AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ON THE ENVIRONEMENBTAL CONFERENCE CONNECTING
RAMAYANAM AND SITA THE EARTH DAUGHTERr KR IRS 16424
THE HARMONY BETWEEN MOTHER EARTH AND DAUGHTERS OF EARTH IN VOLGA’S THE
LIBERATION OF SITA PRASADITA L. RAVEENDRAN and ARTHA PERLA Department of
English, Mangalore University, Karnataka, India.
Ecofeminism, often viewed as third-wave feminism, is both an activist
and an academic movement. The French feminist Francoise d’Eaubonne’s
understanding of the term ‘Ecofeminism’ has evolved significantly over the
last many decades
from its primary emphasis— the domination of the human patriarchal world on
the non-human world to the deep exploration of the interlinkages between
women and nature. Through assessing power relations, knowledge, passion,
culture and desire, how the cultural construction of women is linked
sometimes restrictively with nature forms one
way of viewing the tenets of ecofeminism, but an empowering women-nature
relationship is also pondered upon by its other strands. It is often these
latter ‘ecofeminists’ that facilitate many readers to ponder upon the
21st-century Indian
mythological retellings. Therefore, even though humiliation and mistrust by
the patriarchal figures of authority readily act as oppressive forces,
ecofeminism points out how the same can create a ripple effect that is far
more liberating and free-spirited achieved through interrogation and
transgression.
The link between woman and nature has been emphasized since time
immemorial but re-visionist tales allow for a deeper self-reflexivity.
Ramayana’s Sita, valorized as the ideal feminine or the ideal woman by
culture, has become a character often reworked upon by the popular and folk
tradition. In recent times, Volga’s
Vimukta (translated to English as The Liberation of Sita by T. Vijayakumar
and C. Vijayasree) has attained massive introspection, conversations and
debate owing to its break from the stereotypical myth, the celebration of
sisterhood with a focus on characters who have been relegated in the
traditional texts, its bold sexual expression,
and the rejection of the societal way of life and thought. Though at the
outset, the title The Liberation of Sita gives an impression of a
re-visionist retelling of the Ramayana, Volga’s narrative proves our
prejudice wrong. It is a collection of five short stories, namely, “The
Reunion’’, “Music of the Earth”, “The Sand Pot”, “The Liberated” and
“The Shackled”, written between 2003-2009. Each story in the collection is
devoted to a female character from the Ramayana—Surpanakha, Ahalya, Renuka,
and Urmila– with Sita and Mother Nature intertwining the narratives,
leading towards actualization. This, coupled with the sisterhood they
share, when in the lap of Mother Nature,
allows the scope for an ecofeminist reading of the text. Thus, the
objective of this study is to draw parallels to the standard symbols of
woman and nature by using Volga’s subversive and political text The
Liberation of Sita.
It opens up new spaces enabling women to re-view their life and
experiences in connection with nature. This revisionist mythmaking attempt
paves way for some of the women in Ramayana to find their individualities
by looking back into their past with fresh eyes and taking steps ahead with
new critical insights.
The term ‘ecofeminism’ indicates the coming together of two
theoretical concepts: Ecocritical discourses and Feminism. It is both a
theory and a practical solution to many problems regarding gender and the
environment. Its interrogation and challenge of the systematic subjugation
and oppression of the environment and women by larger
systems explicate this intersection. d’Eaubonne, in her radical way, calls
the larger institutions the ‘Male system’ and suggests its destruction for
the sake of environmental justice and social justice (racism, poverty and
sexism). Foraging into the common cause— the association between women and
nature— it is to be noted that there is a particular kind of hierarchical
thinking or framework that results in systematic subjugation. These value
hierarchies treat one as being superior to the other and these differences
are understood as binary distinctions: male/female, civilized/uncivilized,
white/non-white, man/nature and so on. To address this problematization,
one must challenge value hierarchical ways of thinking. And to do so, there
is no just one way of looking at it for it can be through the
intersectionality of diverse thoughts and practices. Thus, all the various
strands and/or approaches of ‘ecofeminism’ dovetail one aspect— the
realization that the liberation of women is not possible in isolation.
