Tapasya of Epic Changemakers by Koral Dasgupta

OutlookIndia

Listen to excerpts from Outlook's All is Well issue by Pragya Vats  #Ramayana #Sita #Mahabharata #Women #Feminism #Sita #Ram #IndianEpics #Masculinity #WomenOfRamayana

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00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the current issue of Outlook that looks at two cover

00:05 stories, two narratives of war, one mythical, one real. Ramayana and that between Israel and Hamas.

00:14 In the issue titled Epic Sisterhood, Outlook sketches out the women of Ramayana

00:20 in an epic full of dominant male characters.

00:28 She has written a range of books from academic non-fiction to relationship dramas.

00:33 Tapasya, a spiritual discipline that involves deep meditation, austerity, restraint and efforts for

00:42 self-liberation holds great relevance in the Indian mythoverse. It refers to practicing

00:49 rigorous finance and aiming for miraculous returns. Those who perform tapasya chased divine secrets

00:57 which manifested in the form of momentous knowledge for sages and celestial astras for warriors.

01:04 Every kind of tapasya demands great sacrifices and hardships. The path to spiritual transformation

01:12 is paved depending upon what one seeks to achieve. The results inspire masses rather

01:20 than affecting just one. Indian philosophy proposes that tapasya is a conscious choice

01:26 for all leaders. It is a personal investment for social resurrection. It is motivation and training

01:34 and both. While popular narratives have viewed tapasya in the form of predominantly male fancy,

01:41 women's culture in Indian epics reflect upon it as a brave contemplation by fierce change makers.

01:49 The Ramayana and also Mahabharata shows an interesting trajectory of feminine leadership

01:56 with abundant kindness, progressive decision-making, constructive protests and furious

02:02 fights. No leadership sustains only on the pillar of virtues. The women make mistakes as does

02:10 everyone. Owning up the failures leads to their tapasya. Sita's tapasya. Sita comes across as a

02:18 visionary who's not afraid to take risks. She's a loving soul longing for the company of her

02:25 husband which adds to her tendency of romancing risks. It shows in her decision of moving to the

02:32 forest when Ram is exiled. Her risk-taking nature comes back when she sends her husband to chase a

02:40 golden deer, when she sends her brother-in-law Lakshman to find Ram and when she does not

02:47 hesitate to go near Ravan disguised as a sage seeking bhiksha. Her decisions go wrong though.

02:55 She gets kidnapped. With this development Sita turns into tapasvi for life. The prisoner of Lanka

03:02 performs austere penance refusing the horrific Ravan or his colossal properties from influencing

03:10 her mind. So what if her body has been dragged into the country? Nothing about Ravan can touch

03:16 her. Her suffering does not make her risk averse. When Hanuman comes to Lanka and offers to carry

03:24 her back to Ram, she refuses the favor. Yet another leadership idealism which believes even in the

03:32 face of adversity that deception is Ravan's fate. It is not for her to hide and run. This decision

03:39 marks a growth from a woman with innocent excitement to the future queen now representing

03:47 her country unwilling to bow before fears and waiting to witness a befitting punishment of

03:54 the enemy who has crossed both moral and geographical boundaries. For this and more

04:01 read the current issue of Outlook.

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