Feminist Revisions of Indian Epics in Contemporary Fiction

Abstract

Contemporary Indian fiction has increasingly returned to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata not to reproduce them as fixed cultural inheritances, but to question the gendered assumptions through which epic memory has often been transmitted. This study examines feminist revision as a narrative practice in selected works by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Kavita Kane, and Volga, with particular attention to The Palace of Illusions, The Forest of Enchantments, Sita's Sister, Karna's Wife: The Outcast's Queen, and The Liberation of Sita. These books offer new perspectives on the Sanskrit epics by giving voice to female characters whose voices and viewpoints are typically silenced in traditional versions of the epics․ This article applies theories of re-vision by Adrienne Rich and revisionist mythmaking by Alicia Ostriker‚ as well as other adaptation theories‚ to examine modern reinterpretations of the Sanskrit epics that give voice to female characters and alter traditional moral lessons of the epics․ Women characters who gain voice in modern reinterpretations include Draupadi‚ who both narrates and participates in battle scenes; Sita‚ who interprets her moral responsibilities; Urmila‚ whose waiting is redescribed as work; Uruvi‚ who explores connections between gender‚ caste‚ and violence; and Sita in Volga's retelling‚ who gains freedom through relationships with other women․ Other resistance strategies represented in modern reinterpretations include women's speech‚ otherness‚ and resistance through memory and refusal․ This article argues that modern reinterpretations of the Sanskrit epics help maintain their relevance by addressing current concerns about individual freedom‚ justice‚ and social relationships․