abstract Expectations of chastity have been placed upon Indian women for centuries. This article seeks to analyse why such prejudice continues to persist in Indian society, both in India and across Indian communities globally, namely South Africa. An answer to this question can be found in the Ramayana. This epic Sanskrit text is the reason Hindus across the world celebrate Diwali, lighting lamps to guide Rama and Sita home after years in exile. As a Hindu, I grew up believing that Rama and Sita were the ideal man and woman, the ideal husband and wife. I was never aware of one controversial part of the Ramayana, known in the text as the agni pariksha or fire ordeal, in which Sita after being rescued from King Ravana by her husband, must prove her sexual purity by walking through a blazing fire (Hess, 1999). This test of chastity has been defended, criticised and even deliberately ignored in various analyses and reinterpretations of the Ramayana. One example is the work of Yael Farber, a South African woman theatre practitioner. Titled Ram – The Abduction of Sita into Darkness (2011), Farber makes Sita the focal point of her play and challenges patriarchal expectations. This article investigates, through Farber’s play, the reasons and complexities behind why the Indian female body and chastity is deemed imperative to the preservation of Indian society. Many South African Indians see India as their ‘motherland’. Through family and Indian communities in South Africa, notions of Indian identity in India pervade our society at home. Fatima Meer explains that, “Indian societies in South Africa have not abandoned ‘the Sita myth’” (1972: 37). This article is thus an investigation and challenge of the patriarchy that has always troubled me about my religion and culture as a South African Indian Hindu woman.

中文翻译：

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理想的印度女人？Yael Farber 的 Ram 中 Sita 的表现——Sita 被绑架到黑暗中

几个世纪以来，印度妇女一直寄希望于贞洁。本文试图分析为什么这种偏见在印度社会和全球印度社区（即南非）中继续存在。这个问题的答案可以在罗摩衍那中找到。这部史诗般的梵文文本是世界各地的印度教徒庆祝排灯节的原因，他们点亮灯来引导流亡多年的拉玛和西塔回家。作为一名印度教徒，我从小就相信罗摩和西塔是理想的男人和女人，理想的夫妻。我从来不知道罗摩衍那中有一个有争议的部分，在文本中被称为 agni pariksha 或火的磨难，其中 Sita 在被她的丈夫从 Ravana 国王手中救出后，必须通过燃烧的火焰来证明她的性纯洁（Hess , 1999)。这种贞洁的考验得到了捍卫，在对罗摩衍那的各种分析和重新解释中批评甚至故意忽略。一个例子是南非女戏剧从业者 Yael Farber 的作品。标题为 Ram – The Abduction of Sita into Darkness (2011)，法伯让 Sita 成为她戏剧的焦点并挑战重男轻女的期望。本文通过法伯的戏剧调查了为什么印度女性的身体和贞操被认为对保护印度社会至关重要的原因和复杂性。许多南非印度人将印度视为他们的“祖国”。通过南非的家庭和印度社区，印度的印度身份观念在我们国内的社会中无处不在。Fatima Meer 解释说，“南非的印度社会并没有放弃'Sita 神话'”（1972：37）。