NEW DELHI, Aug 29: Noted Telugu feminist writer Volga retells Sita’s tale of morality, choice and sacrifice, opening up new spaces within the old discourse and enabling women to review their lives and experiences afresh.
‘The Liberation of Sita’ by Volga (Popuri Lalitha Kumari) is translated into English by C Vijayasree and T Vijay Kumar and published by HarperCollins India.
Valmiki’s Ramayana is the story of Rama’s exile and return to Ayodhya, a triumphant king who will always do right by his subjects.
In Volga’s retelling, it is Sita who, after being abandoned by Lord Rama, embarks on an arduous journey to self-realisation. Along the way, she meets extraordinary women who have broken free from all that held them back: husbands, sons, and their notions of desire, beauty and chastity.
The minor women characters of the epic Surpanakha, Renuka, Urmila and Ahalya steer Sita towards an unexpected resolution. Meanwhile, Rama too must reconsider and weigh out his roles as the king of Ayodhya and as a man deeply in love with his wife.
The publisher says Volga is at her feminist best in ‘The Liberation of Sita’.
The stories in the collection revolve around the character of Sita against the backdrop of the Ramayana.
Volga wondered why Sita and Suparnakha could not be friends and that’s when she felt like writing a story about Suparnakha’s pain.
“The result was the story ‘Reunion’. In this story Sita notices Suparnakha’s deep insight. She notes Suparnakha’s empowerment and Suparnakha’s struggle with herself to achieve it,” the author says.
After writing the story, Volga says, she felt great affection for Sita’s character.
She also feels there must have been other women who joined Sita in her journey. “Sita must have struggled hard with herself to leave Rama. Merely being angry with him would not have been enough to separate herself from him.”
According to Volga, there are many women before Sita who were victims of insults, rejections, curses and neglect by the world, husbands and families. She says her stories are for these women. (PTI)
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