ENG 4433: Topics in World Lit

Do you know that vague whisper of déjà vu you sometimes feel when reading a story that's really old, like the early days of classical antiquity sort of old? And it's as though  something is breathing through the story. If you close your eyes and breathe along with it—deep inhale down to your root chakra ... s  l  o  w  exhale ... find the pulse and tempo—then maybe some of those truths, so neatly encapsulated in myths and symbols, will break loose and reveal themselves to you. All those years measured by the movement of stars and continents will fall away, cultures and religions will twine themselves into one strong loop of shared human experience. Our bone-deep connectivity will be laid bare. While reading the graphic novel  Sita's Ramayana by writer Samhita Arni and Patua scroll-painter Moyna Chitrakar, I felt the breath of that something  inviting me to read closer, look closer, get closer. (Arni & Chitrakar 129) Linguisti...

Ramayana stands among India's oldest epic poems, one of the two surviving stories dating as far back as the seventh century B.C. Unfortunately, its protagonist has not stood the test of time. The poem tells the story of Rama, an exiled prince whose wife, Sita, chooses to accompany him despite not facing the same punishment. When Sita is kidnapped, Rama rescues her more out of a sense of obligation than love, ultimately questioning his wife's virtue and casting her away through no fault of her own. Rama is upheld as the ideal man, husband, and king throughout his tale. Samhita Arni, the author of Sita's Ramayana , clearly thinks otherwise. Sita's Ramayana , as one might suspect, is a graphic novel retelling of the epic poem shared from Sita's point of view. The original poem leaves little room for the exploration of her character, treating her more as a blank slate meant to represent the ideal wife of the time. She merely exists to shape her husband's characte...

Sita’s Ramayana The Ramayana  is an Indian epic about Rama, an exiled prince who embarks on a journey to restore his honor by saving his wife, Sita, who was abducted by King Ravana from the forest. Sita’s Ramayana is a graphic novelization of Valmiki’s Ramayana from Sita’s perspective. This isn’t JUST a graphic novel, though. Samhita Arni puts English words to Moyna Chitrakar ’s original patua scroll painting of the Ramayana. Patua are Bengali artisans of Patachitra art, and their painted scroll tradition share the name. Patua scrolls are not meant to be looked at only! They’re part of an interactive practice where the narrator usually sings along while holding and pointing to parts of the scroll. The publisher Tara Books posted Moyna singing her Ramayana scroll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y6yjuUH1zk The Patua Scroll as a Graphic Novel The patua scroll is very adaptable to the graphic novel format because it naturally has panels the way comics do. S...

I've been back on Tinder lately, and, in my swiping, I've noticed a solid portion of the women I come across are searching for a woman for their man. It's odd and often uncomfortable for me to see. It reminds me of how even today, we view women not as individuals. We, as women, are always connected to something, or should I say, someone else. Of course, it doesn't help I've been reading Sita's Ramayana , so I'm all on a feminism kick. It's basically a graphic novel adaption of the epic poem The Ramayana  but written in the perspective of Sita rather than Rama, as it is usually told. The Ramayana is your traditional hero epic. There's lots of battles, death, and weddings. If you're interested in the traditional story, I'd recommend checking out Crash Course's mythology series , however, as Sita's Ramayana  focuses on something a little different than the original epic. It's focuses, on the title implies, on Sita's exper...

First looking at the title of Sita's Ramayana on the syllabus, I was confused. Both of the words were brand new for me. Taking this class has really opened me up to new everything - new cultures, new words, new worlds. However, this one really confused me - Sita was probably a name but what was Ramayana? I did what any millennial/Gen-Z/whatever-they're-calling-my-generation-now scholar would do: I turned to Google. The Ramayana is an epic poem depicting Prince Rama trying to save his wife Sita from Rava, who has ten heads and twenty arms. It's very important in Indian culture since it was written in Sanskrit and it teaches ancient Hindu teachings. After learning all this, the title made more sense. Instead of her being an object to fight over and rescue, what would it be like through Sita's eyes? The story was her's, yet it was rarely ever discussed her version of events or how it felt to have a war fought over her. Reading Sita's Ramayana  was extre...

