Edited by: Gauri Jhangiani (ASP 2019)
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s latest book, The Forest of Enchantments, is a retelling of the great Indian epic, The Ramayana, from the point of view of Sita. In her novel, she brings out the different, sometimes conflicting, facets of Sita’s personality. Sita is the sensitive level-headed youth with a healing touch, as well as the resilient and strong warrior princess. She is also the caring sister and the ever-loving wife, but above all, she is her own person. Divakaruni’s Sita is not the meek or docile woman who is a victim of circumstance, instead she is one who endures. The author successfully redefines what it means to endure, and while the meaning of this is something that our protagonist contemplates throughout the story, her struggle can be summed up in the following lines:
“It didn’t mean giving in. It didn’t mean being weak or accepting injustice. It meant taking the challenges throw at us and dealing with them as intelligently as we knew until we grew stronger than them.”
In humanizing Sita for her readers, Divakaruni does not lose the mythological element of the epic. The gods speak to Sita and, in fact, she is the incarnate of the goddess Lakshmi and has visions which provide her snatches of the realm of the gods. The Forest of Enchantments captures the sublime love-story of Ram and Sita. The intimate conversations between the couple serve to bring out the trust that the former holds in the latter. Ram shares with her his concerns, ambitions, and self-doubt, and it is apparent that his trust in his Sita is unparalleled. But the conflict between love and duty is a common theme through many relationships in the story. Ram and Sita’s seemingly perfect romance can’t escape conflict, Ram’s desire to be the perfect king results in him doubting, and eventually banishing, Sita. And while as a reader, my heart went out to Sita and I often felt angry at the treatment she received at the hands of someone she loved so much, Divakaruni never antagonizes Ram. She explores his faults and shortcomings the way Sita sees them, and highlights the compromises he has to make in his trying to be an ideal king.
For Divakaruni, exploring female narratives is not unchartered territory. Her previous work, some which I have had the pleasure of reading, have also told the stories of women and the way they navigate life. And this isn’t the first time she has focused on female voices in Indian epics. Among her previous work is, another must read, The Palace of Illusions, which is a retelling of The Mahabharata from Draupadi’s point of view.
While the protagonist is undoubtedly Sita, Divakaruni also gives a voice to other women often glossed over in The Ramayana without whom Sita’s own story is incomplete. Some of the women, Sita adores, others she is wary of; some women, she learns from and others, she finds hard to forgive at times. But nevertheless, Sita is respectful of all their experiences and perhaps this is what lends to the way she is able to empathize with each of them.
The Forest of Enchantments was my first read of 2019, and it is safe to say that I am off to a great start this year. The language is simple, yet eloquent, and the narrative follows the chronology of The Ramayana as we know it. My grandmother first introduced me to The Ramayana when I was no more than 3 or 4 years old and now, years later, Divakaruni has given me The Sitayan. And take my word for it, I was as captivated and amazed with this book as I was listening to my grandmother’s narration.