Week One: Indian Epics Overview

The epics of ancient India are interesting to me because they are so vibrant and fanciful yet have persisted and can be read and related to today. I am looking forward to exploring different themes in Indian literature, especially the different methods of storytelling in different versions of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. I really enjoyed watching "Sita Sings the Blues" because it showed how relevant the themes of the Ramayana can be.

“Sita Sings the Blues” artistically portrays the tragic story of Sita, wife of Rama, and relates it to the personal story of the writer/director of the film, Nina Paley. The story of Sita is one of extreme devotion, hope, lost love, and eventual abandonment, and this is a tale the director could relate to. The premise of the movie is of the raw emotion portrayed in the Ramayana that touched the writer in the process of a divorce with her husband, thereby showing that the ancient Hindu texts are relevant today. 
 

The story begins with two couples madly in love. The premise of the Ramayana is of a king-to-be, Rama, who must go into exile for fourteen years before he takes the throne because of a vow his father made to his wife. Rama’s lover, Sita, is adamant about going with him because of her duty as a wife. In the writer’s life, Nina and her husband are enjoying their lives in New York. When her husband takes a new job in India, Nina soon follows him to India to be with him. When the potential for separation comes up in both instances, the women remain loyal to their husbands and follow the men.  

The film continues with the royal couple moving into the forest as Rama slaughters demons. This captures the attention of the king of Lanka, Ravana, who decides to kidnap Sita at the urging of his sister. During this separation, Sita languishes over her condition, but prays to Rama to deliver her from Ravana. As a parallel, when Nina’s job calls her back to New York, she leaves India but is not completely aware of her husband’s shaky commitment to their marriage. Both women are forced to leave their love, one by kidnapping and one by the modern commitment to an occupation.

After Hanuman, Rama’s servant, finds Sita and reports to Rama of her whereabouts, Rama amasses an army to rescue Sita. However, when he finally gets to her, his demeanor is cold and distant. He is sure Sita’s purity has been compromised by Ravana, even though she has been fully committed to her husband. The reconnect briefly, but soon the pressure of being a king with a potentially contaminated wife causes Rama to banish now-pregnant Sita. The devastation that would have been felt by Sita is acutely experienced by Nina when her husband suddenly breaks off their marriage via e-mail. Both women, loyal to their husbands, now find themselves alone and heartbroken.

Sita moves into the forest and gives birth to Rama’s twin boys, who grow learning about and praising Rama. One day, Rama finds the boys and discovers that they are his sons. Sita and Rama meet again only for Rama to doubt Sita’s purity once more. She vows that if she has been true to Rama, she will be taken back into the womb of earth. As she has been loyal, Sita is swallowed up by the earth, and Rama is left loveless. This is when Nina’s story departs from the epic. Nina gathers up the pieces of her heart and finds comfort in the tale of the Ramayana. Her experience even inspired the creation of an animated film, which she named “Sita Sings the Blues”.

One of the main points a viewer can glean from “Sita Sings the Blues” is that the emotions and plotline of ancient Sanskrit epics can be relevant to the modern human. Although the idea of a king kidnapping the wife of his enemy, vanaras saving the day, and sending women with a dubious reputation into the forest or to be tested by fire is not something a person today normally experiences, Sita’s ardent love for Rama, her undying devotion to him, and his unwarranted, undignified “dumping” of his wife has much room for empathizing throughout the ages. The context of the Ramayana may seem very foreign, but the emotions and abandonment Sita faces transcends the bounds of time.