This book is mainly focused on Sita. How was her childhood, her relation with her parents, her upbringing and her education, that’s why if you have read Book 1, you may find repetition of few events post Ram and Lakshman came to Mithila for Sita’s Swayamvar, however, this time they have been explained from Sita’s perspective i.e. what Sita was thinking and feeling during all those events.
Disclaimer: This book has no reference to Ramcharitmanas or Ramayana. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Examples of few such instances, which I believe were either deviated from what we all know about Ramayana or maybe, I was personally not aware about them are as below:
- Sita met Hanuman first time while she was in gurukul. She met him through one of her gurukul’s friend Radhika, who was the daughter of Varun (Chief of Valmikis’ tribe and who gave his ashram to Guru Vashishta to teach four Ayodhyan Princes). From then onwards, Sita had been in touch with Hanuman and used to address him as Hanu Bhaiya.
- Bharat (second son of King Dashrath) and Radhika were in love with each other but couldn’t get married.
- Ravaan and Guru Vishwamitra, both had their roots in Kannauj.
- As mentioned in the previous book review, Ram Chandra Series is all about a journey of how Vishnu came up who transformed and guided India at the time of its downfall. Guru Vishwamitra chose Sita as the prospective Vishnu whereas Guru Vashishta chose Ram as the prospective Vishnu. And when Sita revealed this to Hanuman, he gave her an idea to work in partnership with Ram as Vishnu. Sita, then, planned her swayamvar and asked Guru Vishwamitra to call Ram for her Swayamvar.
- And during their exile, when she revealed her idea to Ram that both of them should work together in partnership as Vishnu, for the good of society to which Ram agreed, then, she introduced Ram to Hanuman for the first time.
- Manthara and Druhyu (Manthara's right hand) were loyal to Ravaan. And Manthara’s daughter, Roshini, was Rakhi sister of four Ayodhyan princes. Roshini was brutally murdered. And, one of her four murderers was juvenile, so Ram as per the law, didn’t give him capital punishment but life time imprisonment. Manthara wanted to avenge this, so she along with Druhyu, planned to get Ram murdered during his exile. But Sita, with the help of Jatayu, ensured that her plan should fail.
- While Ram, Sita and Lakshman were in their thirteenth year of exile at Panchavati, Shurpanakha and Vibhashan came to take refuge there and Ram abiding the law ‘Athithidevo Bhav’, agreed to provide them shelter. During their stay, one day Shurpanakha asked Sita to accompany her for bath and there she tried to drown Sita but Sita rescued herself. Later, when Sita was narrating this incident to Ram, Lakshman and Vibhishan, this agitated Shurpanakha and she charged an attack on Sita with a knife and to save his sister-in-law, Lakshman rapidly jumped in front of Shurpanakha which made her fell down and the knife in her hand cut her own nose deeply.
- While Ram and Lakshman went for hunting, Kumbhakaran and Ravaan, both came to abduct Sita. Sita fought hard to save herself but seeing Jatayu severely injured, she gave up and confronted Ravaan and Kumbhakaran. Kumbhkaran, then, made her unconscious through some herbs and abducted her in Pushpak Vimaan.
- Jatayu was a Naga and Nagas were one of the suppressed communities then. Nagas were ill-treated by rigid, supercilious and chauvinistic elite of Sapt –Sindhu and Ravaan came as a rebel-hero, a savior to them at their time of crisis. So Jatayu was once part of Ravaan’s forces which were divided into two groups (MahiRavaans: who commanded the land territories, and AhiRavaan: who commanded the seas and the ports).
Extracts from the book which I liked the most:
Conversation between Sita and Sunaina (Sita's mother) when Sita went to embark on her new adventure of visiting slum area but got herself in a serious trouble. And then, Sunaina explained her that
‘Criminals exist among the rich and poor both. Criminals among the rich are mostly driven by greed. One can negotiate with greed. But the criminals among the poor are driven by desperation and anger. Desperation can sometimes bring out the best in a human being that’s why the poor can often be noble. But desperation can also bring the worst. They have nothing to lose. And they get angry when they see others with so much when they have so little. We must help the truly poor. That is dharma. But we should not be blind and assume that all people are noble. Not everyone has the spirit to keep their character strong when their stomachs are empty. Don’t fall into the trap of stereotypes. Don’t assume that the powerful are always bad or that the powerless are always good. There is good and bad in everyone.’
When Sunaina was getting an agreement signed by Kushardhwaj (King Janak's younger brother), she brought a burning lamp to witness that.
‘Importance of Lord Agni, the God of Fire, as witness. Every Indian believes that Agni is the great purifier. First hymn of the first chapter of the holiest Indian scripture, the Rig Veda, celebrates Lord Agni. All promises sealed with the God of Fire as witness can never be broken; promises of marriage, of yagnas, of peace treaties… ‘
When Guru Vishwamitra and Sita were discussing how the society should be and why it moves toward imbalance:
‘Society must be wary of extremes. It must constantly strive towards attaining a balance among competing ideologies. A society must always aim for balance. It needs intellectuals, it needs warriors, it need traders, it needs artists, and it needs skilled workers. If it empowers one group too much or another too little, it is headed for chaos. The only ‘ism’ you should believe in, is pragmatism. Being a pragmatic means you are open to every school of philosophy. And accept only those parts that make sense to you, while rejecting other bits that don’t. You should learn from any philosophy that can help you fulfill your karma.
Society gets imbalance when people are not free to live a life that is in alignment with their innate guna, their attributes. It is happened when group is oppressed or belittled. It can also happen when you are made to follow the occupation of your parents and clan, rather than what you may want to pursue.’
When Radhika told Sita that she wouldn’t be marrying Bharat and had decided to move on with her life, Sita asked Radhika would she be happy without him. To which she replied:
‘Happiness is not an accident. It is a choice. It is in our hands to be happy. Who says that we can have only one soulmate? Sometimes, soulmates want such radically different things that they end up being the cause of unhappiness for each other.’
When Ram and Sita were discussing with Hanuman, if there could be two Vishnus to which Hanuman replied:
‘Not once has any Vishnu or Mahadev emerged exactly according to plan. The best laid plans always have a tendency to get spoil. There have always been surprises. Mahadev and Vishnus succeeded because they were willing to give their all for our great land. And that is the secret. Passion. Not Plan.'
The lines which I liked the most are:
‘The only ‘ism’ one should believe in, is pragmatism.’
‘We come with nothing into this world, and take nothing back. But that’s not true. We carry our karma with us. And we leave behind our reputation, our name.’
‘The worst enemy a man can ever has is the one who was once his best friend.’
‘Tears are meant to be hidden.’
‘A too-clever-by-half plan can backfire.’
‘For real wisdom to rise, the sun must set.’
‘Life is not all about what we want, but also about what we must do. We don’t just have rights. We also have duties.’
‘Don’t be afraid of the dark. Light has a source. It can be snuffed out. But darkness has no source. It just exists. This Darkness is a path to That, which has no source: God.’
‘Freedom has, within itself, the tools for self-correction.’
Rating: 3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment