Reading Diary A Week 2: Thataka

One of my favorite excerpts from this reading was “Thataka’s Story.”  I found Thataka to be interesting for several reasons.  The first is the great contrast from her past as the daughter of Suketha, who was known as being pure and courageous, to the wife and mother of troublemakers.  It seems that Thataka has no real influence over what her life has become until her husband is killed, then out of character, she becomes this evil force devouring every living thing.  This complete transformation is really shocking and interesting because Thataka’s life up to this point gives no evidence of such things occurring.

Another reason I found Thataka to be interesting was that she is a woman.  I believe there is something to be said about a woman who is described as turning fertile land into an unlivable desert.  From a literary point of view, she is obviously being criticized as an unfit woman.  This is furthered more directly through Viswamithra stating, “‘You shall not consider her a woman at all.  Such a monster must receive no consideration...A woman of demonic tendencies loses all consideration to be treated as a woman,’” (Narayan 12).  Basically, instead of performing the duties of a woman such as producing valuable offspring or exuding fertility, Thataka does the complete opposite by being a destroyer of life.  Thataka’s story was my favorite part of this reading because it demonstrates such a harsh view of women who do not live up to society’s standards.  Of course, I could be reading too much into this but I believe it does say something about the view of women during this time.

Rama battling Thataka. Source: Wikipedia