Sita
Sita (Sanskrit: सीता; "Sītā", also spelled Seeta) is the wife of Rama, the seventh avatāra of Vishnu, and is esteemed an exemplar of womanly and wifely virtue. According to Hindu belief, Sita was an avatāra of Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort, who chose to reincarnate herself on Earth as Sita and endure an arduous life, to provide humankind an example of good virtues. Sita is one of the principal characters in the Ramayana, a Hindu epic named after her husband Rama.
Legend
Sita was a foundling, discovered in a furrow in a ploughed field, and for that reason is regarded as a daughter of Bhudevi, the earth Goddess. She was found and adopted by Janaka, king of Mithila (Modern day Janakpur, Nepal) and his wife Sunayana. Upon her coming of age, a swayamwara was held to select a suitable husband for her, and she was wed to Rama, prince of Ayodhya, an avatara of Vishnu.
Exile and abduction
Some time after the wedding, circumstances became such that Rama felt it his duty to leave Ayodhya and spend a period of exile in the forests of Dandakaranya. At this time, he was 25, Sita 18 and his brother Lakshmana 16. [1]. Sita willingly renounced the comforts of the palace and joined her husband in braving the travails of exile, even living in a forest. Worse was however to come; the forest was the scene for the abduction of Sita by Ravana, King of Lanka, one of her former suitors. Ravana kidnapped Sita while her husband was away fetching a magnificent golden deer to please her ( this deer was actually Ravana's demon uncle, Mareecha, in disguise). Jatayu, the vulture-king, who was a friend of Rama, tried to protect her, but Ravana chopped off his wings. Jatayu survived long enough to inform Rama of what had happened.
Ravana held her captive in his distant island realm. In captivity, Sita not only consistently rejected the many advances of her powerful and royal captor, but also preserved her chastity of mind, never once wavering in her adherence to her husband. She was finally rescued by her husband Rama, who waged a tremendous battle to defeat Ravana and secure the release of Sita.
Later life
The couple returned to Ayodhya, where Rama was crowned king with Sita by his side. While the trust and affection in which Rama held his wife never wavered, it soon became evident that a (perhaps small) section of the citizenry of Ayodhya found the fact of Sita's long residence in captivity, under the power of Ravana, a circumstance difficult to accept. The story goes that an intemperate washerman, while berating his wayward wife, declared that he was "no pusillanimous Rama who would take his wife back after she had lived in the house of another man". This calumnious comment was reported back to Rama, who knew that the aspersion cast on Sita was entirely baseless; nevertheless, he felt his position as ruler undermined by the constant possibility of slander attaching itself to his hitherto unimpeachable dynasty and personal reign. It was this train of thought that led Rama to desire the removal of Sita from his household.
Sita was thus again in exile; she was not only alone this time but also pregnant. She sought refuge in the hermitage of the sage Valmiki, where she was delivered of twin sons, Lava and Kusha.
Sita raised her sons single-handedly in the hermitage. They grew up to be valiant and intelligent and were eventually united with their father. Once she had witnessed the acceptance of her children by Rama, Sita sought final refuge in the arms of her mother Bhumidevi, the Earth Goddess. Hearing her plea for release from an unjust world and from a life that had rarely been happy, the earth dramatically split open; Bhumidevi manifested herself and took Sita away to a better world.
This part of the epic has been disputed. Sages point to it being written later than the Valmiki Ramayan. Some believe that this part of the story, Luv-Kushkanda, was promoted by the British. Many Hindu organizations today disown Luv-Kush kanda and state that after Ram is crowned king there is Ram rajya, when everyone is happy.
Sita also took part in the Hindu ritual of Ashvamedha. As narrated in the Uttara Kanda (book 7). In this narrative, Rama was married to a single wife, Sita, who at the time was not with him, having been excluded from Rama's capital of Ayodhya. She was therefore represented by a statue for the queen's ceremony (7.x[citation needed]). Sita was living in Valmiki's forest ashram with her twin children by Rama, Lava and Kusha, whose birth was unknown to Rama. In its wanderings, the horse, accompanied by an army and the monkey-king Hanuman, enters the forest and encounters Lava, who ignores the warning written on the horse's headplate not to hinder its progress. He tethers the horse, and with Kusha challenges the army, which is unable to defeat the brothers.
Significance
The actions, reactions and instincts manifested by Sita at every juncture in a long and arduous life are deemed exemplary; her story is one on which every young girl in India is raised to this day. The values that she enshrined and adhered to at every point in the course of a demanding life are the values of womanly virtue held sacred by countless generations of Indians.
The story of Sita's kidnapping and subsequent rescue forms the core of the Indian epic, the Ramayana, confirmed and written by the sage Valmiki in whose hermitage Sita took refuge during her second stint of exile.
Sita's talks in the Ramayana
While the Ramayana mostly concentrates on Rama's actions, Sita also speaks many times during the exile. The first time is in Chitrakoot where she narrates an ancient story to Rama, whereby Rama promises to Sita that he will never kill anybody without provocation.
The second time Sita is shown talking prominently to Ravana. Ravana has come to her in the form of a Brahmin and Sita tells him that he doesn't look like one.
The most interesting of her talks are with Hanuman when he reaches Lanka. Hanuman wants an immediate meeting of Rama and Sita, and thus he proposes to Sita to ride on his back. Sita refuses as she does not want to run away like a thief; instead she wants her husband Rama to come and defeat Ravana to save her.
