The Liberation of Sita

by Volga

Do women exist only to be used by men to settle their scores?

Oh this is going to be a banger

It was all politics.

Has she spent all her life in lovelessness? Has she showered all her love on that garden? Has she created the garden as an expression of her passion for beauty? Are these flowers a manifestation of the tenderness of her heart?

I, who loved beauty, began hating everything that was beautiful.

‘I struggled a lot to grasp that there is no difference between beauty and ugliness in nature.

‘I’ve realized that the meaning of success for a woman does not lie in her relationship with a man. Only after that realization, did I find this man’s companionship.’

‘You never lived in that kingdom, yet see how your life is entangled in it, Sita!’

‘You were accused of a crime you did not commit,’ Sita said with sympathy. ‘Aren’t many women in this world wrongly accused, Sita?’

‘Each one to their own truth. Does anyone in this world have the power to decide between truth and untruth?’

Like everyone else, he too looked at women as if they are meant for men’s enjoyment.

Pollution, cleanliness, purity, impurity, honour, dishonour—Brahmin men have invested these words with such power that there is no scope in them for truth and untruth. No distinction.’

‘Truth does not remain the same forever but keeps changing continuously—that is the wisdom I earned.’

‘Never agree to a trial, Sita. Don’t bow down to authority.’

Innocent people like you with pure hearts will never understand what women like her say. Go

‘I am the daughter of Earth, Rama. I have realized who I am. The whole universe belongs to me. I don’t lack anything. I am the daughter of Earth.’

By refusing to bow down to external authority, Sita had fully experienced, for the first time, the inner power of self-authority.

‘That too is part of Arya Dharma, I know. To blindly carry out a father’s wish without thinking about justice or injustice.

Why so much fury—fury that consumed me—fury that wanted to burn everyone? Why this anguish? I knew the cause. But a longing to delve deeper into that cause was born in me without my noticing it. What is anger? What is sorrow? What is joy? What is the relation between my body and these feelings and emotions that I experience? Many such questions—they engulfed me. I began to observe my body, my thoughts, and the emotions they triggered within me. Any distraction to this process annoyed me. That’s why I desired solitude. Not loneliness, solitude. The solitude in which I could converse within and with myself.

Change is the sign of life. The course of our future depends on the value he attaches to that change.

Power is the root cause of all sorrow, Akka. Do you know another strange thing? We must acquire this power. And then give it up. I shall not submit to anyone’s power. Nor will I bind anyone with my power. Then I will feel I have liberated myself. I will feel only joy within myself! Great peace! Much love! Compassion for all! ‘It’s a pity how people get bogged down by structures of power. Unable to see how they can liberate themselves, they rot in unrest, sorrow and hatred.

Assume authority. Give up power. Then you’ll belong to yourself. Then you’ll be yourself. We should remain ourselves.

What was more enjoyable—loving Rama or being angry with him?

‘Rama has accepted Lava and Kusa. He has accepted Sita, too. But Sita must declare herself innocent in the open court.’ Sita listened calmly to these words. With a smile. ‘Is there a need for me to do that?’ That’s all she said. Liberated now from her children too, Sita, with a peaceful smile on her face, set out to return to where she had come from.

The laws of nature do not change. If they do, it will be calamitous for the world. Human laws change. Human beings change them. Unable to cope with the change, they get perturbed. Slowly they get used to the change. Once the change stabilizes, they desire change again. Human law becomes the law of the time, and the law of the moment becomes the law of human beings.

The title story signals Sita’s emergence as the liberated one while the final story, ‘The Shackled’, shows Rama imprisoned in the bondage of Arya Dharma.

Volga’s Vimukta not only belongs to this tradition of feminist revisionist myth-making but takes it further.

I would say that constructive criticism is in extreme short supply in Telugu.

I don’t think there can be a writer without an ideological framework—whatever that ideology is—it is not possible. No one is neutral.

What is the intention in Vimukta? Is the focus on Sita or the other women? Both. I wanted to show the kind of strength Sita got through others.

I did not portray anyone as a villain, I described circumstances—historical and cultural contexts—in which women suffered and how they came out of them. I did not blame Rama or Ravana for Sita’s plight. I took a balanced view which was well liked. Many readers told me that they felt that things must’ve happened exactly as I had narrated them. In fact, many people asked whether these stories are in the Ramayana itself. So, the stories have given me a lot of satisfaction.