posted
I was originally going to PM you this, but your inbox is full. But anyway, the question I want to ask is...what do you know about gender roles in ancient Indian cultures? I am referring specifically to those of the Harappan (or Indus Valley Civilization) and early Vedic periods.
I ask because I've thought back to an old story concept I developed about three years ago. It was going to be based on the Hindu Ramayana, but modified so that it would take place during the Harappan/Vedic Period transition. The protagonists Rama, Sita, and Laksmana would be native Harappans whereas Ravana and his crew would represent Aryan invaders who have seized control of a native city. Hanuman and his monkey army would be re-interpreted as a relict population of Gigantopithecus blacki, which were giant relatives of orangutans.
I'm not sure whether I should move forward with this idea, since the setup sounds an awful lot like one of those Hollywood "re-imaginings" that take old public-domain stories and then change them so much beyond recognition that they end up alienating audiences and bombing at the box office. On the other hand, I rather like the idea of a story being told about Harappan defenders against Aryan attackers.
Anyway, we know from the original story that Ravana abducted Sita and kept her as a trophy or prisoner. My re-interpretation was to have her start off as a warrior and huntress equal to her boo Rama in martial ability, making her all the more resentful when Ravana keeps her trapped in the role of a subservient stay-at-home trophy wife. The problem is, I have next to no idea how early Indo-Aryan societies would have treated women. Was it anything like how later Hinduism would treat women in a patriarchal way, or would it have started out as less oppressive? How oppressed should my Sita feel, exactly?
FWIW, I have noticed that Indus Valley depictions of women tend to have them showing off a lot more skin than the modern Indian sari allows. So maybe Sita under Ravana's watch would be forced to wear more clothing than she is comfortable with.
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