Beyond the Golden Threshold: Reimagining Sita’s Inner World in Kumudini’s Letters from the Palace

Abstract

In the contemporary transnational impulse, Ramayana has taken a new relevance all over the world. Embellished with the core issues of culture and tradition, it has been set as an example of morality amidst the society since ages. Contemporary socio-cultural issues like loyalty, family roles, feminine sensibility, environmental concern and the dilemma of choices and power-centres are well depicted in the form of mythical lore through this ancient epic. In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology (2009), an anthology edited by Malashri Lal and Namita Gokhale comprises of essays, commentaries, interviews and creative writings by eminent writers, presenting various crisscross dimensions of Sita, the leading female protagonist of Ramayana. The general perception about Sita’s character is her submissiveness, devoted conjugal sincerity, sacrificing ability and her unquestioning loyalty which present her as an archetypal figure in Indian society. Present paper intends to focus on the feminine sensibility of this ancient mythological figure, depicted by Kumudini in her short essay “Letters from the Palace” very effectively and artistically. The eminent Tamil author Kumudini has humanized the Sita myth by writing about Sita’s imagined letters to her mother equipped with true feelings, emotions, longings and the psychology of a newly-wedded woman.