Ep 10: Arundhuti Dasgupta: Many Sitas — 'Feminist' Ramayanas
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Nov 7, 2023 ·
57m 43s
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arundhuti-dasgupta-singhal-2683031/, journalist and co-founder of https://themythologyproject.com/, takes us on a delightful ride through the many versions of the Ramayana, including folk songs where Sita has been truly understood as a...
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Arundhuti Dasgupta, journalist and co-founder of The Mythology Project, takes us on a delightful ride through the many versions of the Ramayana, including folk songs where Sita has been truly understood as a woman with a mind of her own. She talks about the eternal nature of the epic, the various tellings through Valmiki, Tulsidas and Kamban, the rationality of the Jain version as well as Sarala Das’ Odia Ramayana and Chandrabati’s ‘feminist’ Ramayana, which all “come from a place of love”. Through all this, Sita has been a voice for her “sisters of sorrow”, while unleashing her ‘Bhayankar Ras’ as Kali in Valmiki’s Adbhut Ramayana. Tune in to listen!
Arundhuti Dasgupta runs online and offline classes on myth and folklore. She is the author of The Weretiger: Stories of the Supernatural and Spooked: Stories of the Supernatural.
Recommended books:
Three Hundred Ramayanas by AK Ramanujan
In search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology by Namita Gokhale & Malashri Lal
Chandrabati’s Ramayan by Nabaneeta Dev Sen
Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition by Paula Richman
Chapters:
00:44 An introduction to The Mythology Project
03:33 The eternal idea of the Ramayana
09:25 The Ramnamis of Chhattisgarh adopting the Ramcharitmanas
12:00 Many Ramayanas; an excerpt from the Adhyatma Ramayana (from AK Ramanujan’s essay)
13:00 Sita is always questioning Ram, she’s not timid
15:45 Folk songs around Sita; 15th century poet Sarala Das’ Odia Ramayana
17:51 The rationality of the Jain Ramayana; Lakshman, not Ram, kills Ravan
19:35 Chandrabati’s ‘feminist’ Ramayana and Sita’s origin story; Mandodari births an egg
26:36 Oral tellings in Nepal and Southeast Asian countries
27:13 Sita as Ravan’s daughter
28:27 Sita vs Draupadi; Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Sita’s ‘sisters of sorrow’
31:46 ‘Grinding folk songs’; Sita refuses to return to Ram
34:57 Sita as Kali in Valmiki’s ‘Adbhut Ramayana’
35:00 Valmiki’s Ramayana vs Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas
36:20 Ram as ‘maryada purushottam’ and Sita’s role
37:55 The power of Sita in retellings; Sita vs Surpanakha
40:03 Ramayana as a tragic love story; the parrot’s curse on Sita
44:27 Thai and Malay versions of the Ramayana
47:00 Relating daily problems through stories of Sita and Ramayana
50:34 The male gaze in Ramayana tellings
53:00 Women have understood Sita through folk songs; Kaushalya reprimands her sons
56:22 Recommended reading
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: swishingmindsets@gmail.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
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Arundhuti Dasgupta runs online and offline classes on myth and folklore. She is the author of The Weretiger: Stories of the Supernatural and Spooked: Stories of the Supernatural.
Recommended books:
Three Hundred Ramayanas by AK Ramanujan
In search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology by Namita Gokhale & Malashri Lal
Chandrabati’s Ramayan by Nabaneeta Dev Sen
Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition by Paula Richman
Chapters:
00:44 An introduction to The Mythology Project
03:33 The eternal idea of the Ramayana
09:25 The Ramnamis of Chhattisgarh adopting the Ramcharitmanas
12:00 Many Ramayanas; an excerpt from the Adhyatma Ramayana (from AK Ramanujan’s essay)
13:00 Sita is always questioning Ram, she’s not timid
15:45 Folk songs around Sita; 15th century poet Sarala Das’ Odia Ramayana
17:51 The rationality of the Jain Ramayana; Lakshman, not Ram, kills Ravan
19:35 Chandrabati’s ‘feminist’ Ramayana and Sita’s origin story; Mandodari births an egg
26:36 Oral tellings in Nepal and Southeast Asian countries
27:13 Sita as Ravan’s daughter
28:27 Sita vs Draupadi; Nabaneeta Dev Sen and Sita’s ‘sisters of sorrow’
31:46 ‘Grinding folk songs’; Sita refuses to return to Ram
34:57 Sita as Kali in Valmiki’s ‘Adbhut Ramayana’
35:00 Valmiki’s Ramayana vs Tulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas
36:20 Ram as ‘maryada purushottam’ and Sita’s role
37:55 The power of Sita in retellings; Sita vs Surpanakha
40:03 Ramayana as a tragic love story; the parrot’s curse on Sita
44:27 Thai and Malay versions of the Ramayana
47:00 Relating daily problems through stories of Sita and Ramayana
50:34 The male gaze in Ramayana tellings
53:00 Women have understood Sita through folk songs; Kaushalya reprimands her sons
56:22 Recommended reading
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: swishingmindsets@gmail.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
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