sign in sign up
<<
Home , Bharadvaja, Jalandhara, Sita

The Who Smiles Wife as Goddess in the Adbhut

 Ruth Vanita

smiles in icons, this paradox perhaps a strong residual tendency to points to her dual status as woman identification remains, in such and Goddess. In this paper, I examine practices as the naming of children Sita’s smiles and laughter in the and in some rituals. In examining the Adbhut Ramayana, arguing that Adbhut Ramayan’s representation of while this text focuses on her Sita, I consider the ways in which her Goddess aspect, it simultaneously human womanhood functions in Prem Singh foregrounds the paradoxical conjunction with her divinity. dynamic inherent in the normative Shakta Rewriting of Sita n performances in human husband-wife relationship, The Adbhut Ramayana, and in most retellings of the where the wife plays the role of composed in around the Istory, Sita is often depicted social subordinate even while acting fourteenth century, in North India, is shedding tears. These tears as an autonomous agent. Unlike the a Vaishnava Shakta text.4 By emblematize her virtue and her many wherein Sita’s representing Sita as simultaneously suffering, the one represented as agency consists primarily of her herself, the incarnation of ’s almost inseparable from the other. resistance to injustice, the Adbhut consort , and also as and Emulating Sita as ideal woman and Ramayana presents Sita not as Parameshwari, thus inseparable from victim (whether suffering or ideal wife, many modern heroines in , the text attempts to reconcile resisting) but almost entirely as Vishnu, Shiva, and , whose Indian cinema and fiction also weep 2 copiously.1 This stereotypical agent. worshipers at this time had divided weeping that characterizes the In the debate about whether into the three mainstream trends in virtuous woman is often seen as Goddess worship traditions empower , still existing today. Shakti, stemming from some deep-rooted or disempower women or have no in a general sense, refers to female effect whatsoever on them, I agree Indian patriarchal misogynist power and thus to any Goddess; with those who argue that Hindu tradition. One may modify that view, however, in a more specific sense, Goddesses and women (like Hindu however, by pointing out, first, that Shakti is associated with ’s Gods and men) are not seen as many forms and is thus linked with the modern convention derives as completely distinct entities, either in Shiva and his worshipers. The text much from a Victorian paradigm life or in texts, and that Goddess develops the idea of Vishnu’s consort (“Men must work and women must worship may and often does function Lakshmi, and her incarnation Sita, as weep”) as from a pre-modern Indian to empower women, although it does Shakti associated both with Vishnu one, and, second, that traditional not necessarily always function in and with Shiva. Thus, in chapter 24, Indian heroes, from Rama onwards, this way.3 the gods eulogize Sita as “Vaishnavi like pre-modern European heroes, also Sanskrit texts routinely refer to Shakti.”(24:5).5 weep a good deal. heroes as being like (iva) Gods in The Adbhut Ramayana In icons, however, Sita, like most general or a particular God, and to celebrates Sita and Rama but, like Gods and Goddesses, is represented heroines as being like Goddesses many , is heavily influenced, not weeping but smiling. The Gods’ (thus in the structurally and philosophically, by ever-open eyes and calm smiles is repeatedly described as being like the . Its adbhut indicate that they radiate light, bliss, the Goddesses Shachi and Lakshmi). (strange, unique) quality lies in the and beneficence. If Sita’s tears tend Although the gap between divine and way it recounts the glory of Sita and to predominate in narrative and her human widens in modern perception, writes a virtual Sita Gita into the story

32 MANUSHI of the Ramayana. This quality has that the glory of Sita has not so far chapter 15 with ’s eulogy of led commentators to read it primarily been narrated on earth. In the rest of Rama and his request that Rama take as a Shakta text, with Sita becoming the chapter, he eulogizes Sita as on his human form once again Kali. Prakriti and Shakti, creative principle (paralleling Arjuna’s eulogy and My argument, however, is that and cause of all causes request to in the Gita). Sita throught the text remains (sarvakarana karanam) (1:15). He The story of Rama’s exile and recognizably the Sita of the also praises Rama, saying that there years in the forest is entirely missing. Ramayana, even when she takes on is absolutely no difference between No details are given of Sita’s