Subverting the ‘Pativrata’: A Select Reading of Contemporary Retellings

Abstract

This article examines the contemporary feminist retellings of Sita—Volga's The Liberation of Sita (2016) and Amit Majmudar's Sitayana (2019)—The study looks at how character-based revision challenges the traditional portrayal of the ‘ideal pativrata’ within the Ramayana canon. The study centres on Alicia Ostriker’s concept of feminist revisionist mythmaking as primary theoretical framework and investigates how these texts reclaim mythological narratives to disrupt patriarchal representations and create alternative feminist epistemologies. It also employs close reading and discourse analysis to examine how these authors deconstruct the ‘pativrata’ ideology. By centering Sita's subjectivity, these narratives disrupt repetitive cultural performances that have historically constructed female subordination. The research establishes that feminist mythological retellings function as cultural interventions, offering alternative frameworks for understanding female agency in postcolonial context. This study contributes original comparative analysis bridging revisionist mythmaking with postcolonial feminist discourse and provides insights into how contemporary writers strategically appropriate and amend inherited narratives.