Situating Sita: Mapping Mithila in South Asian Literatures

Abstract

In this paper, I wish to revisit the ways in which Mithila region of Indian nation has been narrated in Maithili Ramayana written by Laldas. What this paper aims is to unravel the narratives of suffering of Sita in Ramayana and Helen in Odyssey in order to explore the question of justice by looking at respective texts in order to situate Sita in the domain of South Asian literatures.

The purpose of my paper is to engage with South Asian narratives of 'Sitaramkatha' which have contributed a great deal to the making of an inspirational character called Sita in a theoretical discussion so as to foreground the fact that certain trajectories which the representation of region and nation charts in Maithili Ramayana present not only a serious indictment of modernity but àlso a deep sense of disillusionment with nationalist ideals and aspirations which promoted the idea of progress. Moreover, narratives of suffering, sacrifice and survival of subaltern, Sita are much more complex amd nuanced than that of Homer's Helen in Odyssey.