How have women since the inception of the Ramayana, especially more modern women, dealt with the portrayals of women in the story? Sometimes they engage in very real action, other times they are submissive objects of the narrative. Sita says that she must be rescued by Rama, for example. Occasionally, Sita makes what could be viewed as actions of agency, but not much. Even the public display of Sita being saved by Indra from the fire is off to me. Even if Rama were aware she was loyal to him and was doing it as a public spectacle, he still turned his wife's potential unfaithfulness into a spectacle. If he were aware that he was an avatar of Vishnu, couldn't he have just, I don't know, informed his subjects of this fact and they would have probably trusted his word on it?
Cole, I've had similar questions about women and the Ramayana. I think that the portrayals in the story is a big deal. Women actually being portrayed in religious stories this much is somewhat unusual. Especially women who do some good. I wonder how this makes women feel while reading this in today's world. I know when reading the Bible it's strange to me the lack of women in the stories.
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