Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish Tripathi

Book: SITA Warrior of Mithila.

Author: Amish Tripathi

Publisher: Westland Publications Ltd. (www.westlandbooks.in)

ISBN : 978 93 86224 58 3

My personal opinion, already expressed, in my previous reviews of author Amish Tripathis books has been, he is an awesome author, he has picked up the vastly neglected genre of Indian mythology and he has a very deft interweave of storyline and fiction and culture. I thought there were some areas which he could improve on. He has vastly improved over his first 2 books.

This is the second book of the Ramachandra series, of the epic  Indian Hindu mythological tale Ramayana. The basics of this tale are known to every child of India. It is played out by travelling theatre troupes every year in the villages and towns of India culminating in Dusherra.

Author Amish has tried a unique technique with this series, he takes the same story and explores it only from the view of one character. Also another unique thing that he has done is picked up all mythical mythological creatures and made them more humane and less magical, more relatable.

Here Amish focuses on the favourite female idol and ideal of entire India, Sita or Ma Sita as we fondly call her. The daughter of Raja Janak, of the Himalayas. Avatar of Divine female Shakti. Goddess for millions of Indians. And maybe India’s most loved female protagonist.

The story is nicely traced through the growing up of the princess Sita. Her character, her strength.

Then the story suddenly tries to weave the event of her Swayamvar into the narrative. Swayamvar is an ancient Indian tradition, respecting the choice and wishes of female, where the female picks the suitor who she wishes to marry..

I repeat, my favorite part of this book is the scene where Lord Rama encounters his future wife, Sita, Divine goddess in her own right. I have yet to read any romantic encounter that has moved me so much.

This book too explores the brief encounters between Rama and Ravana.

And ends at the abduction of Sita to the island kingdom of Ravana, due to  which the epic battle of Ramayana took place.

I am a definite Amish Tripathi fan. Any book of author Amish is a must buy for me.