a Kali form. Hindu Gods and Rama and Sita. abduction or her residence in . Goddesses may take on many forms, The next seven chapters recount In chapter 16, Rama and his army even each other’s form, but this does the various reasons why Vishnu and defeat and rescue Sita. This not erase their identity. The way the Lakshmi were compelled to incarnate astonishing compression makes text shows Sita taking on the form of as Rama and Sita. Chapter eight is sense in context – is not Mahadevi is not as surprising as the interested in a repetition of the way it reconfigures the ideal Ramayana story, with which husband-wife relationship, by an everyone is familiar; he wants to hear ingenious combination of Vaishnava the parts that were supposedly left and Shakta paradigms. out of it. In the last chapter, Valmiki Some Bengali Ramayanas, such explains that for fear of repeating as Rammohan’s eighteenth-century himself he did not recount the whole Ramayana, imitate the Adbhut story (27:12). Ramayana in this respect, In chapter 17, when Rama returns recounting Sita’s exploits in the same triumphant from the war, the sages way. Bengal’s Shakta traditions praise him for having slain the ten- facilitate the process. Bengali headed Ravana, king of Lanka. Sita Ramayanas also rewrite women’s smiles in amusement when she hears roles in other ways. The idea of the this praise and, when questioned, female principle as autonomously remarks that the ten-headed Ravana productive, central to the story of was nothing compared to his twin ’s birth to two mothers, is brother, the thousand-headed also found in the Adbhut Ramayana’s Ravana, king of Island, who account of Sita’s birth. is a much more powerful demon. Downplaying Sita’s Abduction Rama immediately utters a war cry Prem Singh The Adbhut Ramayana is and sets out to battle this new Ravana structured to shift the focus of the devoted to Sita’s birth (there is no whom he has never heard of before. story away from Rama’s exile, Sita’s parallel chapter on Rama’s birth). The This battle occupies five chapters and abduction, and Rama’s battle with next seven chapters are occupied by ends with the routing of Rama’s army. Ravana. These events, which are Rama’s glory. Rama displays his Ravana’s arrow pierces Rama and he central to most Ramayanas, occupy universal form to and falls down in a faint, seemingly only one chapter (sarga) out of a total his four-armed form to Hanuman. In lifeless. of twenty-seven in the Adbhut three verses in chapter 10 we are Sita then gets aroused and Ramayana places these events in a briefly informed that “for some assumes her divine form as a terrible larger context, but here the context reason” (kenapi hetuna) (10:1) Rama, Goddess. She destroys hundreds of itself becomes the main story. Sita and went to the demons, severs all of Ravana’s In the first chapter, sage forest, from where Sita was abducted thousand heads with one stroke, and Bharadvaja asks Valmiki whether the by Ravana. Addressing Hanuman, proceeds to play with the heads like legend is true that he, Valmiki, Rama discourses at length on balls. At that moment, a thousand composed the Ramayana in a Sankhya , the , and “mothers” or divine female beings hundred crore verses, of which only . This portion of the text is spring out of the pores of her body. twenty five thousand appear in the modeled on the Bhagavad Gita, with The names of over two hundred of Valmiki Ramayana known on earth. many verses directly echoing famous these females (who, in a sense, are Valmiki says this is indeed true and verses from the Gita. It concludes in aspects of Sita) are catalogued,

No.148 33 following the convention of As there is no description of Sita Indian women’s movement also tends recounting the names of a divinity. being abducted or residing in Lanka, towards the same type of focus. Their various forms are also we never see her weeping. The effect The Adbhut Ramayana develops described. of this is a complete shift of focus these neglected areas in its Sita, now in the form of Kali, away from Sita as victim. representation of Sita. It omits Rama’s performs a dance of destruction that Her victimization, however, is mistreatment of Sita, and represents terrifies the Gods, who try to mentioned in the sages’ praise of her as amused by the sages’ needless appease her with prayers but are able Rama in Chapter 17. The sages concern for her sufferings at the to do so only when they bring Rama perceive Sita as having suffered and hands of Ravana. Here termed back to life. Rama, who was not they are grieved when they recall this. “sadhvi” (woman ascetic), aware of her true identity as a