Introduction
Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish Tripathi is a mythological
adventure thriller that reveals a flabbergasting yet unfamiliar tale of the early
years of Sita’s life before she married Ram. In this book, Amish takes you
through 38 years of Sita’s journey as an adopted girl child from an
insignificant kingdom who rises to become a goddess.
Like most of the Indians, my inference of Sita’s character
has been influenced by Ramanand Sagar’s epic television show of the 1980’s
“Ramayan”. Contrary to Sita’s image in the television show as a beautiful submissive
dutiful wife, Amish has presented Sita as a leader and fearless warrior who is
as competent as Ram himself.
This is the second book in Amish’s Ram Chandra series which is a compilation of four books. The first three books in the series have covered stories of major characters of the Ramayan; Ram, Sita and Ravan. All three characters eventually will come together in the fourth and final book based on the war of Lanka. This style of writing is also known as multilinear narrative or hyperlinks. While the first book in the series is named “Ram, Scion of Ikshvaku”, the third book on Ravan is titled “Ravan, Enemy of Aryavarta”. The fourth book is not yet revealed by Amish.
Mithila’s queen Sunaina and King Janak rescue a baby from a pack of wolves in the forest and decide to adopt her. They name her Sita. Sita grows up in Mithila and in due course is sent to gurukul for studies in Rishi Shvetaketu’s ashram. She turns out to be a promising student.
Ravan has already established himself as a dogmatic, ruthless King of Lanka and suppresses Sapt Sindhu. Its time for a savior to free Sapt Sindhu from the clutches of Ravan. Vishawamitra head of the Malyaputra tribe is tasked to name the next Vishnu who can save the world from Ravan’s atrocities. He spots Sita in the gurukul on one of his visits and finds her apt for the role. He solemnizes her to be the next Vishnu and provides her all the training and security a Vishnu deserves. Her identity as a Vishnu will be revealed only when the time comes.
After completing her Gurukul studies Sita returns home and is appointed as the prime minister of Mithila. She brings up a lot of reforms and soon becomes popular in the masses of Mithila. But she has greater cause over mind which is the upliftment of India. She decides to partner with someone who can help her achieve her objective.
Ram, prince of Ayodhya is also being trained to become a Vishnu by his guru Vashistha. Vishwamitra and Vashistha are friends turned foes and both advocate their choices of Vishnu. Sita wants to partner with Ram for her cause and persuades Vishwamitra to get him to her Swayamvar. Ravan is also invited to the Swayamvar by Sita’s uncle but is insulted during the Swayamvar, he retaliates by calling a war over Mithila. Ram fires a bioweapon and succeeds in combating the powerful Lankan army and defeating Ravan.
Since firing a bioweapon is unlawful Ram decides to take the penance of 14 years in the forest and leaves Ayodhya along with Sita and Lakshman. Aware that Ravan will avenge on his defeat in Mithila, Ram, Sita and Lakshman are always on a vigil while in the forest.
Will Ravan succeed in taking revenge for his defeat? Will Sita’s name be revealed as the next Vishnu to the masses of Sapt Sindhu? Check this out in the book.
My Candid Musings
The book is neatly divided into chapters covering different stages of Sita’s life. Most of the plot is based out of Mithila where Sita spends major years of her life. The author has beautifully captured the mother and daughter’s relationship between Sunaina and Sita. I particularly liked the extract where Sunaina tells Sita to move on in life and manage her problems as they witness a scene of the death of an elephant Matriarch (while on an elephant ride into the jungle).
I was most astounded to read about the explanation of the concept of Vishnu. Contrary to the general perception in the Hindu society that talks about the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a savior who is born when bad surpasses the good. Amish talks about a tribe dedicated to choosing an individual, who is trained and enabled to become a savior. The identified Vishnu then works to eradicate atrocities by the villain and reestablishes peace in the society which in turn reinstitutes the people’s belief in god.
The reference of Hanuman, Narada and Manthara in the book is logically convincing, there is no supernatural element in the book, you never see Hanuman flying or Narada suddenly appearing out of nowhere chanting “Narayan, Narayan”. It is interesting to know some coherent facts about Hanuman’s appearance, Narada’s knowledge about world affairs, Sita’s Swayamvar, Ram’s exile and Manthara’s interest in Ram’s exile.
I felt that the description of Sita’s journey to Agastyakootam was over dragged, I found myself skipping the pages to find the places where Sita was mentioned wondering what happened to her next. Also, I felt that the moment when Ram is introduced into the story, suddenly a lot of things are happening too fast, in one moment Ram feels tricked into coming to Mithila in the next moment he is so impressed by Sita that he wants to marry her.
Towards the end, there is a long chapter on a conversation between Sita and Bharat where Sita tries to convince Bharat on why Ram is correct in choosing being punished rather than shunning it off using his aristocratic position. I felt it was not required. Instead, a long conversation between Sita and Ram would have been interesting.
I have rated this book above average. In totality, the story has been engaging and interesting and has successfully aroused interest in forthcoming releases of the Ramchandra series.
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Recommendation
Sita, Warrior of Mithila is a light read with an exciting plot. Although part of a book series, this book is an independent read. Pick up this book if you are interested in Indian mythology or interested in reading a thriller.
Your review of the book "Sita" has impressed me a lot.
ReplyDeleteSita is commonly known as wife of Ram.This book covers her childhood and also her role as an administrator when she was prime minister of Mithila.
I will definitely go for it.
Thanks a lot
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