Why Sitayana needs to be taught at schools - A perspective
Sitayana is a brilliant retelling of The Ramayana by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni through Queen Sita’s eyes.
I had an urge to pen this down because of the impact the book had on me, changed my worldviews, views about strength, empowerment, womanhood, feminism, and forced me to rethink my most preconceived notions about life.
Most of us are exposed to The Ramayan for the first time as children, we are too young to think through and ask questions, seeing the characters of the story in black or white ignoring the grey area, years pass by we remember the story in important bits and pieces, I was no different until I read The Forest of Enchantments a.k.a Sitayan
A large takeaway from the book is how we are hardwired to have a limited perspective of strength. When someone says strength why do we think of a big man, 6 foot 2, biceps as big as his face, yes maybe, but why? why just the one definition of strength?
Why is one of the first significant symbols of feminism a woman having big biceps and shown flexing? Is there a fundamental gap that has been carried on which says if a woman wants to be perceived as strong she should resemble a man in her actions rather than embracing differences and looking for her own strengths?
The book brought me back to rationalize what I thought of strength, power, and individuality.
Could not help but wonder, why people only talk about the bravery of Lord Ram, Lakshman, and Hanuman but not about the perseverance and hope Queen Sita showed sitting in the Ashok Vatika for months, how Urmila sacrificed 14 years of her life asleep for her husband Lakshman to stay wide awake in the woods, how Ravana's wife Mandodari kept Sita strong, passively supporting her throughout and many many such unknown women who have demonstrated different versions of toughness which need to be spoken of and be inspired by.
It’s frightening to see young girls being extremist, aggressive in the name of feminism, trying to imitate rather than reflect, only question rather than read, jump on the bandwagon rather than identifying their own strengths.
Girls don’t have to ape men or try and fit in the framework of a strong woman, now more than ever we should look into ourselves, our originality, our truth, and authenticity rather than just flowing away with what the majority are doing.
Everyone is gifted with their own strength, a superpower if you fail to recognize it and use it for the better you may eventually lose it.
My number 1 recommendation here
Thanks, for reading :)