We all know the story. You know; the one where the princess is helpless and can't defend herself, so she gets kidnapped. The prince has to save her because, well, who else would? They live happily ever after...blah, blah, blah. Does it ring a bell? Of course it does; it's every Western fairy tale we've ever known. Much to my surprise, I found the same is true of other cultures as well. Today, I'd like for us to take a closer look at Ramayana. This is a classic Indian tale of a prince's rescue missing to save his beloved from the clutches of evil, dating back to somewhere around 500BC. It's pretty predictable in the sense that you can expect the prince to be successful  saving the damsel in distress. He's a hero (at least from his own perspective). But what if we challenged the prince's viewpoint? We always seem to get the male's perspective on these great rescue, but there's a very important voice missing from these tales we have come to know ...

Hi GUYS!!! I KNOW I’VE BEEN SLACKING ABOUT UPLOADING videos and what not, but lately I’ve been having some technical issues and life has been CRAZY! We are at the finish line you guys, we are almost done with the semester and Christmas time (Mt favorite part of the years besides my birthday). Today I am going to do a regular review (booooo, I know) without a video, just words and my opinion. With you already knowing how my voice sounds, you can read it in my to make it more interesting and help you understand it! Lets dig into thus weeks review!!!      Sita's Ramayana ‘The Ramayana’ is an ancient comic that was composed during the 5th BCE about the Prince Rama of Ayodhya and the seventh avatar of Vishnu . Prince Rama was returning from a quest to save his to save his wife, Sita, from Ravana [1] . Ravana was a mythical multi-headed demon-king of Lanka in Hindu mythology . Ravana had ten heads with twenty arms, and could change into any form that he wishe...

As I began the graphic novel it came clear to me, that I had to do a bit more research in order for to understand where this novel was coming from, where it was going and what I and it's target audience could get from it. So off to research I went. I found out that Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit tail, that is a major text in the Hind religion. It was written between 500 and 100 BC. The story line is about Prince Rama and his wife Sita, who is kidnapped by King Ravana, who tries to convince Sita to marry him though she refuses. By the way King Ravana has ten heads is quite evil... ( no wonder she refuses, I think I would have as well..) So with the history of the tail in mind, the graphic novel is easier for me to understand. Sita's Ramayana is an adaptation of these Hindu tails that were originally paintings. I think it is awesome that it is now written as a  graphic novel which also uses pictures to get it's point across. The use of color in this graphic novel is simply ...

 Have you ever read something for the first time and thought perhaps you'd read it before? Turns out,  Sita's Ramayana seems like an exotic, foreign version of a story most of us are familiar with.  After reading it, I couldn't help but compare Sita to the Christian Mary. Both are pregnant. Both have to prove their virtue and goodness to their husbands. Both are idealized as the epitomized as the perfect woman. Both of these epic heroines draw upon a set of near-perfect attributes. Sita could be a  heroine from any number of cultures: women seem to have to prove their worth, and worth is usually based upon sexual purity. The message of Sita is the same one that has been passed down worldwide-- it's that women should be pure, above reproach and love their husbands-- and it doesn't matter that the husbands aren't very smart, worthy or kind. When the reader looks at the illustrations in Sita's Ramayana , we meet Sita as a woman heavily pregnant with twins, for...

