Ramayana

The Ramayana Dr . Ketaki Datta

The Ramayana and The Mahabharat are the two celebrated Hindu epics in India . In both the epics , especially in The Mahabharat , we find a gallery of portraits . The Ramayana too has sundry characters who contribute a lot in shaping the plot of the venerated epic . The age in which these two epics had been placed had a lot of deities rubbing shoulders with the people who inhabited the world at that time

In this immediate essay we are much more concerned with the portrayal of female

characters in The Ramayana than any other issue . In this epic , the female characters are quite convincingly portrayed and again it is interesting to note that there are many shades in the female characters in The Ramayana . The women are loyal to the age-old customs of the land -they obey the dictates of their husband without any protest , they value chastity as a treasured virtue , they render selfless service to all the elders in the family , apart from their husband . They are ready to prove the loyalty to their husband at any cost

Sita was the wife of Rama ,the prince of Ayodhya . She came as a daughter-in-law to the family of King Dasharath . But , as ill luck would have it , owing to heinous conspiracy of Kaikeyi [Bharat 's mother and Dasharath 's second wife] , Rama had to go on exile for fourteen years .Without any complaint or grudge , Sita followed Rama to the wilderness Another brother of Rama , Laxman , who was devoted to Rama , joined them on their rigorous and tedious life in the woods . Sita served her husband and brother-in-law by making food for them , by making their life a bit simple , assuaging the grief they harboured in their hearts . Rama was naturally perturbed after the unfortunate incident and Laxman used to keep an eye on the comforts and amenities of his elder sister-in-law Sita . Sita used to love Laxman just like her own brother . Laxman too reciprocated that love , in the truest possible sense of the term But everything got topsy-turvy when Ravana took the guise of a golden deer and came to tempt Sita . This too had a story of wreaking vengeance on Laxman behind it . Ravana 's sister Surpanakha had fallen in love with Laxman and sought his love . But Laxman spurned her advances with contempt and this triggered off Ravana 's focus on Laxman 's family . Sita was imploring Laxman to get hold of the running deer and hand it to her Laxman tried his best but failed . Sita nursed no grudge against him though he failed

But a greater misfortune awaited Sita . And right from this point , Sita catapults to the centre-stage of the epic . Ravana ,again , came in the disguise of a saintly beggar and hoodwinked Sita and abducted her to her utter dismay . Sita was in for a shock , when , Jatayu the wizened bird failed to free her from the clutch of Ravana . The womanly instinct worked in Sita and...