Research Paper on:
Ramayana and Gender Roles

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
dharma. Rama as the male role model was obedient to his parents and faithful to his wife and eventually led an army to rescue her as would a traditional hero.  Sita is Ramas faithful and beautiful wife who follows him when he is banished in the forest, is faithful to him when she is abducted and obedient to him when  he asks her to perform a test of her chastity. The tale has provided gender models for thousands of years and has also undergone various reinterpretations which constantly redefine the  roles of Sita and Rama. In some versions, Sita is a strong and powerful woman who is humiliated by her husbands request. Despite the different versions which exist, modern day  Indian women and men and Indian communities in the western world have been found to have different gender roles. While many families still have "traditional" roles with the woman in  charge of the house and children and obedient to her husband, still other studies have found that many modern Indian women today see themselves as independent professionals and in many  cases, the major wage earners in their households. The characters and the story of the Ramayana are said to reflect life in India  around 1000 B.C. and the characters within the tale are considered as role models in dharma. Rama is considered the hero of the tale and throughout his life he was  a good role model in that he was good and respectful to his parents when he was a child, faithful to his wife, Sita, and later a good ruler of  Aydohya. Rama life of obedience to his parents was especially tested when he, as the eldest son, should have become ruler when his father retired but instead his younger brother