Sambodhi 2010 Vol 33

Author(s): J B Shah, K M patel
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 11

Vol. XXXIII, 2010
Rāmāyana Characters In The Thai Mould
ол
the new environment, not having much in common with Sītā of the VālmīkiRāmayāna.
Born as Rāvana's daughter of his chief-queen Mandodarī as a result of her partaking the divine rice-balls, she, as soon as she was born, was thrown in a pitcher to float to end in a river, to ward off the disaster which she, as the soothsayers predicted, was to spell doom for the Rāksasa-race. She was retrieved by Janaka and adopted as his daughter. Conferment of a new parentage on her in the Thai tradition turns out to be a distinct feature.
Alien elements assert tellingly in her behaviour after her return from Lankā. Her encounter with Atulā masquerading as her attendant, projects her as a gullible young woman, shorn of vision to foil the designs of the scheming adversaries. The portrait of Rāvana that she was misled to draw on a slab turned out to be the prelude to a series of sufferings that she had to undergo for no fault of hers. While her readiness to draw the figure was no more than an act of innocence, her subsequent attempt to erase and conceal it attest and her nervousness tempered with a sense of guilt. Thus what could have been dismissed as an aberration turns out to be her undoing. This queer behaviour on her part provokes Rāma to entertain serious misgivings about her fidelity. Unsure of her faithfulness to him, he bids Laksmana to put her to sword and bring back her heart to convince him of her execution (XX. 44-480. This was too much for her to pocket. Not unlike her counterpart in Vālmīki, she decides to end her life!'. While it may be natural for a chaste woman to think so in the tight situation, her behaviour towards Laksmana leaves much to be desired. With poor Laksmana vacillating in carrying out the execution, she perhaps in a bid to prove her credentials, jumps to suspect her intention. Even the recluse lose control with a woman in private20, she unkindly thundered. Whatever the cause of the outburst, her behaviour towards Laksmana is indefensible.
The way she grills Rāma after he was conducted to her by Mankuta, marks the negation of what makes her the perfect specimen of the virtuous womanhood to the Indian mind. Her behaviour projects her as a champion of the present-day movement for women's liberation. Despite Rāma's pleading guilty and his unqualified apology for his harshness to her, she like a revengeful woman, decides to give him the taste of his own medicine. She berates him as a cruel and suspicious person who revels in maltreating his innocent wife. She turns down his sincere