In the age of resurrecting Ram, Chitra Banerjee has resurrected Sita in her latest novel, The Forest of Enchantments.
“Having given Draupadi a voice, I wanted to focus on Sita, who is a real icon of Indian womanhood. It seemed more timely, considering everything happening in the country,” she said.
At the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival, the author spoke of her novel, which has broken popular narratives of the epic, Ramayana, and breathed a new lease of life to both the characters of Ram and Sita.
Deconstructing the characters from the epic, Chitra said her Sita is intelligent, sometimes headstrong, strong, resilient and complex, unlike the Sita in the popular versions.
In the age when literary and creative freedom are at stake due to the sensibilities around them, Chitra said she was aware of the repercussions. However, one could not fault her work because Sita is innately a wonderful character, one with a wonderful womanhood, she added.
Pointing at the high standards of perfection and purity on women today, she said, “It’s very important for us to show that icons are also human.”
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