in the City The 's Heroine in New York Anne Murphy and Shana Sippy

N April 1998 an exhibition entitled Sita in the City (curated by the authors) was held in Columbia I IUniversity’s Low Memorial Library to explore the many ways the Ramayana’s heroine has been imagined in New York, among the diverse South Asian communities which call the city home. Through text drawn from interviews with members of these communities, as well as with others, and through artwork and photographs which reveal the many visual representations of Sita in the New York area, the exhibition attempted to paint a portrait of the ways in which Sita is imagined and made meaningful to people in New York. The material presented in this article formed the core of Sita in the City, and was gathered in two months of intensive research in the New York area.

S anyone aware of the from 500 BCE to the present day, and immigrants understand their lives literary and cultural in different places, from Ball to and the models that inform them. A traditions of South Asia London, and the Sita of New York “Sita is my second mother,” explains knows, Sita is the heroine of the City today is no exception. In the new a thirteen-year-old girl at the Geeta ancient epic, the Ramayana, and the interpretive and creative context that Temple in Elmhurst, Queens, while wife of the epic’s hero, . The New York represents, Sita is a means her mother sees Sita as a perfect role Ramayana is a living text, told and through which some South Asian model for girls, given the prevalence retold in ritual and of teenage pregnancy and performance traditions AIDS in a city like New York. throughout the world. Sita too For others, such as a member has many manifestations, like of a support group at Sakhi her husband Rama, and is for South Asian Women, an more than just a literary organisation working against figure. This is not only the domestic violence, Sita is “a case in South Asia, where the lousy role model for women.” events of the Ramayana are In New York City, people said to have taken place, but speak of Sita as having also for the many South and struggled with the same Southeast Asians who reside kinds of issues they now face outside their ancestral lands in their own lives, drawing (in what is called “the upon a set of “traditional” diaspora”). The perspectives motifs from a thousands-of- of people involved with years old tradition known to South Asian traditions in us through the works of New York can be added to the , Kampan, and field of interpre-tations of the Tulsidas, as well as countless “Sita tradition,” in a new other poets, religious environment. thinkers, and artists. Sita and her story have Sita in the Metropolis The thoughts and images taken many forms over time, VENANTIUS J. PINTO presented here are part of a

No. 120 17 larger conversation: a conversation about models and ideals; models to construct and deconstruct, to emulate or reject, to reconfigure or maintain in different settings; tellings new and old. These conversations take on a distinctive form in New York, and this article provides only a glimpse into the range of meanings created about Sita. Situating Sita It’s no surprise that Sita takes on a life in New York, as it is home to the largest South Asian community in North America. Sita was carried in the stories, images, objects, and memories of the South Asians who have come to the city in significant numbers throughout the last century, primarily Sita Faith since the Immigration Act of 1965. Her this image as a representation of Sita cigarette, Sita sits among the buildings, image and story-be it in posters, books herself, or as a window into the ways adorned with a tattoo in the shape of or murtis-can be purchased in stores communities adapt and reformulate Rama’s bow and arrow. Her foot breaks catering to New Yorkers with eclectic “tradition” in new environments. Thus, the barrier of the rectangular picture tastes, and in shops primarily selling for the mother we referred to above, frame, reminiscent of Pahari (Punjab Indian groceries, books, and ritual Sita is a powerful role model for girls in Hills) and Rajput miniature painting objects to South Asian immigrants. Sita the United States, given some of the conventions, and the bold colours is at home in many of New York’s Hindu challenges that they face here. In used are clearly reminiscent of the temples, on the bookshelves of libraries Pinto’s piece, Sita has been transformed popular poster prints of deities that are where her story is available in a range and re-situated, and sits in Times so common in South Asia and its of languages and tellings, and in the Square, surrounded by colourful diasporic communities. She is not city’s art galleries and museums, where billboards which sport marriage ads. dressed in the garb of Sita in ages past, contemporary art and miniature Her size and pose create a tension