Different versions of Sita’s story exist in myth, literature, folk tales and performing arts, prompting fresh interpretation and retellings of this enigmatic figure of hoary antiquity who has made an indelible imprint on the psyche and mind of the Indian people. Some tellings deify her while others humanize her relating her trials and tribulations to the daily life of Indian womanhood. That a character of remote antiquity could exert such a sterling influence on the lives of the people of the Indian sub-continent after thousands of years, makes people tell her saga again and again with a new and varied interpretation de novo.of silent strength and sufferance sublime. The rendering of Rama-Sita-Ravana saga as Sitayana: Epic of the Earth-born (1987), a new and free re-recital of a familiar old tale, carries a fresh approach and organizing principle in viewing of the saga in a new perspective as essentially the story of Sita: sitayah charitam mahat. The thoughts projected through Sita’s mind, since she is the brooding spirit of the whole saga, ranging from purely personal reminiscence to metaphysical queries, echoing at the same time the doubts and queries of contemporary Indian mind, lie at the heart of the reinterpretation of the epic.

Keywords: Retelling, Saga, Epic, Feminine, Rishipatnis.