When Rama wins the war, Hanuman goes to Ashok Vatika to give this news to Sita, and asks for permission to kill the female Rakshasas who have tortured her. Sita tells Hanuman an ancient story known as Na parah paap ma adate (Do not follow the sins committed by others) - one should behave according to one's dharma (righteousness) even if another has done you wrong.
Once she utters bad words to Lakshmana when he does not go after Rama to save him, but in a later part of the story she repents this.
Etymology of the name Sita
In common with other major figures of Hindu legend, Sita is known by many names. As the daughter of king Janaka, she is as Janaki; as the princess of Mithila, Mythili or Maithili; as the wife of Raama, she is called Ramaa. Her father Janaka had earned the sobriquet "Videha" due to his ability to transcend body consciousness; Sita is therefore also known as Vaidehi.
However, she is of course best known by the name "Sita", which literally means "furrow". The word "furrow" was a poetic term in ancient India, its imagery redolent of fecundity and the many blessings accruent from settled agriculture. The Sita of the Ramayana may have been named after a more ancient Vedic goddess Sita, who is mentioned once in the Rigveda as an earth goddess who blesses the land with good crops.
Other legends
Two other legends obtaining in certain versions of the Ramayana may be mentioned in connection with Sita. These legends are significant in that they do not endorse the mainstream view of Sita having been an avatara of the goddess Lakshmi.
Vedavati
Some versions of the Ramayana suggest that Sita was a reincarnation of Vedavati, an orphan lady who had been ravished by Ravana. The legend goes thus:
Sage Kushadhwaja was a learned and pious scholar residing in a remote hermitage. His daughter Vedavati grows up in her father's hermitage to become an ardent devotee of Vishnu, and resolves early in life to wed no one other than Vishnu. Her father forbears from stifling her aspirations, and even rejects proposals from many powerful kings and celestial beings who seek his daughter's hand in marriage. Among those rejected is Sambhu, a powerful Daitya king. Smarting under his humiliation, Shambhu seizes an opportunity and murders Vedavati's parents on a moonless night.
Vedavati continues perforce to reside at the hermitage of her parents, meditating upon Vishnu. She is described as being inexpressibly beautiful, dressed in the hide of a black antelope, her hair matted, the bloom of her youth enhanced by her austerities. Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, once finds Vedavati seated in meditation and is captivated by her beauty. He propositions her and is rejected. Ravana mocks her austerities and her devotion to Vishnu; finding himself firmly rejected at every turn, he finally molests Vedavati.
Her chastity sullied beyond redemption, Vedavati immolates herself on a pyre, vowing to return in another age and be the cause of Ravana's destruction. She is duly reborn as Sita, wife of Rama, and became the direct cause of Ravana's destruction at his hands. In the process, Vedavati also receives the boon she so single-mindedly sought: Vishnu, in his avatara as Rama, becomes her husband. In some versions of the Ramayana, sage Agastya relates this entire story to Rama.
Daughter of Mandodari and Ravana
A somewhat obscure legend obtains in some parts of Kerala, which seeks to explain Sita's birth. This legend goes thus:
Although they were married at the end of a courtship of lyrical majesty, Ravana and his wife Mandodari grow estranged from each other since Mandodari finds it impossible to condone or ignore her husband's arrogance and misdeeds. In particular, Mandodari is repelled and distraught at her husband's ravishment of the hapless Vedavati. She soon afterwards finds herself pregnant, and fears that the child within her could be the harbinger of her husband's doom, as per Vadavati's awful oath. Despite her judgment of her husband, Mandodari cannot condemn him; and also cannot do away with a child even if her suspicions are confirmed, for, she may consider, how long can Fate be defied? Both these considerations are quintessentially in the spirit of Hindu legend, as indeed is her chosen course of action.
Mandodari goes to her father's home in mainland India, and then on a series of pilgrimages, to prevent Ravana or anybody else from finding that she is pregnant. As the birth grows near, Mandodari seeks around for a suitable foster-home for her child. She discovers that Janaka, the pious king of Mithila, a man of noble character and eminent lineage, is childless; the deeply sorrowful king is intent upon performing a yagya to seek the boon of a child. At this time, a female child is born to Mandodari. Soon afterwards, just before Janaka begins ploughing a field preparatory to the intended rituals, Mandodari manages to spirit her baby into the field and into Janaka's path. King Janaka duly discovers the child and adopts her. Gratified at this turn of events, Mandodari returns to her husband and resumes her everyday life. The child is given the name "Sita" and grows up in king Janaka's household.
These legends build on ancient Indian traditions which hold, in wry spirit, that one's worst enemies are re-born as one's own children to fulfill the karma of one's sins.
Further reading
- Hindu Goddesses: Vision of the Divine Feminine in the Hindu Religious traditions (ISBN 81-208-0379-5) by David Kinsley
- The Ramayana (2001) by Ramesh Menon
External links
- Sita - The Silent Power of Suffering and Sacrifice by Sri Nitin Kumar.
- Sita Sings the Blues (clips from a modern animated feature which portrays the Ramayana from Sita's perspective)
- Weekly podcast on Vedic Chanting, Mnatras, Vedic Mythology and stories from the Puranas
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