Prejudicial Dharmic Standards for Women in Indian Mythology

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Sita and Draupadi are two female figures in Indian mythology who are mostly viewed to be the ideal women, daughters, and wives. For thousands of years the perceptions of these two women have for the most part, stayed intact, and the belief that they both were the dharmic ideal of wives remained constant. There are instances within the Mahabharata and Ramayana where Sita and Draupadi both deviate from this ideal characterization and prove to be defiant towards their husbands. Draupadi shows her defiance when in the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira, one of her five husbands, gambles her away in a dice game against the Kauravas. She then begins to criticize her husbands for not taking her side. Sita’s defiance shows when Rama questions her purity upon being rescued from Ravana. These displays of defiance by Sita and Draupadi, according to Linda Hess, Sally Sutherland, and Wendy Doniger, are a direct result of the pressure put on them by their husbands to be the “Ideal Women”. Throughout the Ramayana, Sita is shown to consistently be the ideal woman and wife for Rama. “Sita is the noblest flower of Indian womanhood, devoted to her land in thought, word, and deed” (Hess 1999, 2). She willingly, and even insists on going into exile with Rama despite the danger and lack of opulence that she has been used to in her life. Linda Hess points out that there are three raw deals for Sita that most likely spurred on her defiance towards Rama. These consist of: The Agni Pariksha, Sita’s exile from Ayodhya, and Rama’s attempt to win Sita back after her exile (Hess 1999, 3). I feel that the most significant reason for Sita’s defiance stemmed from the Agni Pariksha specifically. Sita had followed Rama after being exiled, and stayed faithful throughout the entire ordeal of her kidnapping by Ravana. Regardless of this, Rama essentially pressures Sita into steeping into a burning pyre in order

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