Date: April 17, 2025
Venue: Sri Aurobindo Society, Chennai
Dr. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar was a foremost scholar of English literature, highly acclaimed and well-awarded for his invaluable academic contributions. But as aspiring children of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo what we value and admire most about him is his deep and sincere love and reverence for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and his profound understanding of their Vision and Work. It is this reason why for many years, Sri Aurobindo Society, Chennai Branch has been celebrating his legacy by organising a special lecture event on April 17, the birthday of Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar. This annual event has been made possible by the special endowment created by Dr. K. Venkatasubramanian, former Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry University.
This year, on April 17, 2025, Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti was invited to deliver the Dr. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar Memorial Lecture at Sri Aurobindo Society, Chennai. For this special lecture, Dr. Mehra highlighted a very special literary work of Shri Iyengar, titled ‘Sitayana – Epic of the Earth-born’.
In her opening remarks, Dr. Mehra said that as a highly admired scholar of English literature, Dr. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s mastery of the literary-yogi aspect of Sri Aurobindo’s personality is unmatchable indeed. Through his authoritative biographies of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, he introduced Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to countless seekers all across the world – ranging from scholars who have a scholarly interest in Sri Aurobindo, the poet and the philosopher, to aspirants who want to know more about the path of Integral Yoga and to all those who are looking for yet one more way to deepen their love for the Divine Mother.
Speaking of Sitayana, Dr. Mehra said that Sitayana is not merely a retelling of Ramayana from Sita’s perspective, but as the author himself says in Introduction – it is a “fresh recital of the Ramayana story but slanted as Sitayana, Sitayah charitam mahat, Sita’s saga sublime”. The entire focus here is Sita, her life journey, from her birth, childhood, education, marriage, exile, abduction, agnipariksha, banishment, motherhood, reunion and final rest in the Earth-Mother’s lap. The concept of journey is a key element in the narrative, not merely an outer but more importantly a journey into her inner self, a journey of Sita’s quest to be her true self and live her destiny.
Dr. Mehra gave a very brief summary of Sitayana, written in 7 books, with 11 cantos each. The seven books are titled – Mithila, Ayodhya, Aranya, Asoka, Yuddha, Rajya and Ashrama. She spoke about the significance of each of these book titles in the light of the narrative of Sita’s journey through life. Dr. Mehra also highlighted that throughout the narrative Sita can be seen in many introspective and contemplative moods, reflecting on life, truth, womanhood, her deep kinship with Mother Nature, humanity’s evolutionary march across time, and future destiny of the earth.
The sublime narrative of Sita’s journey beautifully brings up several critical matters demanding deep reflection, including: a true education that facilitates self-inquiry; deeper view of women empowerment or we may even call it as spiritual feminism; true sensitivity and communion with Nature as the real and sustainable solution to our ecological crisis; transcendence of suffering as a means to inner strength; endurance, perseverance and forbearance as soul-qualities necessary for full blossoming of the being; and many more. But most importantly, readers find Sita in Sitayana as an embodiment of Grace who has come from the higher realms to show humanity the true path of love and compassion.
Through specific examples, Dr. Mehra pointed out how Sri Aurobindo’s sublime presence – in the form of an abiding influence of his Thought and Work, including his vision of a Divine Life on Earth, Yoga as Evolution of Consciousness, the Avataric Work of the Divine Mother as Love and Grace, and more can be felt on Dr. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s pen, in fact his entire being. She pointed out that this is fully discernible throughout Sitayana. In this regard, she pointed out a few specific passages from Sitayana and compared those with the narrative of Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem, Savitri.
Dr. Mehra informed the audience that while the overall narrative in Sitayana draws primarily on Valmiki’s Ramayana there is also significant influence of Tulsidas and Kamban, apart from the extensive influence of the times when Sitayana was being composed in the early 1980s. Iyengar includes a good deal of direct translation from Valmiki, at the same time readers will also find plenty of improvisation but never a direct deviation from the original with regard to the personality of the characters.
While there is no attempt by the author to give a “modern” interpretation or explanation to the events and actions, as well as the choices made by different characters, one can’t say that he is not concerned about the contemporary challenges.
Some of these challenges have to do with the extremely insensitive treatment of Mother Nature because of human greed, and the terrible violence, abuse and dehumanization that woman has suffered due to societal prejudices and male egoism. But his handling of these matters is not that of a modern activist, emphasised Dr. Mehra. She said that in fact, the poet’s sensitive treatment of these difficult concerns is resonant of the Mother’s statement – “The problem of feminism, like all other problems of the world, is a spiritual problem.”
Dr. Mehra also read out a few specific passages from Sitayana which speak of Sita’s upbringing and education. She highlighted the poet’s beautiful description of the holistic growth and learning opportunities that Sita and her three sisters are given. In this context, she also pointed out two special visits that Sita undertakes as part of her initiation to higher life. Dr. Mehra’s lecture was highly appreciated by the audience. Many participants came afterwards to say that this was an entirely new perspective for them to look at Sita’s story, especially in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s vision of true inner journey and growth of consciousness.
Recording of the lecture will be available soon.