but wears clothing befitting a young paintings depicting her are displayed. between her and the environment, and trendy New Yorker. This print, then, While all those who carried Sita’s story demanding that she be taken on her clearly addresses the ways in which Sita or image with them may not agree about own terms. With her (intentionally) unlit is changing in the New York landscape. how she should be understood, her It is not only here that Sita takes on presence is undeniable. As one artist a special meaning in relation to a put it, “Sita and Rama are like our family, The Sita corrective can be specific set of geographically and we grew up with them.” a model for all women culturally defined circumstances. In The way in which Sita is described everywhere, on every cont- general, members of the Indo- in the language and context of Caribbean community speak of the contemporary times-whether that be by inent, in every country. I importance of Sita as a model to counter calling her a divorcee, a battered am not talking only about British colonial power. Kama Singh of woman, a strong single mother, or a Hindus or Indian women. the Raj Kumari Cultural Center (an Indo- woman who’s monogamy and Caribbean cultural organisation) spoke faithfulness is a model for teenagers in You know, Sita is of how Sita and Rama were the “most this day and age of sexually transmitted especially important prominent role models” held up by the diseases - is conveyed in Venantius because there is so many Hindu priests and the orthodoxy in Pinto’s print Sita in the Metropolis. Guyana, at a time when cultural This piece by the New York-based corrupting influences now continuity and integrity were difficult Goanese artist powerfully articulates — violence, drugs and all to maintain. He emphasised that Sita what it means to think about Sita as a that... and Rama remain models for members part of New York City. We can interpret of the community in the United States,

18 MANUSHI amid a new set of cultural challenges. diaspora. In contrast to those who Overtly political understandings of Sita According to my under- evaluated Sita as a positive model, and Rama were not prevalent outside standing, Sita is the main she argued that a composite figure, of the Indo-Caribbean communities we figure in the Ramayana. I like Sita, is “detrimental to women’s encountered in New York, but it is own empowerment,” as women are certainly the case that the Ramayana would consider her more doomed to failure when they “don’t tradition has taken a deeply political important than anyone fit into the narrow boundaries” form in South Asia in the recent past. else... She is created by these idealised notions. Most tellings of the Ramayana begin In visual terms, Anand Patole’s and end in , and, as is well (power). She's the one painting, Good and Evil, highlights a known, the city became a flash-point reason all the events in the tension in Sita’s story: Rama and for conflict in connection with a Ramayana took place. The stand in opposition to each particularly chauvinistic and other, and Sita stands in the middle discriminatory rendition of the story of whole story, in fact, diminutively to the side of Rama. Sita Rama in the 1980’s and 90’s. Yet, revolves around her shakti. acts as the battleground upon which although these events were mentioned She started every-thing Rama and Ravana, good and evil, fight. in some of the interviews, discussion She is the real avatara. This image also reflects the of nationalist issues was for the most sentiments of many New Yorkers; part absent. Other issues emerged as Shastriji, The Hindu when we asked people about Sita, we constant themes: notions of how Center, New York. were, by extension, asking about Rama women “should” and do behave in and the entire Ramayana tradition. As society, and what it means to reclaim people speak about Sita they tend to old role models and/or find new ones very strong woman,” or as an focus on her relationships with other in the present day. Sita and the assertive woman who, in the end, told figures in the Ramayana, just as they Ramayana narrative stand at the center Rama: “You do what you want, I am stress key scenes in the narrative which of the discussion of these issues, and, gone!” Others see Sita as an define her character. Some speak of through them, people engage in the inspiration and guide for single Sita as an ideal mother to and politics of negotiating gender and mothers today: “she divorced , others emphasise her position tradition more generally. In this way, Rama...