About the Book In the book 'Agony of Sits the feelings of Rama's wife are being narrated starting from her birth to till her entry to the bosom of mother earth Sita was the daughter of king Janaka and the wife of the great king Rama of Ayodhys, but she spent most of the days of her lifetime in exile. Although Sita is the central woman character in the Ramayana and her nature and quality has been described in different manners, but nowhere the agony and feelings of Sita is being described in Ramayana. In this book, the author tries to explain the feelings of a woman that are same whether she is the daughter/wife of a great king or a woodcutter. Although Sita was the woman of Tetra age, but the author describes that Sita's perceptions and feelings are similar with the female of today's world. This verified fact has been nicely reflected in the book.
Another specialty of the book is the analysis of all the characters of the great epic Ramayana by Sita. In her analysis, she realized that a person can't be magnanimous even if he is born in a royal family. This has been described with examples of Rakshasa dynasty where high minded soul like Trijata, Sarama, etc. could realize Sita's mental pain and agony.
At last, the author describes how Sita wishes to be the wife of Rama through all her lives in spite of having spent greater part of her life in exile bearing the grief, annoyance and poverty, which had changed her to a completely different woman.
About the Author Dr Malice is the pen name of Dr Neelima Saikia who is a prominent scientist of North East Institute of Science & Technology Jorhat, Assam. Presently she is concentrating in the ad of bioremediation for environment improve and protection. In spite of science background and hectic c work schedule, her mostly contribution to the native literary world is immense and enduring. Her works relies on her profound research on Indian mythology. The critical appreciation comes for her epics and portrayal of feminism, which she depicts in appealing yet modest manner. Apart from have written several novels and short stories, she has also written a few popular science books, biographies and has abridged a good number of books. She also writes serial episodes in some popular newspapers and magazines. Besides her fictional works, she also writes non-fictional scientific literature and the implications of science in our day-to-day life. Some of the stories and novels written by the author are Moroha Phulor Subas (Fragrance of a wilting flower) 1997, Brityar Paridhir Bahirot (Beyond the circumference of a circle) 2001, Natun Yugar Sushana (Beginning of a new era) 2003. Romanthan (Remembrance) 2005. Yajgyasheni (2007) and Bideh Nandani (2009). She is the recipient of two National Award, instituted by DAE, Ministry of HRD and NCERT, New-Delhi for her book "Adarsha Bowari" and "Sadhur plere Bigyan" (Science in the form of stories) pectively.
Foreword I came across the Assamese version of the novel by Dr Malinee when it was being published as a serial in the Assamese daily "Amar Asom". It was then that I encouraged her to make an English translation of the same so that our national and international readers get a decisive insight into the various events that are present in the Ramayana. Two things of the novel attracted me most, firstly the writer is very simple in her expression and secondly she has followed Balmiki's original Ramayana. Although originally the title of the novel in Assamese was "Bideh Nandini", yet the title of the English version "Agony of Sita" seems more suitable considering the readers of all groups. I hope this novel will meet with good response from all the readers. I am sure that Dr Malinee will create more literature in this area. I congratulate her for the novel.
Preface Ever since my childhood, I was very much interested towards Indian literature. My interest towards Indian epics developed because of my parents and grandmother. I became acquainted with many stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata from them. I became more familiar to Ramayana after my matriculation when the English translation of Ramayana by Chakraborty Raja Gopalacharya was released by "Bharatiya Bidya Bhawan". However, the research was done by me based on the original version of Balmiki's Ramayana.
Since Ramanaya bears a special place in the heart of every Indian as a sacred epic, much research was needed to be done before setting off to write a novel based on it. I had to be very careful, in particular not to misinterpret any information. It was also because Ramayana as an epic bears significance not only for the Indian culture but also the whole world. So there were no boundaries to my cautiousness.
Ramayana bears the reference to many different characters, each with distinguished personalities. Selecting one partucular female character among them to analyze and depict character of many others was in fact very intimidating in the beginning. However my courage and inspiration came from the words of Shri Homen Borgohain, a distinguished novelist and journalist from Assam and also the editor of a leading Assamese news paper "Amar Asom".
It was a matter of great honor and pride for me when one of the most distinguished personel involved with the literature of Ramayana, Dr. Indira Goswami asked me to make an English translation of my novel, at a time when it was being published as a serial in the Assamese daily "Amar Asom".
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