Janet Biehl in Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics discusses how questions
have been raised about the male construction of language, and in it, the
space delineated for the term ‘woman’. Her identity or recognition as to
who/what she is or who/what she can be is challenged. By recognizing that
there are many varieties of women within the word ‘woman’, Biehl draws a
comparison to nature and its expression of beauty and differences (Biehl
25). Volga’s The Liberation of Sita also allows scope for a similarly
diversified view on the term ‘woman’ and her relation with her
mother/sister, Nature. Be it Sita, Surpanakha, Ahalya, Renuka or Urmila,
their connection to another individual/s through hierarchical relations as
a wife, daughter or mother, always took prominence when amidst the
‘civilized’ socio-cultural-political life. But when they move into the
forest and live life on their own terms, without caring for the Arya Dharma
or for the patriarchal norms of the society, a far more liberating and
free-spirited understanding of the term ‘woman’ begins to develop in them.
This liberatory spirit is akin to the power that Mother Nature wields, thus
allowing a sisterhood between these women and nature. The constantly echoed
idea throughout the novel is that when the women are forced into the depths
of forests by humiliation from their loved ones, ‘Bhudevi’ (Mother Earth)
seamlessly becomes the ground of wisdom and self-growth for them, thus
paving way for the creation of a woman who cherishes her own desires,
thoughts and actions.
Volga’s Sita’s true self-exploration occurs when she is abandoned by her
husband, Rama. “Like post-structuralists, ecofeminists argue that neither
the word ‘woman’ nor the word ‘nature’ can be read apart from each other
and that both are shaped and marked by traces of a larger system, like a
philosophy that is submerged into psychology” (Warren 216). Sita’s
encounter with Ahalya, Renuka and Surpanakha opens her to a nuanced
definition of herself. She, the daughter of Bhudevi, revels during the 14
years of ‘vanavasa’ because she is constantly with her Mother and with
other nature-loving women with whom she shares great camaraderie. When in
the forest, Sita seems to be happy that she is in the carefree world of
forest life than Arya Dharma’s restrictive palace life. Yet, only after
getting deserted by her husband does she strongly try to understand the
perspectives, assertions, forewarnings, individualism and wisdom that was
shared with her by Shurpanakha, Ahalya, Renuka and Urmila. Their
philosophical and psychological views of the gray areas of life, the
various truths in the world, become a part of the woman-nature bond between
Sita and Bhudevi, syncing them together like the eternal fire; the same
fire that gives her the trial of chastity, and later on, her solace.
Sita’s birth, much like her life, is also in direct relation to
the natural world rather than the cultural world. “She emanates from the
Earth appearing as a furrow of the field…The story brings to mind the
sprouting of plant life in its most natural form, as if in the wild”
(Vemsani 33). This plant symbolism as rightly observed by Lavanya Vemsani
further explicates how interconnected Sita and nature is. Besides this,
Sita, the princess of Mithila, who has been accustomed to royalty, easily
jels with the natural world while living in exile. This indicates that
other than her physical mirroring to plant life, her character traits also
reflect the shared sisterhood with nature. The impulsivity, generosity,
plenitude and strong will she upholds are traits that are often associated
with wildlife.
In The Liberation of Sita, Surpanakha aptly explains to Sita how
women are similar to nature. The garden that Surpanakha has created and is
taking care of bests any that Sita ever laid eyes upon. Surpanakha
considers her garden as her child and nurtures it accordingly. She sustains
life around her. Not only does this give her immense joy but her actions
nurtures and contributes to the ecosystem around her. Karren J. Warren in
Ecofeminist Philosophy draws an analogy between trees and women and this
can be aptly compared to Surpanakha’s ideology of women
as nurturers. Warren discusses how the roots of the tree are steeply
entrenched in the soil from which it gets its nourishment and in turn, the
root system holds the soil together giving shape to it. The leaves and air
also act in a give-and-take support system. Later, the leaves fall and
become compost, and thus, the cycle of nurturing continues.
Therefore, each and every process of the tree is not only beneficial
for it but also affects the atmosphere which eventually determines how much
light can fall to the surface of the earth (Warren 216). Similarly,
Surpanakha advises Sita that even a single movement of a woman is not only
for herself but for her surroundings, for its nourishments, for growth.
Sita’s nurturing of her sons Lava and Kusa without any expectations from
them in return had also taken a similar trajectory. Hence, the shared
sisterhood between Surpanaka, Sita and Bhudevi establish the powerful
nurturer in them; a nurturer similar to a“doe that rears fawns” (Volga 31)
who allows the ones nurtured to wander on their own once the time comes.
