নির্বাচিত রাম-কথায় ‘লিঙ্গ-সীমা’র পুনর্নির্মাণে অরণ্য/ The Forest in Selected Ram-Kathas: Reconstructing Gender Binariesc

Abstract

Although the Ramkatha had long held a place in Bengali oral tradition and storytelling, more mature literary adaptations emerged after the Turkish invasion, most notably with the Krittivasi Shri Ram Panchali. Due to its simplistic style and expressive form, the Ramkatha, which has been interpreted by a range of poets, has come to represent a distinctive cultural and literary paradigm. These shifts carried this tradition beyond its familiar home-bound confines into a wider cultural domain. Within this space, in opposition to the epic’s structural transformations, narratives of divine greatness, and assertions of masculinity, a female-centric perspective took shape with time. Moreover, the multifaceted portrayal of female characters in these alternative narratives redefined traditional understandings of gender in significant ways. Building on these perspectives, this research paper aims to examine how traditional notions of gender have been dismantled and redefined within the selected narratives.

         The forest serves as the site where traditional gender norms are unsettled. It is simultaneously a space that echoes Sita’s grief and a zone of power conflicts involving Surpanakha and Taraka. Set against the backdrop of the forest, which frequently emerges as a dynamic character in its own right, these narratives depict female agency in layered and varied forms that defy fixed gender roles and dualities. This research, therefore, not only explores women’s positions and systems of oppression but also studies how these texts question, complicate, and often reject the gender dichotomies that have long defined gender.

          Primary sources consulted in this study include the Bengali translation of the Shreemadvalmikiya Ramayan by Sanat Kumar Bandopadhyay, Krittivasi Ramayan edited by Sukhamoy Mukhopadhyay, Chandravati’s Ramayan edited by Koyel Chakraborty, and a graphic novel inspired by Chandravati’s version, Sita’s Ramayana, by Samhita Arni and Moyna Chitrakar. These texts have been examined through a comparative and interpretive framework, with a particular focus on their depiction of gender biases and binaries. The study seeks to trace and examine the narrative strategies through which these retellings of the Ramkatha articulate diverse gendered experiences and identities through the representation of the forest.