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Ecofeminist Re-Readings of Myth: The Natural World and The Feminine in Deepa Sahu?s Sita
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Post Colonial Literature
DOI: 10.64388/IREV9I4-1711569-3624
Abstract
This paper explores Deepa Sahu?s retelling of the Ramayana as an ecofeminist narrative that re-centres Sita as both woman and symbol of the earth. Drawing on the insights of Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Bina Agarwal, and Cheryll Glotfelty, the paper argues that Sahu?s novel re-imagines the mythic heroine not as a passive sufferer but as a figure of ecological awareness and resistance to patriarchal and colonial structures. The study shows how the novel re-animates cultural memory of human-nature reciprocity, recasting myth as a resource for post-colonial ecofeminist ethics.
Keywords
Ecofeminism; Deepa Sahu; Sita; post-colonial literature; mythic retelling; gender and ecology
References
[1] Agarwal, Bina. Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women’s Presence within and beyond Community Forestry. Oxford UP, 2010.
[2] Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm, editors. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. U of Georgia P, 1996.
[3] Mies, Maria, and Vandana Shiva. Ecofeminism. Zed Books, 1993.
[4] Sahu, Deepa. Sita. [Publisher, Year].
[5] Shiva, Vandana. Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India. Kali for Women, 1988.
[6] Volga. The Liberation of Sita. Translated by T. Vijaya Kumar, Harper Perennial, 2016.
How to cite this paper
@article{1711569,
author = {Geetha H},
title = {Ecofeminist Re-Readings of Myth: The Natural World and The Feminine in Deepa Sahu?s Sita},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2025},
volume = {9},
number = {4},
pages = {1507-1509},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1711569.pdf},
abstract = {This paper explores Deepa Sahu?s retelling of the Ramayana as an ecofeminist narrative that re-centres Sita as both woman and symbol of the earth. Drawing on the insights of Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Bina Agarwal, and Cheryll Glotfelty, the paper argues that Sahu?s novel re-imagines the mythic heroine not as a passive sufferer but as a figure of ecological awareness and resistance to patriarchal and colonial structures. The study shows how the novel re-animates cultural memory of human-nature reciprocity, recasting myth as a resource for post-colonial ecofeminist ethics.},
keywords = {Ecofeminism; Deepa Sahu; Sita; post-colonial literature; mythic retelling; gender and ecology},
month = {October},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I4-1711569-3624}
}