Ahead of the release of his second book in the Ram Chandra series, the author discusses re-imagining Sita as a warrior and why one interpretation needn’t negate the other
Writer Amish Tripathi is two months away from releasing his fifth mythological fiction, but the anxiousness is already palpable. Caught between heavy promotions for Sita - Warrior of Mithila, the second book in the Ram Chandra series, Amish reveals that he's not worried about the book doing well, as much as he's concerned about meeting the expectations of his publishers. "They've invested so much money. It's my duty to make sure that they make some profit out of it," he says.
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The response isn't surprising. Exactly four years ago, the writer had been in the news for receiving an advance of '5 crore for a series that he was still to pen. But, bagging the title of "India's million-dollar author" and then, translating that into attractive sales figures, isn't as easy as it seems. And, Amish is aware of this. Despite his books being bestsellers — his Shiva trilogy sold over 3.5 million copies — the author doesn't believe in taking things easy. The only time he is relaxed is when he is writing. "It's a spiritual exercise for me. I love spending time in that parallel universe. I can actually see these stories play out in front of me, and I record all of that in my book. It's as real as this world for me," he says of his fiction.
His new novel revisits the story of Sita, the wife of Ram. The expanse of this story will cover Sita's life from her birth till before she is kidnapped. Interestingly, this book doesn't take off from his last, Ram - Scion of Ikshvaku, which told the story of Lord Ram from his birth to the kidnapping of his wife. Similarly, the third book will begin with Raavan's birth and again, end with Sita's kidnapping. "These three stories will come together in the fourth and fifth book," says Amish, adding, "What I have done here is followed a multi-linear narrative."
The idea of experimenting with the storytelling technique came to Amish many moons ago, while watching Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's crime mystery Rashomon. "This narrative works for us Indians because we are intrinsically comfortable with the idea of multiple truths," he says. It's this notion of "multiple truths" that validates Amish's understanding of Sita as a warrior. "In the recent past, one hasn't seen such an interpretation of Sita's character," he admits. But, that's the popular imagination of one of Indian mythology's most revered female characters. "This idea has been fed to us by a 1980s television serial," he says, while referring to Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan (1986). "That serial was largely based on Tulsidas' Ramcharitramanas, which again was a modern, 16th century interpretation of Valmiki's original text."
In Valmiki's Ramayana, Sita is a far stronger character, says Amish. "She isn't a physical warrior, but has a mind of her own and will only do what she thinks is right. And that spirit to fight for what she believes in, makes her a powerful person." For instance, he says that when Ram tells Sita that he is leaving for his vanvaas alone, the wife doesn't agree. "She argues with him and asks him, 'how dare he leave without her,'" adds the writer. In another version called the Adbhuta Ramayana, also credited to Valmiki, Sita plays warrior. "There, the elder Raavan [there are two in this version] is killed by Sita when she takes on the form of Goddess Kali."
Amish's Sita is probably more empowered than any other version. She wields weapons, fights battles and also braves hundreds of soldiers single-handedly, before she is kidnapped. The writer wouldn't like to call it a deviation from truth, because Sita, he says, has already donned multiple personalities over the centuries. "And, all are as true as the other. As mentioned in ancient texts, truth is one, but the wise speak of it as many," he says.
Living with multiple truths, however, didn't come easily to the former banker. "In maths, we only believe in the absolute truth. And, considering I was this left-brained banker, that was definitely a challenge," says the IIM Kolkata alumnus and mathematics graduate from St Xavier's College, Mumbai. Then, as a teenager, he rebelled against faith and became an atheist.
"I was a believer when I was young, before I turned to atheism in the 1990s. But, when I started writing my first book [The Immortals of Meluha], the core philosophy reeled me in and I slowly returned to faith." Today, there isn't a day when Amish, a Shiva worshipper, does not pray. Life comes a full circle.
Having said that, we were curious, if the author thinks that his take on the Ramayana would some day come to play on the collective consciousness of the people. Here, he quickly adds, "No, I hope not." "Honestly, my books aren't that good," he says self-deprecatingly. "The ancient texts have so much to offer. People should go, read them and understand it for themselves. There is still so much to discover. Mine is just a small contribution."
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