The ‘male system’ objectifies women and nature by viewing them
as men’s properties. It is this binary ideology that leads to the
justification for war in Ramayana. Through body aesthetics laid down by the
patriarchal world, Sita
and Surpanakha become emblematic for the men to act aggressively. Geetika
Ghanduja in ‘Prakriti and Shakti: An Ecofeminist Perspective’ borrows from
Vanadana Shiva’s and Maria Mies’s Ecofeminism to state:
There is a connection between the escalation of war, “musclemen” culture,
rape and other violence against women. It is no coincidence that the
gruesome game of war in which the greater part of the male sex seems to
delight passes through the same stages as the traditional sexual
relationship: aggression, conquest, possession and control.
The same can be said about the war waged by Raavana against Rama and
vice-versa. If for the former, it is to avenge the humiliation of his
sister Surpanakha,— who in cultural terms is a threat to the patriarchal
world because of her explicit sexual desire for Rama— for the latter, it is
to safeguard the honour of his wife, Sita— whose
spontaneity and stubbornness akin to the natural world leads her to desire
the golden deer. But Volga emphasizes how both these women view nature as a
mirror image of themselves. Sita’s constant feeling of oneness, solace and
unity with the natural world depicts this, while for Surpanakha, the
mirroring occurs in a nurturer-nurtured or
mother-child bond mostly showcased through her connection with her garden.
Her physical mutilation leads her to ruminate on the idea of beauty and
she comes to terms that beauty is all around in nature for nature’s way of
life is the absolute truth. The rest are nothing but cultural
constructions, even physical beauty and male-dominated companionship.
Donna Haraway, a famous ecofeminist, coined the term ‘situated knowledge’.
Embodying nature forms the crux of situated knowledge and in this context,
nature is no longer viewed as a mirror of the cultural constructions of
society but is instead viewed as an active agent. For Volga’s Renuka — the
mother of Parasuram, who survived the
injustice of Arya Dharma upon a woman/mother when her son blindly adhered
to his father’s impetuous words owing to the principles of the cultural
construction of the ‘woman’ being chaste — the situated knowledge becomes
her talent of jelling well with mud and soil. Her unique ability to craft
amazing sculptures, a profession not usually
taken up by women during her time period, and passing on her wisdom to
other women like her who share their sisterhood with nature, becomes the
seat of situated knowledge; a knowledge that acts as an eye-opener for Sita
at a later point when she reflects upon the constructed idea of woman’s
chastity in the society in opposition to polygamy in the natural world.
The embodiment of the self through self-care and self-love is an
important aspect of self-assertion, and in turn, one of the foremost
assertions of ecofeminism. This is portrayed exemplarily well by Volga
using Urmila. On Sita’s return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile, she
intends to meet her sister Urmila, Lakshman’s wife. On learning that she
has locked herself soon after the trio (Rama-Sita-Lakshman) left for exile,
Sita grows anxious. Urmila on the other hand does not loathe and cry for
her situation. Instead it is calm and happy. She describes how she felt
left alone and abandoned initially but the feeling of isolation leads her
to undertake a journey within. Her search for happiness leads her to
herself, thus giving her inner peace and wisdom. This journey provides her
with a new meaning of life; one filled with self-love and confidence. Sita,
on the other hand, takes a longer time to understand Urmila’s advice. Sita
in her exile for the second time hears about the Ashwamedha yaga that Rama
was conducting. She wonders how one could perform a yaga without a consort.
It is at this moment Urmila’s advice comes to aid in its fullest form. This
is when Sita readies to free herself from the world of emotional
dependence. To detach herself from the thoughts of Rama was Sita’s step
towards liberation.
