Rejecting Sita: Indian Responses to the Ideal Man's Cruel Treatment of His Ideal Wife

Heß, Linda

doi:10.1093/jaarel/67.1.1

Cited by 19 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…This is evident in the Puranic literature of Hinduism, which contains many stories. The aforementioned Sita, the primordial role model for women in India, had to endure agni pariksha , that is, walking through fire to prove her chastity and purity; the same was not required of her husband (Hess, 1999; Kishwar, 1997). Women’s independence is curbed extensively, thus curtailing their ability to earn for themselves; this, again, is reinforced by certain religious texts, for example, Manusmriti , Chapter 5, Verse 148: “In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her husband is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.”…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion in the lives of Hindu widows: Narratives from Vrindavan, India.

Pandey

Gupta

2019

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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Religion's impact on society cannot be overestimated. In the multireligious country of India, it is prevalent in the micro-level interactions and practices of commoners and the macro-level strategies and policies of political parties. Religion thus holds power to make or break societal structures and practices. This article investigates the role of religion in the lives of widows living in Vrindavan, India, by analyzing 37 narratives. Religion was found to have a dual role. Through the sociological lens, it is among the major reasons for these widows' marginalized and dejected condition, having been abandoned by their families and society. The sociological themes comprise interpreting the doctrine of karma to rationalize widowhood, the formation of negative attitudes toward widows, and religion as a source of exclusion. Conversely, through the psychological lens, religion provides them with the necessary psychological resources to cope with several hardships in their daily lives. The psychological themes comprise seeing misery as an instrument of God, developing a personal connection with God, surrendering to God, using religious rituals as distractions from misery, helping others, and conceptualizing Vrindavan as a place of Krishna and enabler of spiritual retreat. The linkages to theory and a model for religion in the lives of Vrindavan widows are also discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion in the lives of Hindu widows: Narratives from Vrindavan, India.

Pandey

Gupta

2019

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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“…An elderly Brahmin priest, interviewed in a documentary film, eloquently conveyed by his sparse words and strained expression the difficulty that these episodes cause to religious Ramayana enthusiasts." 9 Sita's name is sometimes associated with the tradition of Sati or fire ordeal. Both signify a purity and devotion to the husband and are "iconized as resting with divine serenity in the blaze, smiling as the flames envelop them".…”

Section: Popular Receptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rama says nothing." 10 Tulsidas on the contrary, mitigate Ram's cruelty and as Hess says, explains him away with an elaborate plot device. He totally omits the cruel speech present in older texts so that there is no speck on Ram's character.…”

Section: Popular Receptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a cultural environment where Ram and Sita are widely and fervently believed to be real, both historical and divine figures, we can say that most of them are claiming to reject the "real" Sita. Swimming in an ocean of texts, knowing that all textual Sitas are chhaya Sitas, rising and disappearing between the covers of a book or the opening and closing of a performance, they are rejecting the Sita of patriarchy" 11 This identification with Sita's plight has given rise to a number of retellings by women for instance the Chandrabati Ramayana. Nabaneeta Dev Sen in her essay, "Rewriting the Ramayana: Chandrabati and Molla" draws to the fact that Sita provides a voice to the silent suffering of women.…”

Section: Popular Receptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Feminist Analysis of Adaptations of the Ramayana

Pal

2022

Integr. J. Res. Arts Humanities

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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.

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“…In Sita and Draupadi, feminists have found it feasible to talk about women's being in terms of dignity, rights and equality theorizing the women's position in society as that of "minor," subaltern, and marginalized. Several analyses and interpretations (Chanda-Vaz, 2017;Hess, 1999;Lodhia, 2015Lodhia, , 2021Luthra, 2014;Moodley, 2020;Spivak, 2006) mine the stories as told in the epics to delve in thematics and character vis-àvis gender. A lot of the interpretation of women characters continues to be on the lines of looking at women as using their mind and body as "instruments of challenge and of critiquing the patriarchal, hegemonic system of values" (Jain, 2011, p. 46).…”

Section: Hagiographical Fiction As a Global South Project Of Feminist Re-visioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feminist Literary Criticism Meets Feminist Theology: Yashodhara and the Rise of Hagiographical Fiction in Modern Feminist Re-visioning

Wadhwa

2021

Sage Open

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Feminist re-visioning has led to heterogenous retellings of mythological heroines in fiction. Sita and Draupadi, two of the well-known Indian mythological characters, have been explored in various capacities in mythological fiction. Yashodhara, Buddha’s wife, is a recent addition to this re-visioning project. This article seeks to engage with three retellings of Yashodhara’s story—each of which is radically different from the others. The result is the rise of hagiographical fiction around the character—responsive to the Buddhist ethos of love and spirituality. This article argues that the most intriguing representations of Yashodhara found in this fiction are rooted in the nonoppositional agency given to her character.

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Rejecting Sita: Indian Responses to the Ideal Man's Cruel Treatment of His Ideal Wife

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

Religion in the lives of Hindu widows: Narratives from Vrindavan, India.

Religion in the lives of Hindu widows: Narratives from Vrindavan, India.

Feminist Analysis of Adaptations of the Ramayana

Feminist Literary Criticism Meets Feminist Theology: Yashodhara and the Rise of Hagiographical Fiction in Modern Feminist Re-visioning

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