Praising Rama’s victory, they say, “O (Goddess), and Janakanandini Goddess, humbly asks her who she lord, the great Goddess Sita has (daughter of ) (17:17), Sita, is, whereupon she shows him her suffered a lot. Remembering this, we simultaneously Goddess, woman and universal form as Parameshwari, just get agitated.” (17:16). When they ascetic, tells the sages that their as Krishna shows his universal form keep repeating this sentiment praise of the killing of ten-headed to Arjuna in the Bhagvad Gita. The Ravana amuses her, because this Gita’s model is explicitly evoked killing is not particularly praiseworthy through the use of near-identical in context. The sages are thrown into language and imagery. Rama then confusion by Sita’s odd behavior, praises her by reciting her one and offended by her laughing at them. thousand and eight names, all of She apologizes for having offended which are listed in the text, starting them, and then tells them about the with Sita and ending with thousand-headed Ravana. Akasamurti. Sita’s smile is next mentioned In the next chapter, at Rama’s during the battle with the thousand- request, Sita resumes her human headed Ravana. After many of Rama’s form (just like Krishna resuming his and Ravana’s followers kill one human form at Arjuna’s request), and another, Ravana himself appears. he then eulogizes her as the supreme Disdaining to kill Rama’s followers, principle, the creator, protector, and he sends a mighty wind that blows destroyer of the universe. Rama them back to their own lands. All the recites twelve verses, all of which warriors and sages are bewildered at express adoration and worship. Sita this turn of events. The gods are then returns to with Rama worried and Rama is surprised, but and performs her wifely role by Prem Singh Sita remains next to Rama with her remaining at his side. pure, bright smile (shuchismita) Rama Weeps, Sita Laughs (punaha punaha 7:16), Sita laughs a (21:13). This epithet is conventionally Conventional retellings of the little and speaks smilingly to them applied to heroines in Sanskrit texts. Rama story are punctuated by Sita’s (17:17). Here, however, it suggests Sita’s tears – she weeps when Rama is exiled, The sages’ reception of Sita’s divine serenity. when she is abducted, throughout her suffering is analogous to the popular Soon after, Rama is struck by the stay in Lanka, and when Rama tests Indian reception of Sita’s sufferings. thousand-headed Ravana’s arrow and and repudiates her. In the Adbhut Several feminist commentators have falls down unconscious. Seeing Sita’s Ramayana, Sita is not shown examined Sita’s sufferings, mainly at still smiling face (23:2), the sages shedding a single tear. Instead, this Rama’s hands but also in general, as reproach her for having told Rama story of the thousand-headed a site for Indians’ concern for about Ravana, and point out to her Ravana is framed by her variously women’s sufferings.6 Valuable the misfortunes that have ensued. nuanced smiles and laughter. Rama though this concern is, it leads to a Sita then utters loud roars, takes on a weeps twice (chapters 10 and 16), due near-exclusive focus on women’s ferocious form, and begins tearing the to his separation from Sita – his tears victimization and resistance, to the demons to pieces with great ease. create the river Vaitarani and also fill exclusion of women’s pleasure, joy, Finally, after Sita has killed up the depleted ocean (10:5; 16:15). and effective power. Interestingly, the Ravana and shown Rama her

34 MANUSHI universal form, he requests her to divine pronouncement constitutes theological Vaishnava-Shakta resume her pleasant form. She then her final speech in the book. The significance of this dynamic is appears in her two-armed, that is, sages weep for joy when they meet suggestive; I am interested in how it human form. In this form, she has a Rama and Sita again. might also work to modify the ideal “divine smile” on her lips and her Rama as Sita’s Devotee husband-wife relationship. smiling, pleased face has a “divine, The Adbhut Ramayana contains The section I refer to as the Sita infinite splendor” (prasannavadanam two sections modeled directly on the Gita begins with , the creator divyamanantamahimaspadam) Bhagavad Gita, which I shall refer to God, telling Rama that he needs to (26:7). Her initial smile of amusement as the Rama Gita and the Sita Gita recognize Sita’s importance: “Rama, has given way to the standard iconic respectively. In the Rama Gita, you are not able to do anything smile. Hanuman is the disciple and devotee, without her. To make you realize this, This iconic smile is, however, not