ABSTRACT
From Sita in the ancient sacred narratives to sati in recent fictional narratives, a woman is not only in focus but inadvertently becomes the reason behind a conflict. Sita is the wife of Lord Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana. She has been portrayed as the selfless and dutiful wife who repeatedly sacrifices her own interests and later her life so that her husband can perform his twin duties of being a son and a king. The Ramayana might be the tale of Ram but hapless Sita is the motivation behind the glory that is ultimately Ram’s. The interpretations of Ram’s character in succeeding narratives might vary, from being the epitome of moral strength to having physical prowess, depending on the times; yet, Sita remains the same hapless and helpless woman, the one whose abduction sets the stage for Ram’s magnificence. In the Hindu scriptures, Sati is the wife of Lord Shiva whose love for her husband is so deep that she is not able to bear the insult meted out to him by her father and immolates herself in the consecrated ritual fire as a mark of protest. These twin self-sacrifices of Sati and Sita have been deeply misunderstood and have become the source of the later practice of widow immolation called sati or — in British usage during colonial times — suttee. 1 In countless other later narratives, a wretched sati becomes not only the source of cross-cultural conflict, but also the means of exaltation of an otherwise not so distinguished British white man. Of the five satis that Hindu scriptures speak of, Sati, Sita, Savitri, Damyanti, and Arundhati, this chapter focuses on two satis (Sati and Sita) and the later satis or suttees from fictional narratives. The chapter discusses the similarity in the myths surrounding Sita and Sati. Both of these stand for something more than just a name or a woman or a goddess; they become tropes for selflessness and refer to someone who has to sacrifice herself in order to preserve the Other, the male as well as the order of the society. The chapter analyses these two distinct, yet symbolically not so different, words while exploring some basic questions related to the space and role of women in creating and perpetuating the linked myths as well as their function in modern-day society. This is accomplished by way of textual analysis of various narratives, including the Ramayana and fictional works set in nineteenth-century India written primarily by British authors.
