Topic Research: Exploring Motherhood
Especially after reading Narayan's Ramayana, I am even more interested in doing this topic. I still really like the 'Animal Characters' topic and using the different personalities that have popped up in our readings so far, but wanted to do more research on this one. *I also put all the potential sentences from the stories in quotation marks.
Three Possible Tales of Motherhood
(1) The Wives of King Dasharatha: I think Kaikeyi has more of a story in Narayan's Ramayana, but I wanted to give each one of these mothers a 'piece' of their own story. Firstly, in this version of the Ramayana, Kaikeyi is first described as very loving, without a seeming ounce of spite, but as soon as she believes Kooni's words on what King Dasharatha's crowning of Rama meant for her and her son, it is as if becomes cold and heartless. I was thinking to perhaps explore how she might have been feeling while she convinced the King to crown her son instead of Rama, and ultimately lead to his death. In the end he also disowns she and Bharatha, and so I was hoping to also mention what her thoughts were on this as both a mother and a wife. Did she feel remorse ("It was not the outcome I expected and now my son was fatherless and his nobility shattered")? Was she glad of what she did ("I felt no sorrow at the King's death because he was no longer the King, it was my son")? For Kaikeyi's angle on mother, I hoped to explore how a mother wants the best for her children; to provide a life that is full of riches and happiness. I wanted to also give Lakshamana and Shatrughna's mother, Sumitra, a voice since she gets none. I'd like to explore her thoughts on having a son who is loyal to the incarnation of a god, engaging his epic and very dangerous battles, and one who sat on the sidelines of a major story. Was she fearful for Lakshamana's life and did she favour one of her twins? What did being mother to two different personalities born to the same face mean to Sumitra? I am not sure how to approach Rama's mother, Kaushalya, as a story. However, since I wanted to incorporate the topic of reincarnation into what motherhood means (an endless cycle of giving birth, but a love that does exists that does not die, but is reborn and 'redies' as a the love of a mother), so maybe I thought I could look at Kaushalya from this angle, since I read that she is reincarnated again as the mother of Krishna, and will continue to be the mother of the deity Vishnu in an endless cycle of rebirth.
(2) Sita: I really like the many different stories of Sita. I want her approach to be during her time as a mother, perhaps reflecting on what it took to get her there (her trials in the wilderness with Rama and having to prove her 'purity' when she was kidnapped by Ravana), and how it shaped how she would raise her children as a single mother. I thought to also look at how the people questioned her children's paternity, saying that since she lived in the house of the Titan, she might indeed have given birth to his children. As a mother, she would only want what is best for her children, and I think that Sita was an intelligent and brave woman who would be well aware that any doubt on her children's lineage would be detrimental to their future (even if it did end up being so). After Rama's continued wavering on her faithfulness and purity, perhaps her devotion is now stronger for her children ("For Rama I could not say I would walk again through the fire, but for my sons I would gladly do so and let the flame's scorch me with all their ire"). After the trials she faces, some versions say that she was accepted back to her own mother the earth, Bhumi's arms. That mother-daughter relationship could also be explored ("I ended my journey as a mother, and so I fell back to the warm embrace of another").
(3) Mandodari: I am definitely interested on the take of her as Sita's mother. I think it also explains why in the Ramayana, she was so adamant for Ravana to release Sita from his grasp. As mother of several of Ravana's children, almost everything I've read on her has cited her as good, pure and loyal to Ravana- and to making him a better person. I think that perhaps it would be cool to maybe retell her story as the mother of three of Ravana's children but also a fourth- Sita. Perhaps she stole Sita away in the night to protect her, knowing who she was to be and what she was outside of mortality (incarnation of Lakshima). Perhaps she even gave her to Bhumi, to protect until it was time to give her up and have her final parents find her.
"He (Ravana) did not know that her lineage was of his line, and he did not know that her beauty was of mine".
"I wept when I had to give her away to mother earth, I knew that her purpose was far greater than the context of her birth".
