Reading Notes: The Divine Archer, Part B

With this half of Gould’s version of the Ramayana, I actually enjoyed the Public Domain edition better.  Certain scenes had better details in the PDE version, such as when Hanuman is jumping/flying to Ravan’s island. 

There was one part of the story that really caught my eye in Gould’s version, however.  When Hanuman is in Ravan’s city and finds Sita, Ravan comes in.  He’s asking Sita to become his queen yet again, but still she refuses.  When he says he will kill her, she basically says fine, but it was the next sentence that intrigued me.  It says, “But there was power in her eyes that held his hand.” It was the first instance in all of the Ramayana that I have read so far in which it says that Sita had power.  Throughout the epic, she is portrayed as the meek woman who is defined by her husband, and yet this time it said she had power.  It may just be the power of a woman waiting for her husband and taking control of her fate, but still.  

Sita and Hanuman. Source: IE: Reading Guides

Bibliography: F.J. Gould, The Divine Archer, link.