parallel to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Sita, who is beyond criticism, has entirely distinguishable from the type Gita. He asks questions, receives done all these actions” (24:42). of pure, bright smile (shuchismita) answers from Rama, obtains a vision Brahma then tells Rama to actually conventionally attributed to heroines. of Rama’s divine form, eulogizes look at Sita: “Look at Janaki, Rama, Thus, even while weeping, Rama, and asks to see him again in give up fear, great-armed one” (24:43). Damayanti in the Mahabharata is The husband is here asked to characterized as “brightly smiling.” recognize aspects of his wife that he The Gods do not weep, but they do has not noticed although or perhaps smile. Smiling, not weeping, thus links because he is so used to seeing her.8 humans with Gods. There is a mild irony in the injunction Sita in All Humans to Rama, the great-armed one, to give Towards the end of the Adbhut up fear (tyaja bhitim mahabhuja). Ramayana, Sita points out this non- Although mighty, the husband is difference between Gods and afraid when these unnoticed aspects humans. Having adored her, Rama of his wife surface. takes refuge in her, and she then, In order to give up fear, Rama has smiling (sasmitam), says to him, to go through a process which begins “Listen to one speech of mine - O king, when he acknowledges that he does I reside in all human beings in the not really know Sita and asks her to same form that I assumed to kill reveal herself: “Who are you, large- Ravana.” (26: 39-40). eyed Goddess, crowned with a Her next statement amplifies this crescent? I do not know you, great important point: “Your form is Goddess. Asked by me, speak

naturally blue but being troubled by Prem Singh accordingly.”(25:3). After Sita has Ravana, you have turned red. I reside his original form. In the Sita Gita, described herself she gives Rama a with you in a blue-red form.” Rama’s vision of her universal self as blue complexion refers to his divinity, Rama is the devotee. Sita inspires Parameshwari. Once again, we hear a colored red by his human suffering. his devotion by saving his life. Sita shares with him this simultaneous The conventions of the husband direct echo from the Bhagavad Gita: divinity and humanity. Equally protecting the wife, and the wife “Rama saw that form which was like important, she also resides in all worshipping the husband as God, are crores of suns…” (25:8). Rama recites 7 humans, specifically in the ferocious, entirely reversed here. The reversal a thousand and eight names of the violent, but creative form in which she places Rama and Sita on an equal Goddess. Many, though not all, of kills Ravana. plane, since the same epithets and these names are identical with those Sita then tells Rama to ask for terms of description appear in the in the Shakta text, the 9 boons, and he asks that her divine eulogies of both. However, Sita Lalitasahasranama. Sita then form always dwell in his heart, and retains an edge, because of the way resumes her human form at his request. also that his destroyed companions the plot is structured, and because Although he now sees her in the and army be restored to him. Sita, while Rama is represented as her form he is used to, that of his wife, laughing (prahasya) as she looks at devotee, she is not represented as his Rama continues to address her as a him, says, “So be it” (26:47). This devotee in the same way. The Goddess. He tells her that his life and

No.148 35 his austerities have borne fruit today resides in all human beings in her from life and literature, suggest a (adya me saphalam janam adya me Goddess form emphasizes this. social awareness that Goddesses saphalam tapam, 26:9), since he has Second, Sita’s connection to reside in women and may be seen her normally invisible form. He other females is found in the aroused at any time. Modern Indian eulogizes her at length as the thousand “mothers” or female beings films often represent an ill-treated absolute creative force, the supreme she produces out of herself in battle, and submissive wife who, pushed light, and the ultimate cause. Again who proceed to play ball with her. beyond endurance, prays to a following the pattern of the These females, while independent Goddess and imitates or embodies Bhagavad Gita, he describes her as entities, are also aspects of Sita. The the Goddess, either by taking a the best in each category ( text lists two hundred and eleven of terrible revenge or by performing among the Gods, Shiva among the their names. While some of these miracles. Women may use this , among the serpents, names are uncommon, many are