Amit Mahmuda and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in conversation with Namita Gokhale

Presented by Motwani Jadeja Foundation

Exploring the inscrutable paths of two goddesses from the Indian pantheon, Sita and Radha, three writers share their learnings from the complex web of myth, belief, and devotion. Sita is one of the defining figures of Indian womanhood, an emblem of duty punished for no crime of her own. Radha is worshipped as the beloved of the god Krishna, even though she was not his wife. In the Sitayana, Amit Majmudar gives imaginative voice to Sita’s fierce resistance, presenting his personal retelling of the Indian epic, the Ramayana. Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee’s recent bestselling novel, The Forest of Enchantments, also retells the Ramayana through the lens of the protagonist Sita. The prolific writer and festival director Namita Gokhale has co-edited anthologies on both Radha and Sita. Together, they examine popular perceptions of these very different figures of feminine divinity and the energies and forces they represent.