Viewing Shoorpanakha from beyond the myth and its margins

A solo performance Shoorpanakha: A Search by Parshathy J Nath will be presented in Bengaluru on June 11

Rejected and reviled — a deadly combination in a woman scorned and an encapsulation of how Shoorpanakha from The Ramayana has been viewed down the ages. Well, every villain has an origin story and Shoorpanakha: A Search is hers. Presented by Parshathy J Nath, this piece not only looks at the woman within the demon princess, but also sheds light on the fiends and divas that dwell within each of us.

There is scant mention of Shoorpanakha in mythology and the ones that occur, show her in a most unflattering light, which makes the choice of her as a central character in any performance an interesting one.

Parshathy says Shoorpanakha’s story stayed with her because it was a traumatic experience.

“I realised that men treating her with triviality was something most women, myself included, have undergone. More than her nose being mutilated, I believe it would have been far more humiliating to have her emotions made light of and be subject to suggestions that she offer her love to others.”

Parshathy emphasises that Shoorpanakha is “not a rant against men”, though it happens to women in India more often than not given the patriarchy and dating culture prevalent here.

“I wanted to explore this binary of Shoorpanakha and Sita, and how societal standards for beauty seem to follow a stereotype.”

Parshathy’s love story with the theatre began with her first school audition at the age of 10. “I was instinctively drawn to theatre; it was not a class or discipline my parents foisted on me — perhaps that is why I was able to explore it to my heart’s content,” says the artiste, who began training in classical dance and vocals at the age of six. “I can still recall the wonder I felt at the transformation that unfolded on stage.”