[and] went all alone into the as the ideal bhakta (devotee) in her different descriptions of Sita and the harsh forest to raise two virtuous relationship with Lord Rama. Still variations in her story are often political boys.” Sujata Warrier of the New York others enumerate Sita’s roles as: the (whether said in explicitly “devotional” State Office for the Prevention of model wife to Rama; the victim of contexts or not). Domestic Violence, asserted that Sita Ravana; the daughter to King ; Many Sitas, Many Stories has been made into a composite figure the daughter-in-law to Rama’s The diversity of perspectives on representing idealised Hindu parents; the Princess of and/ Sita mirrors the diversity of voices in womanhood out of a need for or Ayodhya and the sister-in-law to the South Asian communities of New “national cohesion” and for . Emphasis is placed on York. Some view Sita as a “docile, “community” within and in the how she negotiated her position in subservient” wife, following her relation to different characters in the husband dutifully and suffering at his tale, and how she navigated the trials will. She is sometimes seen as a victim, of her life. People are rarely exclusive abducted by Ravana and rejected by when speaking of Sita as mother, wife, Rama. In these cases, she is often daughter, devotee or (goddess). seen as a model whose time has come Her ability to fulfill all of these different to be reconfigured, if not altogether roles is highlighted as a strength. rejected. For others, Sita is a Descriptions of Sita as the ideal cherished role model for wives and mother and wife often resonate with devotees, a figure to revere and life in New York, such as in the emulate. She is also viewed as a characterisation of Sita as a “single Goddess, an embodiment of shakti. mother,” or as a devotee who was able At times Sita is all of these things. A to remain committed in the face of number of New Yorkers see her as “a Good and Evil many hardships and temptations. To

No. 120 19 some, however, she is not an ideal wife Speaking of the associations or mother, but rather a stereotype of I see Sita as somebody between these three ideals, a passive wife and victim whom women who's positive, whose Swaminarayan devotee in her late should not strive to emulate. quietness and passivity is a twenties said: “In a strange way my In addition to the idea of Sita as views on marriage, and relationships ideal wife and mother, the strength, not like a docile, were formed by the -Savitri-Sita controversial episodes in her story subservient thing. Rather ideal. The impact of these stories [as loom large. Of these, the than being subservient she they are] passed onto children is pariksha (or fire test) is a defining pretty amazing.” Parallels are moment, both in Sita’s own life and in finds an area of largeness sometimes made between Sita’s fire- her relationship with her husband. In within herself... test and the pyre upon which Sati, many ways, these incidents act as Female Artist, New York ’s wife, threw herself. So too proving grounds for Sita, as the Savitri, whose devotion saved her means by which her strength and husband from the hands of death, is virtue are tested. Thus, some character, one woman said, Sita is often likened to Sita, who exhibited emphasise her power or shakti, both forced to prove herself when she endless devotion to Rama. A in fighting off the advances of Ravana was wrongfully abducted. Hence, devotee at one Indo-Caribbean and in avoiding certain death in the while for some her fire test is the temple spoke of how Sita is the model scorching heat of fire. Others ultimate sign of Sita’s virtue, purity, for “family values,” referring emphasise that Sita’s story should be and integrity, for others, it is specifically to her marital love for a warning sign for women. Vibha emblematic of the widespread Rama, which made her so powerful Pathak, a devotee at the Geeta Temple oppression of women in society. that Ravana couldn’t even touch her in Elmhurst, New York, __ identified Sita is often associated with other when he tried to “rape her.” the lakshmana rekha (the protective “virtuous” women of Indian However, the ways in which these line drawn by Lakshmana), as parallel mythology. Associations between idealised notions of Indian to the sindhur many women in South Sita’s story and those of the “ideal womanhood and wifely duty are Asia wear in the part of their hair to wives” Savitri and Sad are found in linked to narratives of suffering are denote their married status. She said Valmiki’s ancient Ramayana, as well disturbing to some, as they are that this line of colour acts as a form as in contemporary discourse. concerned that such stories promote of contract or a boundary which the idea that the good Hindu defines the actions and rights of woman must accept whatever women. Women are not to cross her husband asks of her, and this boundary which has been that she should literally defined for them. submit herself willingly to his The fire test inspires abuse. theological questions among For many New Yorkers, devotees; why, if Rama is all Sita’s abduction is a pivotal knowing and powerful, did he moment in the definition of her make Sita undergo such an