I have been so so late in picking up The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I had heard so much about it from booktubers and bookstagrammers. But kept on putting it off for some other time. Finally the last month of December 2020 gave me a chance to read it. And I'm so happy about it.
Its a book about Sita. Sita's narration of life. Her life, from being a princess of Mithila to being Ram's wife and then their excile for fourteen years, being captivated by Raavan
Sita, was found, yes found by king of Janak. And king Janak and his wife loved her more than their own daughter Urmila. The sisters love each other. The fact that they are not daughters from same parents doesn't matter to them a bit.They live their childhood and youth as princesses filled with all the luxuries of love, affection and wealth too. As they grow into beautiful women and their parents aspire to get them married off, the princesses worship Parvati for finding their dream prince. Sita is blessed by King Shiva. Only someone who can pick up Shivas bow and arrow 'The HAR dhanu' can marry Sita.
One day during their journey, Ram and Laxman happen to land in Mithila and welcomed by King Janak. Ram is a warrior and defeated the demons on the way. All the neighboring kingdoms are singing praises about Ram and Janak would be happy to get his daughter Sita to get married to Ram. The marriage ceremony takes place in presence of King Dashrath. Ram is married to Sita, Laxman to Sita sister Urmila and other two brothers of Ram to Sita's cousins. Sita and her sisters are welcomed in Ayodhya as the new princesses. Sita finds a way to be a good daughter in law amidst complicated family relationships, King Dashrath and his three wives Kaushalya, Kaikeya and Sumitra and four sons and their families.
Kaikeya is a wicked queen and wants her son Bharath to be the King and not Ram as the kingdom of Ayodhya wants. She reminds Dashrath of his unfilled promises years ago and asks him to fulfill her wishes on the day of Ram's coronation ceremony as a King of Ayodhya.And the unfilled promises are coronating Bharath as King of Ayodhya and sending Ram in exile for 14 years!!! Laxman, his beloved brother doesn't agree to stay without his brother. So Sita and Laxman start with Ram, for a journey of 14 years in excile.
Their journey through forests, fruits and roots as their meals and leaves as their bed and torturous struggles for living, the writer has been successful to glue you to the book. The narration is so intriguing that the plots set in front of one's eyes. The most gruesome plot of Raavan's plan to make Sita captive in Lanka makes the book unputdownable. And finally the plot of Ram, Laxman, Hanuman and the Vanarsena rescuing Sita.
On rescue, she is looked upon as impure by people of kingdom and Ram. This gives her deep pain more pain than what she endured in Raavan's captivity. But she is destined to have this pain. She is destined to go through 'Agnipariksha'.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has amazed me with her writing so detailed and smooth, choice of words and the power to keep the reader hang in there till the last word and sets an example of an incomparable storyteller. No need to tell that TBR for 2021 will have The Palace of Illusions ☺
One thing which continuously came to my mind is the Sunday mornings during childhood, when the whole family would sit together and watch Ramanand Sagars Ramayan. May be it was glorified in the serials, may be we do not know exactly what happened, what is important is that families had Sunday breakfast together. And the families who didn't have television were invited happily to watch it. Have we lost that essence of finding happiness in small things in today's world?
P. S. : I want to read more about Urmila, she wasn't allowed to go along with Laxman in exile. She was ordered to stay back and take care of the family. Have we ever thought what did she endure? If anyone has come across such a book please let me know. 🙂
No comments:
Post a Comment