Feminist Analysis of Adaptations of the Ramayana

Abstract

Ramayana and Mahabharata have seen many adaptations down the centuries. Recent ones like Volga’s The Liberation of Sita or Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila take up the woman question and reinterpret the story from a feminist perspective. This paper attempts to discuss the above nuances with reference to feminist critics like Wollstonecraft and Butler while also referring to other reinterpretations of the epic. I will discuss the short stories of Volga through a feminist lens and focus on the questioning of the caste system in Tripathi. Not only will I use Western texts but also refer to Indian texts like the Manusmriti to give a theoretical grounding to some of the basic understandings obtained. I will base some of my opinions on the popular reception of Ramayana across the country as documented by Madhu Kishwar. Other texts by Kavita Kane or Nabaneeta Dev Sen will also be take up to get a better understanding of the woman writing about another woman. It will come up through these discussions that the love for Ramayana is not only based on an unequivocal worshiping of Ram, but an equal questioning of his acts and a sympathetic identification with Sita.