Against the Current: Sita and Her Foils in - Bad Request
Against the Current: Sita and Her Foils in - Bad Request Against the Current: Sita and Her Foils in - Bad Request
company while Rama and Gautama conversed about dharma. Naturally, Ahalya felt bereft when the royal couple left for forest exile, and longed for their return. When Sita came to visit after the exile, Ahalya was shocked to hear that after her capture, suffering, and rescue, Rama had her enter the fire to prove her chastity. When Pudumaippittan says that “Kannagi’s frenzy leaping through her mind,” he links three women mistreated by their husbands: Ahalya, Sita, and Kannagi. Heroine of the fifth- century Tamil epic Cilappatikaram, Kannagi had always been a faithful wife, quietly loyal to her spouse even when he left her for a courtesan and returned home penniless. Kannagi welcomed him and gave him her gold anklet so he could go sell it to support them. When he went to the city to sell it, the king of Madurai wrongly executed him for the theft of a gold anklet stolen by another man. The news of his death filled Kannagi with rage, transforming her into an avenging goddess. She cursed the king and his city, and burned it to the ground in punishment. By comparing Ahalya’s mind to that of Kannagi, Pudumaippittan suggests the depth of Ahalya’s anger towards Rama for punishing Sita for Ravana’s misdeed. Pudumaippittan indicates how deeply Ahalya felt her own self tied up with Sita in a single simple sentence: “One law for Ahalya, quite another for Rama?” In other words, could Rama really be compassionate if he considered his wife tainted and allowed her to enter the fire, even if he forgave Ahalya’s transgression? Indeed, Ahalya now doubts that she has been freed from her curse at all. If Sita, who was chaste, had to prove herself through a fire ordeal, what did that imply her, who had committed adultery with Indra? Ahalya interprets Rama’s treatment of Sita as his personal betrayal of her, 24
wondering whether he made “[a] judgment which was equal to the curse that had poured out from Gautama?” She became overwhelmed with despair. Gautama tried to comfort her and, thinking that having a child would help her to find some purpose in life, he entered their cottage as Ahalya was drifting to sleep. In her mind’s eye, Indra had returned and was re-enacting the same deed: the one she had tried so hard to forget. Sita’s tale had brought to mind her past trauma, compelling her to experience it and its terrible result again and again, as if suffering from what today is called post-traumatic repetition syndrome. Even though the real Gautama now entered her, rather than Indra, she had internalized Rama’s condemnation of Sita so entirely that at that moment Ahalya turned back into stone. 36 In “Deliverance,” Pudumaippittan displaces his criticism of Rama’s treatment of Sita so that it surfaces less directly through a telling of Ahalya’s story. “Deliverance” suggests that Gautama’s curse does not end when Rama liberates her from her stony state. Indeed, Gautama and Ahalya never regain the easy trust that characterized their early married years. But Pudumaippittan goes even further, because by portraying Ahalya’s return to stone, he suggests that Rama is hypocritical in exonerating Ahalya but not Sita. Thus, Rama’s treatment of Sita functions as the operative force in the latter part of the story, emphasizing what Sita and Ahalya both share. CONCLUSIONS In these stories, Ramkatha’s female characters, especially Sita, are not static and unchanging icons. Instead, because they are contextualized in modern narratives, they come across as multi-faceted human beings. By contemporizing Sita, these Tamil and 25
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company while Rama <strong>and</strong> Gautama conversed about dharma. Naturally, Ahalya felt<br />
bereft when <strong>the</strong> royal couple left for forest exile, <strong>and</strong> longed for <strong>the</strong>ir return.<br />
When <strong>Sita</strong> came to visit after <strong>the</strong> exile, Ahalya was shocked to hear that after her<br />
capture, suffer<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> rescue, Rama had her enter <strong>the</strong> fire to prove her chastity. When<br />
Pudumaippittan says that “Kannagi’s frenzy leap<strong>in</strong>g through her m<strong>in</strong>d,” he l<strong>in</strong>ks three<br />
women mistreated by <strong>the</strong>ir husb<strong>and</strong>s: Ahalya, <strong>Sita</strong>, <strong>and</strong> Kannagi. <strong>Her</strong>o<strong>in</strong>e of <strong>the</strong> fifth-<br />
century Tamil epic Cilappatikaram, Kannagi had always been a faithful wife, quietly<br />
loyal to her spouse even when he left her for a courtesan <strong>and</strong> returned home penniless.<br />
Kannagi welcomed him <strong>and</strong> gave him her gold anklet so he could go sell it to support<br />
<strong>the</strong>m. When he went to <strong>the</strong> city to sell it, <strong>the</strong> k<strong>in</strong>g of Madurai wrongly executed him for<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>ft of a gold anklet stolen by ano<strong>the</strong>r man. The news of his death filled Kannagi<br />
with rage, transform<strong>in</strong>g her <strong>in</strong>to an aveng<strong>in</strong>g goddess. She cursed <strong>the</strong> k<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> his city,<br />
<strong>and</strong> burned it to <strong>the</strong> ground <strong>in</strong> punishment. By compar<strong>in</strong>g Ahalya’s m<strong>in</strong>d to that of<br />
Kannagi, Pudumaippittan suggests <strong>the</strong> depth of Ahalya’s anger towards Rama for<br />
punish<strong>in</strong>g <strong>Sita</strong> for Ravana’s misdeed.<br />
Pudumaippittan <strong>in</strong>dicates how deeply Ahalya felt her own self tied up with <strong>Sita</strong> <strong>in</strong><br />
a s<strong>in</strong>gle simple sentence: “One law for Ahalya, quite ano<strong>the</strong>r for Rama?” In o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
words, could Rama really be compassionate if he considered his wife ta<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>and</strong> allowed<br />
her to enter <strong>the</strong> fire, even if he forgave Ahalya’s transgression? Indeed, Ahalya now<br />
doubts that she has been freed from her curse at all. If <strong>Sita</strong>, who was chaste, had to prove<br />
herself through a fire ordeal, what did that imply her, who had committed adultery with<br />
Indra? Ahalya <strong>in</strong>terprets Rama’s treatment of <strong>Sita</strong> as his personal betrayal of her,<br />
24
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