social expectation to their own among speeches, and so common names of Indian women advantage; for example, in the on). He repeatedly says that he even today (for example, Jaya, Prabha, 1980s, while working at MANUSHI, I prostrates in reverence to her Madhavi, Kamala). Reading this list conducted an interview with a (pranato asmi nityam 26: 27-28, 30- provides one with the unsettling and woman activist in a slum, who 32), and bows to her (namami 26: 29, described how she decided to 33). become possessed by a Goddess, Towards the end of this eulogy, Rama thus compelling both her mother- describes Sita’s universal form as in-law and her husband to stop “without grief” (prahinashokam, mistreating her, and also gaining 11 26:37). This epithet reminds the reader social respect. or listener that whatever sufferings a In this text, Sita does not human may endure, the divine reciprocate Rama’s gestures of element in the human remains adoring and eulogizing her. This untouched. Sita immediately tells him non-reciprocity represents a Shakta that she resides in all humans in the reversal of the convention of divine form in which she killed Ravana women touching their husbands’ (26:40). feet. Goddesses and Women Sita’s status in this text as Does an emphasis on Sita as a woman and Goddess is not so much fierce and powerful Goddess reflect ambiguous as simultaneous. At in any way on ordinary women’s different junctures, various aspects of her being are foregrounded, but

lives? I suggest it does – first and Prem Singh foremost, just because she is Sita. other aspects are kept in play by The Adbhut Ramayana follows the pleasurable experience of reading a the language. Thus, when the standard pattern of Goddess texts. Its list of the names of one’s friends and sages reproach Sita for laughing at effect, however, is different from that acquaintances. This is an experience them, she reacts with fear as any of the Devi Mahatmya or the provided by most Goddess texts, human would, and excuses herself Lalitasahasranama, because other since they tend to list the Goddess’s by bowing to them and explaining Goddesses like and Kali do not names. Ramchandra Gandhi has her actions. She bows to her have the same human status and pointed out that many Indian men’s husband, brothers-in-law, the sages intimate appeal to women and to men names have something to do with and the other warriors, and tells her that Sita has. Sita has a unique place Rama.10 One folk etymology of the story respectfully. At this stage, her in the Indian popular imagination as name “Rama” connects it to “all- humanity is foregrounded. the ideal but unjustly treated wife. pervading”; similarly, Goddess names Yet, even here, in addition to Young brides are told to emulate Sita pervade Indian society in the form of being termed “devi” and “Janaka’s and Savitri. Therefore, to identify Sita women’s names. daughter,” she is also termed with Kali or Parameshwari is in one That a woman has a Goddess’s “sadhvi.” This term adds a third sense to thus identify with all with name may not improve her social element to the duality of divine and wives. Sita’s statement that she status. But many Indian narratives, human. Although she is a

36 MANUSHI laywoman, asceticism is an kinds of emotion such as erotic or In the Adbhut Ramayana, she is important dimension of Sita’s motherly love. Thus, in the Padma born from two female principles - the being. She endures suffering Purana, Vishnu, disguised as the Earth and a woman’s emotions. We without complaint and is amused by demon , seduces are told that , Ravana’s the sages’ agitation on her account. Jalandhara’s wife Vrinda. While they wife, neglected by her unfaithful Female sages do not appear often are engaged in love play, Tulasi, a husband, tries to commit suicide by in Hindu scriptures, but they do purifying nymph, arises from Vrinda’s drinking the blood of sages that he make some very important sweat. Tulasi (identified with the sacred had collected and told her was appearances. One female sage is plant, holy basil) represents Vrinda’s poisonous. But the blood Sulabha, who, in the Mahabharata, pure erotic desire for Vishnu. 