character. This moment is ordeal? The fire test and other captured in Sukanya Rahman’s incidents cause some to work. Like Pinto’s Sita in the question Rama’s motivations Metropolis, Sukanya and virtues as a husband. Yet Rahman’s boxed assemblage, many made clear that Sita’s places Sita in a markedly tests were not Rama’s fault at popular cultural environment. all, and to suggest so would be The collage incorporates a to question Rama’s own devotional poster image of Sita’s integrity, and by extension, abduction by Ravana with other God’s. Some describe the fire images from Indian and test as a type of abuse. Like rape American popular culture, such survivors who are forced to as Dick Tracy. By juxtaposing a prove the integrity of their Unitied # 24 by SUKANYA RAHMAN diverse set of unrelated images,

20 MANUSHI Rahman creates a new vision of Sita. In a comic book-like caption Sita speaks out, her voice calling forth as a type of wake-up call to the viewer: “What are you going to do about it?” The Sita of this piece is very different from the Sita who “seemed subservient, without opinion...soundless, voiceless,” described by a member of a domestic violence support group at Sakhi for South Asian women. The Sita of Rahman’s piece has a voice, even in the face of her abduction in Ravana’s chariot. Sita’s abduction is often viewed as a point of departure, when the “real” action begins. Her forced captivity is the spark that ignites the epic battle The Geeta temple at Elmhurst, New York between Ravana and Rama. One child at the Swaminarayan Temple, in fact, which emphasise her suffering at the wrote that: “Because of Sita’s greed the Sita is everything and Ramayana started,” referring to her hands of Rama and other male desire for the golden deer (the ruse of every colour. characters - are not always central. In Ravana) which, in this young boy’s New York’s Indo-Caribbean Teenage Devotee, Swaminarayan community, Sita is still held up as a interpretation, led to her abduction and Temple, Flushing, New York set in motion the rest of the tale. Had model princess, a symbol of Sita not crossed the lakshmana rekha, empowerment and Indian autonomy. another child said, she “would have the forest, pregnant and abandoned, a Similarly, at the Hindu Center in been safe.” She didn’t listen to Rama number of women likened her to single Flushing, a large number of girls and or Lakshmana and so “got into women who raise children alone and boys drew pictures of Sita as a trouble.” This ten year old girl survivors of abuse who finally find the beautiful princess. Other children associated Sita’s crossing the line with strength to leave those who victimise described her as “fearless” and so warnings that her mother gave her them. One survivor of domestic strong that “she could carry a bow “never to speak with strangers” and violence wrote: “I admire Sita’s strength and arrow no man on earth could.” not to leave the house without parental in bearing life’s difficulties head-on, And as one woman put it, “I want to permission. raising her kids herself without [the] be like Sita and have all that shakti.” After the abduction and the agni support of her husband, and not falling For some, such as Shamita Das pariksha, Sita is (in some versions of apart. She remained a strong woman to Dasgupta of Rutgers University, Sita the Ramayana) exiled and rejected by me, who relied on herself.” Emphasising “is a battered woman,” while for others Rama. Not all the New Yorkers familiar a different aspect of her story, Vibha she is a source of strength. It is not with the Ramayana tradition related Pathak passionately warned: “Sita has easy to make clear distinctions this part of the narrative. For instance, put in place a character... [to show that] if between interpretations and a group of children in Flushing, New a woman has some flaw, at any time, any interpreters, and between the York were unfamiliar with the incident, time at all, in any situation, people can descriptions of Sita emerging from one and many in the group emphasised that reject her. [Sita asks us:] ‘when they can community or another. What may be after the agni pariksha, Sita and Rama even cast doubt on a character like mine, deemed a “feminist” interpretation is “lived happily ever after” and “had won’t it be possible to abandon you?’” heard in New York’s Hindu temples, babies.” For those who consider this While aspects of Sita’s story are as well as in domestic violence support episode important, the challenges put focal points for debate, she is also groups. Images produced for to Sita’s character and her rejection by celebrated by many as a wholly mainstream fine art markets often have Rama are interpreted in both positive positive figure. In these cases, the as overt devotional meanings as those and negative ways. As she is sent into problematic aspects of her story - created for the temple context.