The idea of ecofeminists to engage in re-visioning is another way
in which Volga pushes her female characters. Almost all the major female
characters who share sisterhood re-visions their life and choices when with
nature. Ahalya’s choice to accept the subjective idea of ‘truth’ forms one
such re-visioning. In Ramayana as well as in Volga’s revisionist tale of
The Liberation of Sita, Ahalya’s ostracization from society is re-told and
understood in different ways. This re-visioning of the truth by various
characters, both from the novel and the conventional mythology, encloses
how women’s relationship with nature can lead to a better sense of oneself
and that a woman does not belong to any single individual but belongs to
the whole world, and Volga’s Sita upon meditation comes to this very
conclusion too. Old myths and beliefs in which nature is revered show that
the pre-modern cultures have always treated nature with respect (their
deification of nature is an index of this). They legitimize female power,
female bodies and female sexuality and give importance to women’s
knowledge. This is one of the reasons why Volga’s Sita, resonating with the
mythical Sita, is revered as the daughter of Bhudevi. Her process of
self-reflection allows the readers to identify that she is as skilful and
knowledgeable as her revered husband, Rama. But to appease the male ego and
to serve her duty as the wife of Rama and the future queen of Ayodhya, she
waits for Rama to rescue her from Lanka so that Arya Dharma can be
foregrounded. But her later denial to prove her innocence to the world and
return to the civilized world along with her children further validates her
women-nature bond. She taps on her spiritual ecofeminism of
self-actualisation for guidance and decides to spiritually awaken herself
by being with sisterhood, with Bhudevi.
There are various theoretical debates concerning ecofeminism— western
and indigenous. These frameworks allow one to gain critical insights into
the subjugation of women and its link with the environment. Western
theoretical debates place the male and the female in opposition to one
another –similar to that of nature versus culture debate. However, Vandana
Shiva observes the male and the female as the expression of the same
entity, that is, in the indigenous understanding of an entity or of the
Divine, there is a constitution of both the male and the female: Prakriti
and Purusha, acting complementary to one another (Morales, 2). This implies
focusing on one aspect of the Indian philosophy of duality in unity.
Creation and destruction are two main forces overriding Indian philosophy.
Thus, Shiva argues that the Shakti, the dynamic life-giving force, pervades
everything. It is also the feminine principle that manifests as Prakriti,
it is also the creative principle. The Purusha or the masculine principle
in coordination with Prakriti creates the world. Hence,
Prakriti-Purusha/female-male are not in opposition to one another, rather
it is complementary and inseparable. Trying to understand how nature works
and influenced by the Chipko Movement, Shiva, in Staying Alive, defines the
development and relationship between nature and women. It is a critique of
the colonial history of the Indian subcontinent. Development according to
Shiva is a dominant, western patriarchal apparatus. (Shiva 2:10-10:24).
Although we cannot generalize Shiva’s perspective to the whole of the third
world or specifically the Indian subcontinent where there is no one
dominant philosophical thought, it can still be taken as one of the
perspectives in the larger kaleidoscopic spectrum of ecofeminist
thought.…while women and men naturally share much in common, their
different psychological states and outlooks should not be overlooked. The
belief is that, in general terms, while men are more aggressive, cerebral
and self-promoting, women tend to be more nurturing, intuitive, mature and
giving. Interestingly, it is precisely these feminine qualities which are
aspired toward in Hindu spiritual life - by both men and women…By
recognizing the sacred nature of women as personifications of the feminine
aspect of divinity, and by seeing the Earth, not as a lifeless object,
there solely for our exploitation, but rather as the living personality of
our collective Mother, we can end much of the needless violence and
suffering(Morales, 4-5).In The Liberation of Sita, the story “The Shackled”
gives us a picture of Rama through his interior monologue. It
shows that Rama is shackled in the prison of Arya Dharma and was free only
during the time of his exile. The political power that comes with his birth
and eventually, living on with his heirs to the throne binds him to a life
from which he
has no escape. Whereas Sita, by relinquishing all her bindings, has the
royalty of being liberated. Hence, when it comes to Sita-Rama and
Prakriti-Purusha, both are complementary to one another. While one is
liberated, the other becomes
shackled. Volga’s The Liberation of Sita beautifully describes how its
characters Sita, Ahalya, Surpanakha, Renuka and Urmila challenges the
conventional view of gender roles. Thus, their ostracization from the
‘civilized’ society to the ‘uncivilized’ natural world of the forest opens
opportunities for self-exploration. The women’s experiences act as a
gateway for them to dethrone the cultural construction of women/nature.
Their questioning of power, relationships, desire, nurture, purity and
knowledge when with nature furthers their transition to being one with
nature’s spirit, thereby reaffirming the ecofeminist ideology of the
closeness between women and nature.
K Rajaram IRS 16 4 24
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