("Rama's Later Acts") Bhavabhuti, a Sanskrit dramatist from the eighth century, wrote a drama that retells the tale of the Ramayana, the first of the two Sanskrit epics.
With one major exception, Bhavabhuti's play closely follows
the storyline of the original Valmiki Ramayana.
Rama banishes Sita due to doubts about her purity, and Sita
is swallowed up by the soil, her mother and witness to her virginity, according
to Valmiki's text.
The Uttararamacharita, on the other hand, concludes with
Rama and Sita reconciling completely.
This shift might have been motivated purely by a desire for
a happy conclusion, which is a common aspect in Sanskrit play.
It might also imply that some people were uncomfortable with
the original text's moral uncertainties, in which Rama, despite his claim to
divinity, sometimes behaves in unethical and frightening ways.
