Tracing Sisterhood and Solidarity in Select Contemporary Feminist Revisions of the Ramayan

Abstract

Sisterhood emerged as a pivotal concept during the second wave of feminism roughly dated between 1960s-1980s. Since then it has been a radical force in shaping feminist thoughts and discourses. It was envisioned as a unifying force among women in their collective struggle against patriarchy. Transcending social and political activism it has percolated into literary expression exploring beautiful unheard bonds between women characters. The emotional and personal bonds portrayed between women across various works serve as a subtle yet strategic form of collective resistance against patriarchy, depicting women supporting one another and voicing their unified protest against the long-standing injustices they have endured. In the Indian context, feminist re-visionist mythology writers have embraced mythological retellings as a tool to resist patriarchy. Through re-imagined narratives, the writers along with reclaiming female voices often exhibit unprecedented female bonds in their works. Sisterhood is a central concern and driving force in feminist revisionist mythology, shaping characters and storylines that portray women as united in purpose and agency. These works actively dismantle patriarchal narratives that once depicted women as suffering in isolation. It rejects the idea of inherent rivalry among women disrupting traditional binaries of women such as good versus bad, ideal versus wicked, and privileged versus marginalized bringing them together on the common ground of shared awareness of womanhood through imagined interactions between them. The present study seeks to analyze feminist revisionist mythologies namely The Liberation of Sita, Sita’s Sister, and The Forest of Enchantment through the lens of sisterhood in feminism, understood in its broader sense. These texts vividly illustrate threads of female solidarity, foregrounding women's concerns and uniting them in resistance against patriarchal structures.