Devi Versus Rakshasi

The women of Ramayana seem to have been discriminated against, based on their birth, gender, origin, and political belief or background

- Manini J Anandani

THE story of the Ramayana has been retold many times and it is believed that there are more than 300 versions of the Ramayana. There have been myriad interpretations and retellings of these versions across the Indian subcontinent. The millennial generation has seen various screen adaptations of this epic, varying from Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan to Adipurush, the most recent and lavish Bollywood-ised version of the epic.

As of today, even after so many stage and screen adaptations, not many millennials can name more than three versions of the Ramayana. While some of us are busy debating upon the term ‘mythology’ or ‘itihasa’, some even refuse to accept that there are other versions of the Ramayana.

Many of us are even unaware that apart from the popular Valmiki and Tulsidas versions, there are different narratives written by women. We don’t come across enough titles that narrate the Ramayana from a woman’s perspective probably because we were so focused on deifying the central male characters that somewhere we may have neglected the female characters of the epic.

Much like history, mythology too can be a bit of a men’s club. Some popular versions from the 16th century have inadvertently incorporated the impact of socio-political influences of their times with regard to the status of the women in the story, viz. the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ incident, which although was not a part of the original manuscript, has now become a metaphor for women, thereby circumscribing their conduct. Some stage and screen adaptations have created strong impressions of the women characters in the epic, and we see a different portrayal of Devis vs. Rakshasis women.