supercheesegirl

Written and illustrated by Indian women, Sita's Ramayana takes as its goal to tell the story of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective. The art in particular is compelling, done in the Patua scroll painting style from West Bengal, and the words were written to accompany the art. I think it's a stunning accomplishment. I thought that if anything could make me like, understand, or at least appreciate the Ramayana, this would be it, but I'm still just not on board with Rama as a hero. But this retelling does focus on the impact of how Rama handles the situation, including the horrors of war and the irrevocable effects on Sita's life. I'm glad I read this.

An interesting account of how this text came to be is on the publisher's blog.