The question you may ask yourself is, what is a Ramayana? Well a Ramayana to put short is an epic Indian poem in Hindu literature. A “Ramayana” is also known as “the Journey of Rama.” And in this journey, the king Rama sets off to save his abducted wife by the name of Sita. In like manner, “Sita’s Ramayana” by Samhita Arni & Moyna Chitrakar is about the woman’s perspective to the Ramayana. It is about the own perspective of Sita, the queen, to be more exact. It is about Sita’s empathy, coupled with her compassion for those that are around her. Given these points, ‘Sita’s Ramayana ‘is very much a must read graphic novel that will move you and spark any feminist curiosity in reading this great book. The messages throughout this graphic novel vary from loyalty, honor, compassion, the price of war, trust, and ultimately right vs. wrong. I want to focus on the message of the price of war and trust. Sita is abducted by King Ravana. And consequently, Sita’s husband, King Rama and he...

Hello, cyberworld! I am excited to say that today I will be discussing Sita’s Ramanyana . Before I begin, however, lets first explore the Ramayana. A quick internet search revealed that the Ramayana is one of two major Indian epics, and just like in Sita’s Ramayana, the epic follows the story of Rama’s journey to rescue his wife, Sita, who was kidnapped by Ravana, a King from Lanka. The difference between the traditional epic and the graphic novel is the perspective it is told in. Samhita Arni’s graphic novel explores Sita’s point of view and as such has a different ending in comparison to the original epic. I must admit, I wasn’t crazy about this graphic novel at first. While reading Sita’s Ramanyana, I struggled to focus. As a westerner with no prior knowledge of Indian culture, it was hard for me to understand certain concepts such as demons and gods. I also struggled reading all the battle and war scenes. I just couldn’t connect with it. But, I pushed myself to finish this graphic ...

There is a saying that claims “not all heroes wear capes.” In various stories, especially those in graphic novels and comics there is always a hero. Some are more obvious than others like with the superheroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman etc. Their incredible strength, fancy gadgets, and overall ability to fight crime and kick butt makes them obvious super heroes, but what about those heroes that don’t wear capes? In life and in many stories, the hero is not always easy to place or identify. This is the case in  Sita’s Ramayana   by Samhita Arnie and Moyna Chitrakar.   Sita’s Ramayana   is a graphic novel with a variety of different characters that leaves the reader wondering “Just who is the hero of this epic and could there be more than one?”  Defining “Hero”: There are numerous definitions of a hero. There is the familiar classification of someone who is respected and admired for things like their bravery or outstanding achievements, as w...

If you’re like me, nothing can replace the experience of seeing art in person. I have spent happy times exploring museums, marveling at their sculptures, paintings, and tapestries. And usually find myself gravitating toward exhibits of India’s antiquities with its seemingly endless gods and goddesses. As much as I love this art, I can’t take it home with me. The good news is there’s a trend in graphic novels based on folk art. For instance, Sita’s Ramayana , written by Samhita Arni and illustrated by Moyna Chitrakar, does just that. Five minutes of reading this graphic novel was all it took to see how beautifully it presents India’s narrative art. So, you’re probably asking, what is this Ramayana? For those who don’t know the mythology, think of it like The Iliad . It’s one of India’s oldest poems (try 2,500-years-old) and means “Rama’s journey.” One of the longest, too, with more than 24,000 verses (I kid you not) that teach Hindu values like morality, faith, and duty (Das). Sita’s...

Sita’s Ramayana is the title of the graphic novel that we will be discussing next which, if I may, exceeded my expectations as it focuses on a woman’s perspective during time of war by switching to Sita’s point of view Ramayana is the original story in which Prince Rama, who is Sita’s husband, and Sita along with Lakshmana are exiled from the kingdom of Ayodhya for fourteen years, so they end up living in the forest. One day, while Rama and Lakshmana are away, Ravana, the king of Lanka sees Sita alone and wants her for himself, so he decides to kidnap her. Soon after, war is declared in hopes of defeating Ravana, and Rama and Lakshmana get the help of the monkeys and Hanuman is their leader. Having said that, the most important part of the story is when Sita is questioned about her virtue for having been with Ravana for so long. Rama doesn’t trust Sita, so by the end of the story, she makes a very important decision, and through her experience, is able to show what women undergo du...