13 The impregnates instead of poisoning her. debates with Janaka and decisively plant is still worshiped today by Afraid she will be accused of adultery, proves that gender difference is devotees of Vishnu. she aborts in a field. The foetus apparent, not real, and that women Parvati produces Ganesh from her develops into the baby Sita, who is therefore need not be socially body rubbings merely from maternal found and adopted by Janaka. Thus, constricted by gender roles. The longing - she wants a son of her own, Sita is the product of a neglected and figure of the sadhvi may thus be suicidal wife’s despair. The male seen as bridging the gap between element in her birth is an ascetic one woman and Goddess, just as the – the blood of the sages. figure of the sage does the gap In the Adbhut Ramayana between man and God. structuring of the plot, Sita reverses Feminine as Creative Force the neglected wife syndrome with a Gods and heroes in most vengeance. She completes the divine mythologies are conceived and born plan by being the cause for the death miraculously - from virgins, from of both , thus avenging human-divine intercourse, or from a Mandodari; she also publicly single parent, male or female. The produces many female beings from miracle functions to signal the hero’s herself, something Mandodari was innate difference from other mortals. afraid to be found doing. In her fierce Thus Sita, in the Valmiki Ramayana, Kali form, she behaves in an is termed ayonija (not born of a unconventional and unwifely manner, vagina). Like Krishna and Shakuntala, roaring, sticking out her tongue, she is raised by adoptive parents. As dancing and playing with skulls and Boswell has shown, heroes in many other body parts, and frightening all the males present, including her

cultures are raised differently from Prem Singh other children – by adoptive or foster husband. Both in her birth and in her 14 parents, human, divine, or animal.12 who will be devoted only to her. In actions, Sita represents the This may signify that they belong not the Krittivasa Ramayana, autonomously creative female principle. to one family alone but to the whole Bhagiratha’s mothers, although they society; it also serves to mark them are humans, not Goddesses, are Sita as Cosmic Agent as different from others. enabled to imitate Goddesses when Sita in the Adbhut Ramayana is In , one of the most they produce a child from desire – identified with Prakriti (Nature or the common forms of miraculous birth is desire for a child and desire for each universal creative principle). She a God, demon, or Goddess producing other. takes on the form of Shiva, and Rama other beings from the self. When this The ability to produce fully says that Purusha is one of her forms happens in the heat of battle, these formed beings from the self appears (26: 29). She kills mercilessly and beings are born of wrath and are in ancient Hindu texts to be related to creates prolifically. She also preserves terrifying. They aid the parent in the idea, also found in ancient Greek the universe and acts for its welfare. fighting. Goddesses usually, but not texts, that the Earth (also represented The sense of a larger cosmic plan, always, produce females rather than as a Goddess), produces certain types present to different degrees in all males in this manner. Sometimes, of life, such as worms, from herself. Ramayanas, is geared in the Adbhut however, a female produces another In the Valmiki Ramayana, Sita is born Ramayana to explaining why Rama being not from wrath but from other of the Earth. and Sita had to be born as humans

No.148 37 and had to suffer. The first seven instance, when Janaka finds Sita in a Lakshmi aspect a fierce Kali aspect. chapters place them in a cosmic furrow, a divine voice tells him that Just as Rama, though an incarnation context, recounting stories of faults this girl will be “responsible for the of Vishnu, the preserver God, must committed by Vishnu and Lakshmi, welfare of the world” (8:40).15 engage in violent destruction, so which result in their being cursed to It is because of this cosmic plan, also Sita has a ferocious aspect. incarnate as humans. They gracefully wherein Sita is primary agent, that she The text represents this accede to this necessity, which is also is the only one who obtains revelation as adbhut, or strange and linked to the need to curb violent and information about the thousand- a great surprise that has been kept cruel demons. headed Ravana. As a girl, she serves secret (ashcharyamascharyamidam In chapter one itself, the narrator a visiting with devotion; in gopitam 1:12). This idea of a secret rewrites a famous verse from the return, he tells her all about the being revealed structures the entire Bhagavad Gita, ascribing to Sita, thousand-headed Ravana. She text. Sita surprises the sages, who is Prakriti, the need to incarnate retains this memory and reveals it to warriors, the Gods, and her own so as to uphold and destroy her husband and the male warriors husband by her revelations about evil on earth: “Whenever dharma and sages only after the ten-headed Ravana, and