Sita (meaning "furrow") sprang from the earth, was discovered as an infant by King Janaka, and was raised in Janaka’s kingdom without a mother. She grew up to become an extremely beautiful woman with full, red lips and a small, trim waist. Many suitors attempted to gain her hand in marriage, but were unable to overcome Janaka’s challenge of lifting Indra’s bow. One day when she was older, Sita was standing on her balcony when she caught a glimpse of Rama walking through her city. She fell in love at first sight. The two were eventually married after Rama won her hand in marriage by lifting the giant bow. The happy couple lived in Adhoyha until Rama was exiled for fourteen years to the forest. Sita accompanied her husband and his brother without a second thought into exile. She is later abducted by Ravana after the demon king hears of her undeniable beauty, but she refuses his advances towards on her for several months in hopes of being rescued by her love, Rama. When Sita is finally rescued, she is rejected by Rama until she proves her purity. In Buck’s version of the Ramayana, Sita is later banished to the forest while pregnant due to the spreading of rumors again about her purity.
As I began to delve into the many stories of Sita’s life a cloud of mystery and ambiguity began to surround her. Despite her essential role in the Ramayana as Rama’s wife, Sita appeared aloof and distant to me. For instance, in Narayan’s Ramayana, the reader knows little to nothing about what Sita goes through while imprisoned by Ravana. Although Buck’s version goes into further detail than Narayan’s, I still believe much of Sita is left to the imagination. What are her inner thoughts and feelings? What does she go through on a day to day basis? How does she pass the time and maintain her perpetually strong spirit?
Furthermore, I want to explore Sita’s relationship with her husband, Rama. As mentioned before, Rama does not warmly welcome Sita after he rescues her from the evil clutches of Ravana. Instead, in Narayan’s Ramayana, Rama forces Sita to prove her purity to him before he will accept her again as his wife. I would specifically like to explore how Sita feels about this episode in her life. Is she hurt by Rama’s actions or does she view them as necessary? Does this moment in time have any effect later on in their relationship? Through this storybook I have attempted to understand the events of Sita’s life from her own unique perspective.
As previously mentioned, this storybook will be centered upon the first person “Dear Diary” storytelling technique. I chose this particular storytelling technique because I believe it best illustrates the intimate side of Sita, which I found crucial to her story. Having this storybook become Sita’s diary will allow me to explore her most private thoughts concerning herself, her beauty, her friends, her family, and her life.
After reading Sita’s
diary I want to leave
readers feeling as if
they know Sita as a person, not just as a pretty face, a demon’s
coveted prize, or a hero’s love interest. I want readers to take away
the feeling that they have just spent time talking with an old friend,
a friend who they know inside and out. I want Sita to become in a sense
real to those who read her diary.