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 Ramayana retells this story through the feminine perspective of guess who: Sita, of course. As a bonus, her graphic novel throws in magic animals like a trickster monkey, divine gods, sorcerers, and fierce battles.
In case you want the lowdown, here it goes. The hero Rama is banished with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana from his kingdom to the forest. Sita is imprisoned by the arrogant king Ravana, but holds out against his wheedling to become his wife. Eventually Rama comes to her rescue (he takes his time). This leads to a great war, because what’s an epic story without one. He’s got real trust issues about Sita and wants her to go through fire (literally) to prove her purity. Even passing this doesn’t seem to do the trick. So, Sita’s back in the forest again, this time pregnant. After being bested by his own boys (embarrassing), Rama wants her back. But there’s that little thing again of proving she’s pure (what’s with this guy?). Sita decides she’s been there, done that. And returns to Mother Earth (who’s at least a woman).
If you’re wondering how the novel expresses all this, think pictures. The images here give us the primary message and words come later. Chitrakar, the illustrator, makes this happen. As a Patua scroll artist, she’s figured out how to adapt Hindu epics to the left-right format of Western graphic novels (Vaid). We see everything through simplified shapes and heavy lines. Even the ocean expresses distance by basic background waves. Chitrakar shows us the ethnic regional style of characters through her intense range of colors. Using these in panels adds vitality and creates moods for characters to have depth and expressiveness. They seem more touchable than ones drawn in black and white (McCloud 189).
The author Arni also has some tricks up her sleeve with text that fits this complex narrative and its art. Words help to reflect what’s being said and happening in the pictures. They shape the direction of the storyline to express specific details. Page layouts change and interesting placement of narration and dialog text boxes direct you through panels. The pictures support the story where it might drag, while text lets Sita reflect and wisely comment. We get themes and emotional distinctions that either one alone just can’t provide (155).
Take a look at the panels of Lakshmana cutting off the demoness’ nose on pages 16 and 17. The text is minimal, but the images translate his actions loud and clear. It reads vertically because the circular text boxes representing Sita’s thoughts join the top and bottom frames. Right after Sita predicts violence, we focus on Surpanaka’s face and her blood for the emotional impact. The intense colors of red, blue, and yellow and earthy tones give you a visual identity of the personality of the characters and their world. Red is used to show Surpanaka’s wound, and also expresses Ravana’s anger in the next frame’s background. It reflects an emotional sense of the coming death and destruction.
Arni, Samhita, and Moyna Chitrakar. Sita's Ramayana. Groundwood Books, 2018.
Arni, Samhita, and Moyna Chitrakar. Sita's Ramayana. Groundwood Books, 2018.
Das, Subhamoy. “The Hindu Epic Ramayana.” Learn Religions, 8 Sept. 2018, https://www.learnreligions.com/the-story-of-ramayana-1770169.
McCloud, Scott. The Invisible Art Understanding Comics. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
Vaid, Manvee. “Patachitra Scroll Paintings.” Visual Arts of India, DeccanFootprints, https://www.deccanfootprints.com/collections/patua-scroll-paintings.
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 Ramayana retells this story through the feminine perspective of guess who: Sita, of course. As a bonus, her graphic novel throws in magic animals like a trickster monkey, divine gods, sorcerers, and fierce battles.
In case you want the lowdown, here it goes. The hero Rama is banished with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana from his kingdom to the forest. Sita is imprisoned by the arrogant king Ravana, but holds out against his wheedling to become his wife. Eventually Rama comes to her rescue (he takes his time). This leads to a great war, because what’s an epic story without one. He’s got real trust issues about Sita and wants her to go through fire (literally) to prove her purity. Even passing this doesn’t seem to do the trick. So, Sita’s back in the forest again, this time pregnant. After being bested by his own boys (embarrassing), Rama wants her back. But there’s that little thing again of proving she’s pure (what’s with this guy?). Sita decides she’s been there, done that. And returns to Mother Earth (who’s at least a woman).
If you’re wondering how the novel expresses all this, think pictures. The images here give us the primary message and words come later. Chitrakar, the illustrator, makes this happen. As a Patua scroll artist, she’s figured out how to adapt Hindu epics to the left-right format of Western graphic novels (Vaid). We see everything through simplified shapes and heavy lines. Even the ocean expresses distance by basic background waves. Chitrakar shows us the ethnic regional style of characters through her intense range of colors. Using these in panels adds vitality and creates moods for characters to have depth and expressiveness. They seem more touchable than ones drawn in black and white (McCloud 189).
The author Arni also has some tricks up her sleeve with text that fits this complex narrative and its art. Words help to reflect what’s being said and happening in the pictures. They shape the direction of the storyline to express specific details. Page layouts change and interesting placement of narration and dialog text boxes direct you through panels. The pictures support the story where it might drag, while text lets Sita reflect and wisely comment. We get themes and emotional distinctions that either one alone just can’t provide (155).
Take a look at the panels of Lakshmana cutting off the demoness’ nose on pages 16 and 17. The text is minimal, but the images translate his actions loud and clear. It reads vertically because the circular text boxes representing Sita’s thoughts join the top and bottom frames. Right after Sita predicts violence, we focus on Surpanaka’s face and her blood for the emotional impact. The intense colors of red, blue, and yellow and earthy tones give you a visual identity of the personality of the characters and their world. Red is used to show Surpanaka’s wound, and also expresses Ravana’s anger in the next frame’s background. It reflects an emotional sense of the coming death and destruction.
Arni, Samhita, and Moyna Chitrakar. Sita's Ramayana. Groundwood Books, 2018.
You get the feminist message from the visuals and text of this book, right? Heroism doesn’t just come in masculine traits like bravery in battle. It can show itself through virtues like dignity and unity with all beings. This Sita is a hero in her compassion toward others’ pain and suffering, even that of the enemy. As she waits out her captivity, she empathizes with those who will lose their men in the war. She questions the fairness of this to women, who “become the mother of dead sons, a widow, or an orphan; or worse, a prisoner” (Arni and Chitrakar 120).
Her qualities might be great, but the novel makes another powerful argument. Women today are faced with hard choices and challenge their fates, just as Sita herself did. Which takes courage and inner strength. By rejecting Rama’s offer to return if she proves her virtue again, we see she can make her own decisions. Like many other women have, Sita turns away from the constraints of gender roles in society to experience her own brand of freedom.
Her qualities might be great, but the novel makes another powerful argument. Women today are faced with hard choices and challenge their fates, just as Sita herself did. Which takes courage and inner strength. By rejecting Rama’s offer to return if she proves her virtue again, we see she can make her own decisions. Like many other women have, Sita turns away from the constraints of gender roles in society to experience her own brand of freedom.
Works Cited
Arni, Samhita, and Moyna Chitrakar. Sita's Ramayana. Groundwood Books, 2018.
Das, Subhamoy. “The Hindu Epic Ramayana.” Learn Religions, 8 Sept. 2018, https://www.learnreligions.com/the-story-of-ramayana-1770169.
McCloud, Scott. The Invisible Art Understanding Comics. HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
Vaid, Manvee. “Patachitra Scroll Paintings.” Visual Arts of India, DeccanFootprints, https://www.deccanfootprints.com/collections/patua-scroll-paintings.
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