Three Possible Tales of Motherhood
(1) The Wives of King Dasharatha: I think Kaikeyi has more of a story in Narayan's Ramayana, but I wanted to give each one of these mothers a 'piece' of their own story. Firstly, in this version of the Ramayana, Kaikeyi is first described as very loving, without a seeming ounce of spite, but as soon as she believes Kooni's words on what King Dasharatha's crowning of Rama meant for her and her son, it is as if becomes cold and heartless. I was thinking to perhaps explore how she might have been feeling while she convinced the King to crown her son instead of Rama, and ultimately lead to his death. In the end he also disowns she and Bharatha, and so I was hoping to also mention what her thoughts were on this as both a mother and a wife. Did she feel remorse ("It was not the outcome I expected and now my son was fatherless and his nobility shattered")? Was she glad of what she did ("I felt no sorrow at the King's death because he was no longer the King, it was my son")? For Kaikeyi's angle on mother, I hoped to explore how a mother wants the best for her children; to provide a life that is full of riches and happiness. I wanted to also give Lakshamana and Shatrughna's mother, Sumitra, a voice since she gets none. I'd like to explore her thoughts on having a son who is loyal to the incarnation of a god, engaging his epic and very dangerous battles, and one who sat on the sidelines of a major story. Was she fearful for Lakshamana's life and did she favour one of her twins? What did being mother to two different personalities born to the same face mean to Sumitra? I am not sure how to approach Rama's mother, Kaushalya, as a story. However, since I wanted to incorporate the topic of reincarnation into what motherhood means (an endless cycle of giving birth, but a love that does exists that does not die, but is reborn and 'redies' as a the love of a mother), so maybe I thought I could look at Kaushalya from this angle, since I read that she is reincarnated again as the mother of Krishna, and will continue to be the mother of the deity Vishnu in an endless cycle of rebirth.
(2) Sita: I really like the many different stories of Sita. I want her approach to be during her time as a mother, perhaps reflecting on what it took to get her there (her trials in the wilderness with Rama and having to prove her 'purity' when she was kidnapped by Ravana), and how it shaped how she would raise her children as a single mother. I thought to also look at how the people questioned her children's paternity, saying that since she lived in the house of the Titan, she might indeed have given birth to his children. As a mother, she would only want what is best for her children, and I think that Sita was an intelligent and brave woman who would be well aware that any doubt on her children's lineage would be detrimental to their future (even if it did end up being so). After Rama's continued wavering on her faithfulness and purity, perhaps her devotion is now stronger for her children ("For Rama I could not say I would walk again through the fire, but for my sons I would gladly do so and let the flame's scorch me with all their ire"). After the trials she faces, some versions say that she was accepted back to her own mother the earth, Bhumi's arms. That mother-daughter relationship could also be explored ("I ended my journey as a mother, and so I fell back to the warm embrace of another").
(3) Mandodari: I am definitely interested on the take of her as Sita's mother. I think it also explains why in the Ramayana, she was so adamant for Ravana to release Sita from his grasp. As mother of several of Ravana's children, almost everything I've read on her has cited her as good, pure and loyal to Ravana- and to making him a better person. I think that perhaps it would be cool to maybe retell her story as the mother of three of Ravana's children but also a fourth- Sita. Perhaps she stole Sita away in the night to protect her, knowing who she was to be and what she was outside of mortality (incarnation of Lakshima). Perhaps she even gave her to Bhumi, to protect until it was time to give her up and have her final parents find her.
"He (Ravana) did not know that her lineage was of his line, and he did not know that her beauty was of mine".
"I wept when I had to give her away to mother earth, I knew that her purpose was far greater than the context of her birth".
Statue of a mother feeding her baby. Source: Flickr
With each story, I am hoping to explore different aspects of motherhood: sacrifice (both self and other sacrifice such as Mandodari 'giving' up Sita or Kaikeyi 'giving up' her character to ensure her son became king), unconditional love and forgiveness (I haven't yet found a story I want to explore this way; I'm looking for one where the child has done something unthinkable such as anger the gods but the mother always forgives), loyalty and devotion (or the strain between loyal as a wife and being a mother), pain/heartbreak (Sumitra having to watch Lakshamana go in exile with Rama) and the endless cycle of life that is brought through motherhood (giving birth; reincarnation). I was hoping to maybe also write each story/episode as poetry instead of prose, or maybe switch between the two.
"Motherhood". Source: Flickr
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