No. 120 21 Portrayals of Sita can change most often represented in relation to others depending on the settings and Sita is a battered woman. and is rarely seen in isolation. First and moment. She is a pawn in the power foremost, for many worshippers, she is Sita as Devotee and the Divine remembered as the devoted and loyal wife games – honor, nation, of Rama and is held up as a perfect model In the diaspora (as well as in India marriage, female chastity, of devotion. She is also revered as a model today), Hindus of different of wifely dharma (duty) and associated backgrounds and affiliations tend to fidelity, heterosexuality, with other ideal wives of . gather together in shared temple contexts and institutions. Images of abduction, revenge, rejec- New York’s Changing Sita or Sita are prevalent in many, though tion, class, military interven- Sita in a Changing New York not all, Hindu temples in New York Whether one identifies Sita as a city. In most devotional spaces, tion and bravery – that traditional role model or a possible however, she is not alone, but stands men play. source of rebellion from dominant flanked by her husband Rama; the gender roles, she is a presence among loyal and devoted brother, Shamita Das Dasgupta, Manavi, the members of the South Asian Lakshmana; and the heroic monkey, New Jersey community in New York. When Kama . Singh spoke of Sita’s significance, he In some families, homes and equated with the great Goddess emphasised that she is not only a communities, Sita and Rama have little, herself. When she is viewed as Divine, model in devotional contexts but that if any, importance. For example, a devotees often point to stories of her her influence is also “carved out into spokesperson for the Vedanta Society miraculous birth, her survival of the more secular environments.” In the in New York, suggested that Sita “is fire test, and her return to the earth Indo-Caribbean community, even not a central figure in [their] teaching” as indicators of her special status. progressive and radical departures and that the perspective on Sita within For some members of New York’s from traditional customs and the organisation is: “as varied as the Hindu devotional communities, Sita is interpretations “presume her people who come here.” It is important, seen as distinctly human, and as the ideal presence.” therefore, not to overemphasise the devotee (bhaktd). In this context, Sita is Sita, then, is many things: ideal significance of Sita as a subject of not herself Divine. Within , mother and wife, symbol of both devotion. She is always situated devotion (bhakti) emphasises female power and the oppression of within a larger context, be it with other relationships between the devotee and the women, both victim and victor. images of Gods and Goddesses or Divine, understood variously to be a Some feel she can inspire “ideal” with other devotees, and not all those devotee’s lover, parent, friend, master, or behaviours in women and devotees in the Hindu tradition award her a bearer of peace and compassion. Sita is today, that she possessed qualities prominent place. emblematic of such relationality, as she is (such as patience, virtue, chastity, When Sita has a presence, there devotion, and strength) which all are multiple ways of understanding should strive to emulate. Yet, others her as well as her relationship to the believe that challenging the Divine. At the Shri Divya Dham traditional telling of the story is Mandir in Woodside, New York, a important. Sita, in this respect, is group of teenage girls stood before a like the canvas with which artists large, almost life-size marble murti and begin -depending on how her story eagerly described Sita: “Sita is the is told and retold, she is painted in wife of God,” “Sita is our role model;” a different way. This diversity, “Sita is our mother.” Children at the however, is not always valued, and Hindu Center in Flushing said, “Sita alternative narratives and models is God,” and among members of the are not always available. Sujata Indo-Caribbean community, Sita is Warrier has argued that there needs often called shakti (the embodiment to be “a whole range of Sitas here,” of female power). She is also spoken so that “anybody can follow of as a manifestation of /Shri whichever one they want to.” Then and the wife of , or she is Fearless Sita we might see the “empowered Sita”

