Women of Ramayan

Women of Ramayan PDF Author: Kunal Kaushal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This book tells the stories of five women of Rāmāyaṇ who not only avenged themselves against the most powerful people of those times but also won justice for the weak and downtrodden. In the process, the book reimagines the events of past by removing the thick layers of fantasy and hyperbole. While keeping the stories realistic and reasonable, and passing the stringent tests of logic and credibility, the book answers several rarely asked questions. WHY and HOW did Ahalyā mastermind the downfall of Indra - the most influential person of those times? Kaikeyī take revenge against her adversaries - Kauśalyā and Vasiṣtha? Śūrpaṇakhā plot the death of her own brother? Mandodarī protect her biggest rival, Sitā? Tārā engineer the murder of her own husband? The book challenges the popular perception of these five women. Step by step, it demolishes the false myths about them that have taken deep roots in our collective conscience. The book goes on to prove a singular fact - they were women of such substance that despite all obstacles, they managed to carve a significant and unique space for themselves in Indian history.

Women of Ramayan

Women of Ramayan PDF Author: Kunal Kaushal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book tells the stories of five women of Rāmāyaṇ who not only avenged themselves against the most powerful people of those times but also won justice for the weak and downtrodden. In the process, the book reimagines the events of past by removing the thick layers of fantasy and hyperbole. While keeping the stories realistic and reasonable, and passing the stringent tests of logic and credibility, the book answers several rarely asked questions. WHY and HOW did Ahalyā mastermind the downfall of Indra - the most influential person of those times? Kaikeyī take revenge against her adversaries - Kauśalyā and Vasiṣtha? Śūrpaṇakhā plot the death of her own brother? Mandodarī protect her biggest rival, Sitā? Tārā engineer the murder of her own husband? The book challenges the popular perception of these five women. Step by step, it demolishes the false myths about them that have taken deep roots in our collective conscience. The book goes on to prove a singular fact - they were women of such substance that despite all obstacles, they managed to carve a significant and unique space for themselves in Indian history.

A Woman's Ramayana

A Woman's Ramayana PDF Author: Mandakranta Bose
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135071268
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
The Rāmāyana, an ancient epic of India, with audiences across vast stretches of time and geography, continues to influence numberless readers socially and morally through its many re-tellings. Made available in English for the first time, the 16th century version presented here is by Candrāvatī, a woman poet from Bengal. It is a highly individual rendition as a tale told from a woman's point of view which, instead of celebrating masculine heroism, laments the suffering of women caught in the play of male ego. This book presents a translation and commentary on the text, with an extensive introduction that scrutinizes its social and cultural context and correlates its literary identity with its ideological implications. Taken together, the narrative and the critical study offered here expand the understanding both of the history of women’s self-expression in India and the cultural potency of the epic tale. The book is of interest equally to students and researchers of South Asian narratives, Rāmāyana studies and gender issues.

Chandrabati’s Ramayan

Chandrabati’s Ramayan PDF Author: Chandrabati
Publisher: Zubaan
ISBN: 8194721873
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Book Description
Chandrabati, the first woman poet in Bangla, lived in the sixteenth century in Mymensingh district in present day Bangladesh. She was also the first poet in the Bangla language to present a retelling of the Ram story from the point of view of Sita. Idolised as a model of marital obedience and chastity in Valmiki’s Ramayan, Chandrabati’s lyrical retelling of Sita’s story offers us a fresh perspective. Written in order to be sung before a non-courtly audience, mainly of womenfolk of rural Bengal, Chandrabati’s Ramayan adds new characters and situations to the story to provide new interpretations of already known events drawing richly on elements of existing genres. Its location in the tales of everyday life has ensured that Chandrabati’s Ramayan lives on in the hearts of village women of modern-day India.

Sita's Ramayana

Sita's Ramayana PDF Author: Samhita Arni
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781554981458
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Ramayana is an epic poem by the Hindu sage Valmiki, written in ancient Sanskrit sometime after 300 BC. It is an allegorical story that contains important Hindu teachings, and it has had great influence on Indian life and culture over the centuries. Children are often encouraged to emulate the virtues of the two main characters -- Rama and Sita. The Ramayana is frequently performed as theater or dance, and two Indian festivals -- Dussehra and Divali -- celebrate events in the story. This version of The Ramayana is told from the perspective of Sita, the queen. After she, her husband Rama and his brother are exiled from their kingdom, Sita is captured by the proud and arrogant king Ravana and imprisoned in a garden across the ocean. Ravana never stops trying to convince Sita to be his wife, but she steadfastly refuses his advances. Eventually Rama comes to her rescue with the help of the monkey Hanuman and his army. But Rama feels he can't trust Sita again. He forces Sita to undergo an ordeal by fire to prove herself to be true and pure. She is shocked and in grief and anger does so. She emerges unscathed and they return home to their kingdom as king and queen. However, suspicion haunts their relationship, and Sita once more finds herself in the forest, but this time she is pregnant. She has twins and continues to live in the forest with them. The story is exciting and dramatic, with many turns of plot. Magic animals, snakes, divine gods, demons, sorcerers and a vast cast of characters all play a part in the fierce battles fought to win Sita back. And in the process the story explores ideas of right vs. wrong, compassion, loyalty, trust, honor and the terrible price of war.

