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sisters of sorrow, sing for yourselves

By Anonymous
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:



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. Scott McCloud, author of informational text Undestanding Comics, defined comics as “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence”.

The patua scroll in its original format is composed of multiple panels that are stitched together in sequential order. Each panel corresponds to individual parts of the story.

The organization of panels in the pages of the graphic novel serve the purpose of pointing where the singer would be pointing during their performance.
Page Spread from Sita's Ramayana

Given the nature of the patua scroll medium, the words that accompany the art fill in the narrative, but don’t necessarily have to reflect the art’s intent. AAAAND it can also change during performances!

Moyna Chitrakar said in an interview that her version was from Sita’s perspective from the beginning, however, not that Samhita Arni added this in the text. After translation, Samhita Arni put Moyna’s Bengali version into written English for the book, with one slight distinction: the majority of this book is from a first person perspective in Sita’s voice.


Women as Heroes

Reclamation and subversion of female archetypes is a common technique applied to many female re-tellings of epics, and is very clearly a response to patriarchal oppression.

This isn’t exactly a re-telling for Moyna, though - it’s the version of the Ramayana she grew up with.

Part of the purpose of female re-tellings is absolutely empowerment for women who experience similar injustices of isolation or abandonment like Sita, and with these texts there is a call to action to fight against oppression of women in the community.

But another less-immediate purpose of women-centered retellings is providing the grounds to reconsider the woman’s narrative as her version of a heroic journey.

So how is Sita the hero of her own story, if she chooses the earth in the end?


Sita as a hero

Samhita Arni, the writer on the book, has said that Sita’s suffering can re-enforce patriarchal gender roles and standards on Indian women, but also that Sita’s “disobedience” - instead of her resolve - can be just as inspirational.

I feel similarly. Sita gains the freedom to choose to abandon her life - the life Rama expects of her when he finally asks her back home. Some people see this as a selfish choice, especially since she expects Rama to start fulfilling multiple parental roles for their children. 

But the expectation that women or mothers should continue to be as selfless as possible is cruel and unfair. Sita’s endurance throughout the story shows me that these expectations consistently forced upon women for decades will drive them to crave death instead.

Sita spends her life having compassion for everyone and retains undying love and loyalty for Rama until he casts her away in the end for the sake of his honor. She cries for Jatayu, a kind eagle who dies trying to help her, and for the women and children of Lanka (where she is imprisoned by Ravana), even blaming herself for their suffering from Rama and Ravana’s war.

I wouldn't idolize her for placating Rama, but Sita’s compassion for others despite her suffering is an attitude I admire. Even within Rama-centered tellings, I see the heroism in Sita’s struggles and choices. But if you need to see for yourself from her perspective, this book is a great place to start.

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