The Feminist Ramayana

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 and love: the damsel's. How would the story of Ramayana be different if we asked Sita (our damsel) how she saw her "rescue," assuming she would call it that? Thanks to Samhita Arni, we no longer have to ask this question.
Sita's Ramayana is a retelling of the classic Indian tale from a woman's perspective in the form of a graphic novel. No longer are readers subjected to being reminded of Rama's (our prince in this story) great bravery, heroism, and virtue. This time, we are reminded that Sita herself the a daughter of earth, a powerful entity with her own opinions and ability to make choices. It addresses Sita's take on topics of war and violence, death, and betrayal.
After her husband and his brother are exiled from their kingdom, Sita is captured by rivaling King Ravana, who wants to take her as his own wife. Sita continues to refuse marriage up to the moment that her husband, Rama, arrives with his monkey army to save her from imprisonment. But as she is rescued, something is different between Sita and Rama. Rama doesn't trust Sita. In order to prove her faithfulness and loyalty to him, Rama pressures Sita to undergoing harsh trials that would show her virtue and truthfulness. Although taken aback by his lack of trust, Sita does what is asked of her. They return to their kingdom as king and queen, although Rama is still not convinced. The story goes on to explain the trials and looming suspicion within their relationship and Rama's controlling actions during difficult times that leave Sita with choices to make. 

There is much more to the story, of course, but I think the message is loud and clear. Arni intended for her retelling of Ramayana to express the affects of female oppression and the need for more accurate representation. Her choice to re-imagine this tale as a graphic novel allows the audience to connect with Sita's emotional response to the things happening to and around her. In Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics (a graphic novel about understanding techniques used in graphic novels) I learned about the use of lines and how the structure within the novel can evoke numerous emotional responses from the reader, simply by how we correlate lines with the things around us. I felt like this played a huge part in Sita's Ramayana, as the artistry connecting us to the text was so unique and stylized. Just as an example, on the panels that I provided above, something that I was drawn to was the wavy lines of the bars. For me, this sparked an emotional response of confusion and feeling lost. I can imagine that this must've been how Sita felt throughout a large majority of the novel.
What I took away from this novel is that the "rescuer" isn't always the good guy. Flipping the lens to view history, a story, or an situation for that matter, from the woman's perspective can change the entire narrative from something that was once so positive into now something that brings awareness for human decency. This story begs its reader to not idolize those who are saving, but to remember to empower those who have been "saved."