The Liberation of Sita

The Liberation of Sita PDF Author: Volga
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9352775023
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Valmiki's Ramayana is the story of Rama's exile and return to Ayodhya, of a triumphant king who will always do right by his subjects. In Volga's retelling, it is Sita who, after being abandoned by Purushottam Rama, embarks on an arduous journey towards self-realization. Along the way, she meets extraordinary women who have broken free from all that held them back: husbands, sons, and their notions of desire, beauty and chastity. The minor women characters of the epic as we know it -- Surpanakha, Renuka, Urmila and Ahalya -- steer Sita towards an unexpected resolution. Meanwhile, Rama too must reconsider and weigh his roles as the king of Ayodhya and as a man deeply in love with his wife. A powerful subversion of India's most popular tale of morality, choice and sacrifice, The Liberation of Sita opens up new spaces within the old discourse, enabling women to review their lives and experiences afresh. This is Volga at her feminist best.

The Goddess as Role Model

The Goddess as Role Model PDF Author: Heidi R.M. Pauwels
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195369904
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
This book seeks to understand the major mythological role models that mark the moral landscape navigated by young Hindu women. Traditionally, the goddess Sita, faithful consort of the god Rama, is regarded as the most important positive role model for women. The case of Radha, who is mostly portrayed as a clandestine lover of the god Krishna, seems to challenge some of the norms the example of Sita has set. That these role models are just as relevant today as they have been in the past is witnessed by the popularity of the televised versions of their stories, and the many allusions to them in popular culture.Taking the case of Sita as main point of reference, but comparing throughout with Radha, Pauwels studies the messages sent to Hindu women at different points in time. She compares how these role models are portrayed in the most authoritative versions of the story. She traces the ancient, Sanskrit sources, the medieval vernacular retellings of the stories and the contemporary TV versions as well.This comparative analysis identifies some surprising conclusions about the messages sent to Indian women today, which belie the expectations one might have of the portrayals in the latest, more liberal versions. The newer messages turn out to be more conservative in many subtle ways. Significantly, it does not remain limited to the religious domain. By analyzing several popular recent and classical hit movies that use Sita and Radha tropes, Pauwels shows how these moral messages spill into the domain of popular culture for commercial consumption.

Before We Visit the Goddess

Before We Visit the Goddess PDF Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476792011
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"A new novel from the author of Oleander Girl, a novel in stories, built around crucial moments in the lives of 3 generations of women in an Indian/Indian-American Family"--

Sita

Sita PDF Author: Bhanumathi Narasimhan
Publisher: Ebury Press
ISBN: 9780143455288
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Sita by Bhanumathi-ji is deeply stirring and weaves an intricate tapestry of sensitivity with strength and wisdom as the story unfolds

A Woman's Ramayana

A Woman's Ramayana PDF Author: Mandakranta Bose
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113507125X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
The Rāmāyana, an ancient epic of India, with audiences across vast stretches of time and geography, continues to influence numberless readers socially and morally through its many re-tellings. Made available in English for the first time, the 16th century version presented here is by Candrāvatī, a woman poet from Bengal. It is a highly individual rendition as a tale told from a woman's point of view which, instead of celebrating masculine heroism, laments the suffering of women caught in the play of male ego. This book presents a translation and commentary on the text, with an extensive introduction that scrutinizes its social and cultural context and correlates its literary identity with its ideological implications. Taken together, the narrative and the critical study offered here expand the understanding both of the history of women’s self-expression in India and the cultural potency of the epic tale. The book is of interest equally to students and researchers of South Asian narratives, Rāmāyana studies and gender issues.

Ahalya

Ahalya PDF Author: Koral Dasgupta
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 9389109671
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
‘Lyrical and poetic ... enthralling’ BIBEK DEBROY ‘A magical and thought-provoking adventure, Ahalya will intrigue and mesmerize readers’ CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI ‘An enigmatic tale about purity, chastity, seduction and redemption’ NAMITA GOKHALE ‘Brilliant and intriguing’ ANAND NEELAKANTAN It is known that Ahalya was cursed by her husband, Gautam, for indulging in a physical relationship with Indra. But is there another story to Ahalya's truth? Who was Indra anyway? A king? A lover? A philanderer? The first book of the Sati series, Ahalya hinges on these core questions, narrating the course of her life, from innocence to infidelity. In the Sati series, Koral Dasgupta explores the lives of the Pancha Kanyas from Indian mythology, all of whom had partners other than their husbands and yet are revered as the most enlightened women, whose purity of mind precedes over the purity of body. The five books of the Sati series reinvent these women and their men, in the modern context with a feminist consciousness.