even more by her declines, Prakriti appears on earth Ravana is destroyed. None of the actions. Rama does not recognize for the destruction of men have ever before heard of the her and has to be let into the secret adharma”(1:18). In this formulation, thousand-headed Ravana. of her identity. When he tells his Sita and Rama’s sufferings are As Sally Goldman has pointed brothers and the monkey army about undertaken for the purpose of out, in the Valmiki Ramayana, Sita it, they are all astonished. destroying adharma. Sita, identified has the power to destroy Ravana and These surprised reactions mirror with Prakriti, is represented as an save herself but she chooses not to the expected reader response. The agent, not a victim. This formulation, use it, because demonstrating her Adbhut Ramayana shows an replacing Sri Krishna with Prakriti, own power would diminish Rama’s awareness that its intervention, altering the conventional image of can be interpreted to mean that nature power as husband and king.16 In the or the universal creative and Sita as submissive, subordinate and Adbhut Ramayana, Sita uses her dependent, will be received as causative principle itself takes on power not to save herself but to save different forms to rid the universe of amazing, and almost unbelievable. Rama. Like Valmiki’s Sita, she first The text frames this intervention as evil and restore balance and harmony. allows Rama to rescue her from the Placed in this context, Sita’s authoritative by attributing it to ten-headed Ravana. The difference is Valmiki. At the close of the text, actions, apparently motivated only that she then goes on to rescue him by wifely devotion, are in fact aimed Valmiki explains to Bharadvaja that from far greater danger. Her rescue at universal welfare. Thus, in the he had earlier not narrated these of him puts his rescue of her in ironic Adbhut Ramayana, Sita gets aroused astonishing episodes of the perspective. to battle only when her husband falls Ramayana because Brahma had kept unconscious, and is appeased only Surprising Secrets them hidden (27:11-12). when the Gods bring him back to life. A number of manuscripts of the In chapter one Valmiki says that In this respect, she seems similar to Adbhut Ramayana are found in all whoever hears it will prosper – a heroines like Savitri whose agency is parts of the country, attesting to its Brahman will attain perfection in 17 directed towards saving their fairly wide popularity. Itself speech, a will become a husbands’ lives. However, Sita is influenced by the Adhyatma king, a businessman will succeed, different from those heroines Ramayana, it influenced Tulsi’s and a will achieve greatness because her actions have a larger , and also the (1:24). In the last chapter, he purpose. Unlike Rama who kills the Sitopanisad. It contributed to the amplifies this statement, insisting ten-headed Ravana only after the evolution of the idea of Sita as that the Adbhut Ramayana is the latter abducts Sita, thus giving Rama synonymous with Shakti, and thus best of all Ramayanas. Residual a personal reason to kill him, Sita having an identity much larger than anxiety is expressed in his remark initiates Rama’s battle with the simply that of Rama’s wife and that all the episodes narrated by him thousand-headed Ravana for no devotee. In South Indian Shrivaisnava form part of the Rama story, and by personal gain but simply to rid the tradition, Sita, as Mahalakshmi, is reciting it, one achieves devotion to universe of his demonic activities. herself ultimate reality.18 The Adbhut Rama; therefore “doubts regarding This idea appears repeatedly in the Ramayana’s different approach to this should not arise in text, at every important juncture. For Sita’s divinity adds to her serene anyone”(27:30).

38 MANUSHI Endnotes 2001). All citations are to the Sanskrit chapter and verse from this text. 1. For an account of the mainstream view Translations from the Sanskrit are by me, of Sita as ideal wife, dependent on, and unless otherwise indicated. subordinate to Rama around whom her life revolves, see Chapter 5, “Sita,” in David 6. See footnote 2. Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the 7. As Kinsley points out, “Sita’s role as Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious devotee…casts her in a subsidiary position Traditi(Berkeley: University of California vis-à-vis Rama. …Wifely devotion has Press, 1986), 65-78. here become a metaphor for ideal 2. There is a vast literature on Rama’s devotion to God” (80). The Adbhut testing of Sita and on different texts’ Ramayana reverses these terms. portrayal of her resistance or protest 8. On the importance of sight as insight against this injustice. See Linda Hess, in Hindu tradition, see Diana L. Eck, “Rejecting Sita,” Journal of American Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India Academy of Religion March 1999, 67 (1): (3rd edn. New York: Columbia University 1-32; “The Sita who Refused the Fire Press, 1998). Ordeal,” MANUSHI (1981) 8: 22-23; Madhu 9. See The Thousand Names of the Divine Kishwar, “Yes to Sita, No to Rama: The Mother: Sri Lalita Sahasranama with Continuing Popularity of Sita in India,” commentary by T. Menon (San in MANUSHI 98 (Jan-Feb 1997) 20-31; Ramon, Calif.: Mata Amritanandamayi David Shulman, “Fire and Flood: The Prem Singh Center, 1996). Testing of Sita in Kampan’s Iramavataram,” in Many Ramayanas: The 10.At a symposium at Hindu College, Misleading Polarites Diversity of a Narrative Tradition ed. Paula Delhi University, some time in the 1990s. Despite the impressive work Richman (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 11 Ruth Vanita, “: One of Many,” done recently on Sita by some 1992); Anne Murphy and Shana Sippy, MANUSHI No.14. “Sita in the City: The Ramayana’s feminist commentators, there is still 12.John Boswell, The Kindness of Heroine in New York,” in MANUSHI 117 Strangers: the Abandonment of Children a dominant tendency to posit village (March-April 2000), 17-23; Questioning in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to women’s oral representations of Sita, Ramayanas ed. Paula Richman (Berkeley: the Renaissance (New York: Pantheon in local languages, against male University of California Press, 2001). Books, 1988). Brahmanical textual representations, 3. For essays debating the question, see 13.Padma Purana, V. 15. 42b-46, Is the Goddess a Feminist?: the Politics translated Deshpande, page 2371. in Sanskrit, with the former of South Asian Goddesses ed. Alf 14.See “: The Birth of supposedly being always more Hiltebeitel and Kathleen M. Erndl (New ,” in Vanita and Kidwai, Same- York: New York University Press, 2000). positive than the latter. According Sex Love in India, (Palgrave, 2000; New For the view that Goddess-worship has to Nabaneeta Sen, the “patriarchal Delhi: Macmillan, 2002), 81-84. no positive effect on women’s lives, see Brahminical system … uses the Sita also Sukumari Bhattacharji, Women and 15.Shantilal Nagar’s translation. See myth to silence women,” while in Society in Ancient India (Calcutta: footnote 5. “the women’s folk tradition of India” Basumati Corporation Ltd 1994), 86; for 16.Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, “The village women speak out, expressing an opposing view, see David Kinsley, Voice of Sita in Valmiki’sn Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the Divine Sundarakanda,” in Questioning the sentiment that all women are Feminine in the Hindu Religious Tradition Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition ed. “sisters in sorrow.”19 This type of (Berkeley: University of California Press, Paula Richman (Berkeley: University of formulation homogenizes both the 1986), and Samjukta Gombrich Gupta, California Press, 2001), 223-238; 231. “The Goddess, Women, and the Rituals in 17.See V. Raghavan, op cit., 3. textual and the oral traditions, Hinduism,” in Faces of the Feminine in wrongly identifying the former Ancient, Medieval, and Modern India, ed. 18.Pointing this out, Ramchandra Gandhi entirely with Brahman males and the Mandakranta Bose (Delhi: Oxford also identifies her with aboriginal earth University Press, 2000), 87-123. mother Goddesses. See Ramchandra latter with women; it also glorifies Gandhi, Sita’s Kitchen: A Testimony of 4. V. Raghavan, in Sanskrit Ramayanas the notion of women as sisters in Faith and Inquiry (New Delhi: Wiley Other Than Valmiki’s: The Adbhuta, suffering. Texts like the Adbhut Eastern, 1994), 4, 16. Adhyatma and Ananda Ramayanas Ramayana demonstrate that (Chennai: V. Raghavan Centre for 19.Quoted in Linda Hess, “Rejecting Sita,” canonical Sanskrit texts can surprise Performing Arts, 1998), 71, notes that page 22, footnote 32, from a paper the Adbhut Ramayana is not popular presented at Columbia University’s 1998 us with their secrets, one of which is Sita Symposium. that the textual and oral, Sanskrit and among Shrivaisnavas, in the South or elsewhere. local language traditions are much The author is a Professor in Women’s 5. Adbhut Ramayana {Sanskrit, Hindi, Studies, University of Montana, USA. more intertwined than may at first be and English texts] ed. Shantilal Nagar She was co-editor MANUSHI from 1978 to apparent. (Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation, 1990.

No.148 39