Revisiting Sita of the Ramayana: The act of Subversion in Kumaran Asan’s Chinthavishtayaya Sita

Abstract

The Ramayana, the ancient epic depicting the story of Rama and Sita, has been widely recognized as a cultural text that shapes itself in different forms as a response to the time period of revision. Revisionary literature often carries the purpose of disseminating certain ideologies. Many of them promote the mission of subverting the legitimized notion of patriarchy which silences women. By giving voice to the women who are denied of expressing their perspective, revisionary writings provide a fresh dimension of the story that the reading public is familiar with. Kumaran Asan’s Chinthavishtayaya Sita, the poem, written in Malayalam in 1919 set a new era in Malayalam literature with the novelty of the theme and approach to the Ramayana that the text adopted. The current study examines the methods adopted by the writer to problematize patriarchal concepts used in the epic. Also the modes of subversion employed by the writer and the context that initiated such a revisionary writing will also come under the purview of this analysis.