Week 9 Reading: Sita Sings the Blues pt 2

 


Photo by Lee Campbell on Unsplash

Story: Nina Paley's film, Sita Sings the Blues, is a full-length animated version of the Ramayana.

Sita is banished because Rama is worried that she cheated on him since she stayed in another man's house. Sita had her two twins of Rama, and she raised them in the woods. They learned to sing Rama's story. Valmiki helps to teach the kids the songs of Rama, who they do not know is their father. 

The narrators discuss Sita's devotion to Rama. Why was she so stringent on getting him to love her if he treated her badly? Why couldn't she have moved on? The woman explains it is unconditional love, but the men argue saying it is Sita's fault for still allowing her to treat her that way and loving him. I think it is partly unconditional love, but another part of the time was the fact that she had already had kids with him, and I am not sure how easily one could move on from that situation back in this time period. I don't even know if remarriage was something that happened in these times. So it very well could be that Sita was ruined since she had Rama's sons and was married already.

Rama goes into the woods and hears the sons singing the songs about Rama. He wants to take the sons back, but not Sita. He still doesn't trust Sita, so Sita says that Mother Earth will take her back in her womb if she was pure of thought. Which of course, she was pure and loved only Rama. So she returned back into the earth. 

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