Topic Research: Sita and Draupadi

The Devi Lakshmi     

I decided to combine a couple different characters into my storybook, specifically Sita, Draupadi, and the Devi Lakshmi. Lakshmi is a four-handed Devi of both material and spiritual wealth, fortune, and prosperity; whose four hands signify the goals humans should strive for during their life. Some feedback that I thought would be fun to use in the story was doing a half-and-half project on Sita and Draupadi and also using Lakshmi's four hands as a way to guide the story. The information about Lakshmi's hands I got from Wikipedia and a yoga website dedicated to Lakshmi, Lakshmi Living Arts. I also got information about Sita and Draupadi from their Wiki pages and the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana. 

(photo was posted on Wikipedia, but originally painted by Raja Ravi Varma in 1896)

    According to Lakshmi Living Arts, Lakshmi's four hands are divided between the front and the back, with the front symbolizing material prosperity while the back two are spiritual prosperity. Her front left hand symbolizes artha. Wikipedia said that artha is a concept "which imply 'means of life', activities and resources that enable one to be in a state one wants to be in", which means that would be financial or material prosperity. The front right hand symbolizes kama. Wikipedia has a very long sentence describing kama but it is essentially desire and pleasure, both in sexual and none sexual connotations. The yogi website said things like art, music, and dance would fall under Lakshmi's right arm. The back left arm stands for dharma. Wikipedia said that dharma "includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living", and I understand it as being the proper way to both live your life spiritually and worship. Finally, the back right hand symbolizes moksha. According to Wikipedia, moksha is "various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release". This would be the "central concept" of the four goals, and if you were to follow the other three: dharma, artha, and kama, then you would reach moksha or enlightenment. 

For the storybook assignment, I wanted to tell stories of Sita trying to follow the two spiritual ways of life and Draupadi trying to follow the physical ones. I chose Sita for the spiritual paths mostly because she is one of the avatars of Lakshmi. For Draupadi, I thought she was an interesting character and a perfect person for striving for the physical paths because of how hard her life was. Not only did she end up married to five men because of a misunderstanding, but she also had several instances of men trying to molest her, was exiled with her husbands, and eventually lost her father, brothers, and five children, according to Wikipedia. 

Story One

Draupadi was the wife of the Pandavas and was an empress. However, one of her five husbands had a gambling addiction; and he, his brothers, and their wife were sent into exile, losing all their kingdom, wealth, and all material things. I thought for story one I could write after Draupadi got sent into exile and her search fulfilling her basic human needs, and Lakshmi could come to her and give advice, while also introducing herself and what her Devi domain is. 

Story Two 

This story will also be about Draupadi. The goal she will try to achieve is kama. I felt like kama would be a good path for Draupadi because of her five husbands. When Draupadi man brought her home to his mother his mother said he must share whatever the surprise was with his brothers. After finding out that it was a woman she did not take her wish back, and so Draupadi had to marry all five brothers. Kama is about desire and this story would be about Draupadi finding out she must marry five men, and coming to terms with that fact, and developing a love for each man, through conversing with Lakshmi. 

Story Three 

This story will be about the goal of dharma. This one will feature Sita during her exile. One thing that stuck out to me during her exile was the story from Tiny Tales about Sita being worried about Rama's violence, and telling him about how to live according to dharma. For this story I could retell the story Sita told with more detail. 

Story Four 

This four story would be about the goal of moksha. This story might also feature Sita, but since moksha happens after reaching all three goals I wasn't sure which story featuring Sita would fit best in this situation. 

Bibliography 

Artha. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artha

Barry, R. The 4 Arms of Lakshmi - Lakshmi Living Arts. Retrieved 10 February 2021, from http://lakshmilivingarts.org/cms/the-4-arms-of-lakshmi/

Dharma. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma

Draupadi. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draupadi

Kama. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama#cite_note-4

Lakshmi. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshmi

Moksha. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha

Raja Ravi Varma Oil Painting 58 - Goddess Lakshmi. (2021). Retrieved 10 February 2021, from http://www.cyberkerala.com/rajaravivarma/ravivarma-painting-58.htm