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@article{195185,
        author = {Dr. Prachiprava Padhiary},
        title = {Agency in Resistance and Renunciation: Re-reading Sita’s Choices in Contemporary Retellings},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {10},
        pages = {6921-6923},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=195185},
        abstract = {This paper offers a comparative feminist reading of The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and The Renunciation by Pragya Agrawal, examining how these texts reconfigure Sita’s agency within the framework of contemporary feminist discourse. Moving beyond the traditional portrayal of Sita as an epitome of passive virtue, these retellings foreground her subjectivity, ethical reasoning, and autonomy. The paper argues that agency is articulated through two distinct yet interconnected modes: resistance and renunciation. While Divakaruni’s Sita resists through articulation, emotional assertion, and moral questioning, Agrawal’s Sita enacts agency through introspection, withdrawal, and self-definition. By situating these representations within broader debates on gender, myth, and narrative authority, the study demonstrates how modern reinterpretations transform Sita into a complex agent negotiating identity, duty, and selfhood.},
        keywords = {Sita, agency, feminist retellings, Ramayana, resistance, renunciation, mythology, gender studies},
        month = {March},
        }