Pensive sita

Pensive Sita  this new translation of Kumaran Aashaan?s acclaimed Malayalam Classic Chintavishtayaya Sita successfully captures the intensity and precision of the original dramatic monologue where  a hurt and daring Sita interrogates her husband?s ambivalent sense of justice. The poem raises many fundamental ethical questions: Is the King?s duty to be above suspicion more important than his love for his partner and  his faith in her purity and virtue? Is the ruler of the land expected  to respond to every gossip and scandal however biased and baseless they are? Is power more important than love?s passion  and one?s unwavering loyalty to one?s partner? Can a King exile his wedded queen to the woods so that his own perceived greatness of character is reaffirmed? Sita?s searing questions in the poem written much before feminism was in vogue are as relevant today as they were when raised for the first time as they are not just about gender but about power and justice in general. Thanks to Variath Madhavan Kutty the translator  who has  given the readers one more opportunity to delve into the movingly beautiful if necessarily provocative  poem and the basic moral questions it attempts to address.