Author Samhita Arni started writing and illustrating her version of the Mahabharata at age eight, which was published as Mahabharata - A Child’s View when she was 12. Two years ago, she collaborated with Bengali patua artist Moyna Chitrakar to create Sita’s Ramayana, a graphic novel that brought to the fore the sidelined feminine voices of the epic. Now her book The Missing Queen, focuses on a period when Ram returns from exile, questions Sita’s chastity and she disappears. A young journalist decides to find the missing Sita and gets embroiled in a plot that involves two nations and long standing politics. The book is fast paced and the language simple, with female characters from Ramayana connecting the entire plot. The Bangalore-based author, currently working on television projects in Kabul, tells us more.
Why did you decide to retell the Ramayana with a real twist?
I started this book a year after I had returned to India, after a decade abroad. Exploring the Ramayana, and its multiple versions, was for me to explore India’s recent history and it’s multiple, alternate narratives.
Does the epic resonate with what’s happening currently?
I think mythology is always relevant because it reflects, or explores issues and questions that still resonate with contemporary audiences.
The novel looks at the epic from a feminist perspective. Comment.
As the female characters don’t have much of a voice in mainstream versions of the Ramayana, giving them voices and seeing things from their points of view, allows one to subtly question the epic, explore ambiguities, and tell a different tale.
Priced at Rs 300, The Missing Queen is published by Penguin and Zubaan and is available for pre-order on flipkart.com