22 MANUSHI who dares to reject Rama and live children. Many, but certainly not all, of South Asian Women; Shamita Das on her own. This view of Sita is not these voices come from within the South Dasgupta and Manavi; South Asian always seen, or spoken. According Asian Hindu communities of New York. Women’s Creative Collective; Sujata The term the “South Asian community” Warrier of the New York State Office for to Warrier, the image of the “good refers to Americans who in some way the Prevention of Domestic Violence; the Hindu woman,” who does as she is trace their identities to South Asia, teachers and students at the New York City told, is very prevalent in the Indian including those of Indo-Caribbean Museum School; the visual artists whose diaspora. descent. Quotes referred to in the text and work was represented in the exhibition Conversations about Sita given in toto are drawn from interviews and/or this article; Professors J. S. Hawley sometimes become heated largely in English and Hindi (conducted by Anne (Barnard College) and G. S. Mann Murphy and Shana Sippy; translated by (University of California, Santa Barbara); because Sita acts as a vehicle Anne Murphy) and from written Mary McGee and the staff of Columbia through which people speak of other submissions in English which were University’s Dharam Hinduja Indie issues in their lives - such as the role collected in February and March of 1998. Research Center; and others. We are of women and the difficulties that Words in South Asian languages are grateful to the temples which allowed us to South Asians face maintaining their transliterated without the use of diacritic photograph images (murtis) and the Hindu marks. All photographs, unless otherwise Temple Society, which provided a traditions and cultural commitments noted, were taken by Anne Murphy and photograph of their Sita image. We mention in a new and diverse environment. Shana Sippy. Materials were gathered by name those people we contacted through During a visit by a class from the with the help of: Vibha Pathak and the their institutional affiliation; quotes from New York City Museum School to Swamiji of Geeta Temple and Shri Divya other informants are kept anonymous. We the Hindu Temple Society in Dham Mandir; Satya Narayan Mandir; would like to thank David Wirtschafter for Flushing, two devotees argued America Seva Ashram Sangha; the Hindu his support with this project. Temple Society of North America; Shri about Sita in front of the students. Hanuman Mandir; Shri We invite our readers to The older of the two women Aksharpurushottam Swami-narayan send us material on Sita described Sita as an ideal role model, Temple; Shri Ram Sharanam Temple; the from the folk songs of their while the younger of the two (in her Vedanta Society; Kumari Global region or Sita’s portrayal in mid-thirties) laughed and said, “I Harmony House; Sadhu Vaswani Center; hope not.” Yet, even though Sita’s Shri Shri Govinda Mandir of the different versions of status is contested, she remains a International Society for Ramayan for possible Consciousness; the Hindu Center; The powerful symbol of continuity and inclusions in our Rajkumari Cultural Center; Seva Dev forthcoming book on Sita. change. At the same time that she is Mandir/Viswa Seva Ashram; Sakhi for described in new ways, dressed in new clothing, and placed in new situations, she is also an emissary MANUSHI Back Issues of tradition, providing a link to the Handsomely Bound in Maroon Leather in Nine Volumes Price rituals, traditions, and stories of generations both past and present for India, Nepal, and Bangladesh : and a culture which, at times, seems all too far away for those living in Vol. I : Nos. 1 to 19 (1979 to 1983) : Rs. 480 New York. Like other heroes and Vol. II : Nos. 20 to 37 (1984 to 1986) : Rs. 430 divinities of South Asia, Sita is Vol. III : Nos. 38 to 49 (1987 to 1988) : Rs. 400 engaged in a larger process of cultural transformation and Vol. IV : Nos. 50 to 61 (1989 to 1990) : Rs. 400 articulation that reverberates Vol. V : Nos. 62 to 73 (1991 to 1992) : Rs. 400 through New York’s South Asian Vol. VI : Nos. 74 to 85 (1993 to 1994) : Rs. 400 communities.  Vol. VII : Nos. 86 to 97 (1995 to 1996) : Rs. 400 Vol. VIII : Nos. 98 to 109 (1997 to 1998) : Rs. 400 The exhibition Sita in the City was Vol. IX : Nos. 110 to 121 (1999 to 2000) : Rs. 400 held in conjunction with the international Sita Symposium held at Columbia Vol. X : Nos. 122 to 133 (2000-2002) : Rs. 400 University in April of 1998. This article and its related exhibition are formed by Postage in India : Rs 50 per volume the voices and perspectives of: religious All Other Countries: US$ 60 per volume (including air-mail postage) specialists and devotees in local Hindu temples; survivors of domestic violence; Send payment by cheque, draft or MO payable to MANUSHI Trust community activists; artists; and

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