Gender Roles and Recreation of Women Characters of the Rāmāyaṇa in Assamese Poetry

Abstract

The Rāmāyaṇa is considered to belong to the category of epic, though it originally comes under a class of literature known as kāvya (poetry). The Rāmāyaṇa produced by the sage Valmiki forms an important part of the Indian literature. Valmiki’s Rāmāyaṇa includes several leading women characters such as, Sitā, Suparnakhā, Urvashi etc. The Rāmāyaṇa upholds the idea of “husband worshipping” in which the husbands is considered the entire world for a woman. Woman is considered as an embodiment of self- sacrifice, femininity and virtues.