"Then I recognize what they're singing. It's not Valmiki's great epic! They're singing the pages I'd written in my lonely darkness, out of the need to give voice to all of us who were pushed to the edges. Misjudged, misunderstood. My truth, and the truth of the women whose lives touched mine for better or worse. Their laughter and tears, their triumph and suffering, their blessings and curses."
How do I express my feelings after reading this epic version of this one of the most popular epics of our culture; would my confession of reading this book twice probably do justice to my expression...I read it twice only because I wanted to still dwell in those moments of Sita, because I felt it to be too less to just experience it only once, because I somehow felt every part of it so enchanting that a one time read would not do justice to all my desires!
A Sitayan indeed! And how incredibly Chitra does justice in portraying every other female character of this epic through Sita! No wonder she took long time in dwelling on her character herself and then presenting it to all of us who are fans of her writing and her style.
It has been a 360 degree transformation in my perspective of Sita as a character. Every aspect of her character is so beautifully portrayed - an abandoned girl found from the earth by Janak while ploughing a field, young girl with seemingly divine powers, a princess with high intellect, an elder sister to a very childish Urmila, an understanding daughter-in-law and a better half in real sense of the word to her husband Ram. The kind of thoughts that Chitra's Sita has, the kind of questions, the kind of logic, the kind of desires, the kind of arguments, the kind of patience, the kind of analysis, the kind of resilience and the kind of justice that she has makes me wonder about how great a human was she, though goddess incarnated.
There are a lot of expressions across the novel which make me think deep but my most favorite ones are the expressions on love mentioned by Sita at those very significant junctures of the story which are not just astounding but so true to not relate with. I'm so overwhelmed by this novel that I think no matter how much I try to express I'm sure to not feel satisfied with my expressions.
If Draupadi is a synonym for Fire, I think Sita is a synonym for Resilience! This is indeed the best gift that we can give all our daughters to seek to know not just the meaning of love, compassion, patience, endurance, forgiveness, support, kind, care, healing but also to understand the boundaries, the defining moments of knowing how much and how long to give in and let go and forgive and when to take the necessary action to let the other, no mater how beloved the person, to know that they have reached the edge and there's no going beyond that point.
Throughout my years of growing up, this question kept haunting me that why did Sita agree for the Agni Pariksha. I had great analysis made, which was quite lengthy and exhaustive, but Chitra's story added that important missing element to my thinking that the quetion no more haunts me.
Chitra Banerjee has indeed done justice to all the female characters of the story and brought them into their deserving light! Whether you like mythology or not, this book is monumental in understanding the very subtle but significant emotions that every human experiences across their life's journey - so, without a second thought - grab your copy and dive into the forests of enchantments.
"I forgave you a long time ago," I say to Ram. "Though I didn't know it until now. Because this is the most important aspect of love, whose other face is compassion: It isn't doles out, drop by drop.It doesn't measure who is worthy and who isn't. It is like the ocean. Unfathomable, Astonishing, Measureless."
Happy Reading!
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