Book reminds her readers that the Ramayana,
besides being a morality tale, is a love story at its heart.
Written by Chitra
Banerjee Diwakaruni
About the Author :
Chitralekha Banerjee is an Indian-American author,
poet and the Betty and Gene McDavid professor of writing at the university of
Houston creative writing Programme.
The Forest of Enchantments is not just Sita’s story, this is the story of the women of the Ramayana, and Divakaruni does more than enough justice to them in her retelling.
The Forest of Enchantments is not just Sita’s story, this is the story of the women of the Ramayana, and Divakaruni does more than enough justice to them in her retelling.
About the book :
We all know how the Ramayana plays out. This great Indian epic has been retold multiple times. Writer’s verison reminds us besides Ramayana being the tale of the greatest man and his moralities, it is about a love story- a tragic one, created by misunderstandings and boundaries of faith and fidelity.
Primarily the book being about and around Sita, its also about major and minor woman characters in Ramayana. Writer cleverly deals with this and gives them all unique voices. Even while the love, compassion being described for Sita, writer beautifully depicted Urmila- one of the least noticed sacrifice done by this woman. Writer has elegantly shown the vibrant nature of Urmila in the most decent manner. She gives voice to Urmila who has often been muted.
We see Sita as writer wants us to see her, and yet there are so many shades to her. She reasons. She fights. She agonises. And above all, she wants to claim her voice and say what she has to. Reading The Forest of Enchantments, one can’t help but compare it with the other versions written before — they are generally more about Ramayana as a whole than Sita really.
Often we drift apart from Sita and go with Ram when Sita is abducted by Ravana. However, the writer take you along with Sita on the other side of the story, often left neglected. A fictional glimpse of Sita who comes across as a fierce conservationist, she revels in her own being, is mindful of pleasure and grief, of empathy and understanding, and is brimming with dignity for herself and for everyone else. She is the original feminist.
My favourite thought provoking lines from the book are :
“You aren’t some weak-willed wench. You can control your emotions. Remember all that you’ve survived. Behave like the queen you are. No one can take your dignity away from you. You lose it only by your own actions.”
“Motherhood taught me something new about love. It was the one
relationship where you gave everything you had and then wished you had more to
give.”
“I don’t agree with you that the private life must be sacrificed for the public one. And that is the final advice that I leave for my children: my dearest boys, balance duty with love. Trust me, it can be done.”
“I don’t agree with you that the private life must be sacrificed for the public one. And that is the final advice that I leave for my children: my dearest boys, balance duty with love. Trust me, it can be done.”
“Forgive me, Sister, I said silently, you who are the unsung heroine of this tale, the one who has the tougher role: to wait and to worry.”
Conclusion:
The Forest of
Enchantments is a work of grace and kindness, of pluralities and possibilities.
This is the Sitayan of its own kind to learn how a woman is to be treated, and
how exactly not. Post reading this book you may have more words of praise
for Sita than for Ram.Go, grab your copy now!
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