fine. “Couldn’t feel how achingly lonely I was? How much I longed for something to hold in my empty arms and cuddle and take care of? Something that depended upon me for its happiness … he way a husband never would.”īut, in the patriarchal scheme of things, this is not the time or place for bearing and grooming their royal progeny. Sita claims her right to self-realisation through mothering: Though this may sound syrupy and stereotypical, it is one of Divakaruni’s bold strokes. ![]() Once the golden deer has worked its charm, it comes to embody the infant missing in her life. The repressed longing for a child, who cannot, it is decided, be subjected to the rigours of forest life, sows the seeds of quiet resentment. This may be fulfilling but it doesn’t make her complete. Their time in forest also allows Ram to focus on being the husband, protector and lover of Sita. It offers her the opportunity for an adventure unlike the heavily structured and formalised life of a princess/queen. Eventually, the forest reveals itself to her. When she joins her exiled husband along with Lakshman, these romantic notions face the test of harsh reality. To city dwellers (of Mithila or Ayodhya), the forest is a dangerous place, the abode of rakshasas, but Sita is drawn to its mysteries and freedom. Maybe for the same reason, when I touched a plant, I knew its healing properties.” ![]() ![]() Perhaps it was because, like them, I was earth-born. “My strange gift with plants was a mystery to me. ![]() Sita’s gardening skills, knowledge of herbs, healing touch and enchantment with the forest – all set the tone of her narrative: Through her nuanced perception and subtle interventions, she is able to reconfigure the ethical issues underlying the epic.ĭivakaruni draws upon Sita’s identification and bond with earth/nature to endow her with a consistent and compelling vision. Her maternal sensibility and pacifist leanings inform her politics. Sita, daughter of Earth and the archetypal mother, ‘listens’ to the women characters on the margins and shines a loving light on this mythic, yet very real, world. The Forest of Enchantments, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s latest offering, is a richly rendered retelling of the Ramayana from the perspective of Sita. ![]()
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