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A review by perfictionist19
Bhumika: A Story of Sita by Aditya Iyengar
5.0
An absolutely breathtaking and contemporary retelling of Sita's Ramayana. The story is well known to us that after being abnegated by Lord Rama, Sita finds her home in Valmiki's ashram and settles amidst forest faraway from the comfort of royalty with her sons Luv and Kush.
Bhumika by Aditya Iyengar commences with Sita feeling disconcerted by watching a staged play of her own life in Valmiki's ashram. She is unsettled by the fact the way she is being portrayed in the drama as merely Rama's wife. A story glorifying Rama, justifying his actions and screaming his righteousness out loud. What makes her flinch is the fact that there is no mention of what happens to her after the establishment of Ram Rajya and as she tries to question the minstrel of Sita's fate after her subsequent banishment, she is left unanswered.
Sita's unsettling thoughts do not leave her long after the play ends and she is constantly nicked by questions and decisions she made through her life, " What if she hadn't married Rama?", "What if she put herself first?", "What is she hadn't made the choices she is admired for?" She contemplates her life as a woman, as a human being and not as Rama's wife.
Iyengar's Bhumika is a feminist take on Sita's Ramayana , no not Rama's Ramayana, "Sita's". We have all known more or less known the story of how Sita ends up marrying the heir of Ayodhya and how the story proceeds after Kaiyeki's announcement for Rama's banishment and Ravana's abduction that follows. In Bhumika, Iyengar draws parallels between Sita as Rama's wife and Bhumika as the daughter/queen of Mithila. It swelled my heart with pride to see Bhumika's portrayal as an iron willed woman who ruled Mithila after claiming the throne from her father.
The book shines the light upon some major character's in a very contradictory and at times adverse point of view. Why was Sita's chastity put to question at all? Was it not cruel for the forever righteous Rama to banish Sita because he wanted to create his Ram Rajya and just because he thought that Sita's presence in his Utopian state will be a perversion? In addition to this we get to see Ravana,the villain who is unfaltered by the concept of gender and sees Bhumika as his own equal.
The book definitely manages to leave us awed and questions on some morales that were imbibed and preached since time immemorial.
If I am asked to describe Iyengar's Bhumika in a nutshell, I'd stick with the words IMAGINATIVE, UNPUTDOWNABLE and A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE
Bhumika by Aditya Iyengar commences with Sita feeling disconcerted by watching a staged play of her own life in Valmiki's ashram. She is unsettled by the fact the way she is being portrayed in the drama as merely Rama's wife. A story glorifying Rama, justifying his actions and screaming his righteousness out loud. What makes her flinch is the fact that there is no mention of what happens to her after the establishment of Ram Rajya and as she tries to question the minstrel of Sita's fate after her subsequent banishment, she is left unanswered.
Sita's unsettling thoughts do not leave her long after the play ends and she is constantly nicked by questions and decisions she made through her life, " What if she hadn't married Rama?", "What if she put herself first?", "What is she hadn't made the choices she is admired for?" She contemplates her life as a woman, as a human being and not as Rama's wife.
Iyengar's Bhumika is a feminist take on Sita's Ramayana , no not Rama's Ramayana, "Sita's". We have all known more or less known the story of how Sita ends up marrying the heir of Ayodhya and how the story proceeds after Kaiyeki's announcement for Rama's banishment and Ravana's abduction that follows. In Bhumika, Iyengar draws parallels between Sita as Rama's wife and Bhumika as the daughter/queen of Mithila. It swelled my heart with pride to see Bhumika's portrayal as an iron willed woman who ruled Mithila after claiming the throne from her father.
The book shines the light upon some major character's in a very contradictory and at times adverse point of view. Why was Sita's chastity put to question at all? Was it not cruel for the forever righteous Rama to banish Sita because he wanted to create his Ram Rajya and just because he thought that Sita's presence in his Utopian state will be a perversion? In addition to this we get to see Ravana,the villain who is unfaltered by the concept of gender and sees Bhumika as his own equal.
The book definitely manages to leave us awed and questions on some morales that were imbibed and preached since time immemorial.
If I am asked to describe Iyengar's Bhumika in a nutshell, I'd stick with the words IMAGINATIVE, UNPUTDOWNABLE and A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE