SITA – THE SILENT POWER OF SACRIFICE
Sita was a foundling, discovered in a furrow in a ploughed field, and for that reason is regarded as a daughter of Bhudevi, the Goddess Mother Earth. She was found and adopted by Janaka, hence she was also called Janaki, king of Mithila in present day Nepal and his wife Sunayana. Since she was the princess of Mithila, she was (and is also) known as Maithili.
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.
Sita is the consort of Lord Rama, the seventh avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. Sita is the one of the most popular goddesses of Hindu religion. Devi Sita is regarded as the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, the divine consort of Lord Vishnu. Sita is considered as the ideal daughter, ideal wife, and ideal mother, since ages. Goddess Sita is remembered for her virtues and attributes. Devi Sita symbolizes all that is noble in womanhood.
Sita is one of the principal characters in The Ramayana.
Her entire life constitutes an example of idealism. Sita is a perfect example of loyalty and morality. Goddess Sita leaves the palace charms and amenities, in order to stay in exile with her husband. During the period of exile, Sita was abducted by the demon-king Ravana and imprisoned for months, in Lanka. When Sita got freed from the clutches of Ravana, she proved her sanctity to Lord Rama by giving Agni - Pariksha (Fire Ordeal). Sita is regarded as the role model of wifely love and adherence to duty.
Sita is a brave woman of extraordinary brilliance. She has got all the values that people believe, a woman must have in her character. Sita is a woman of virtue and of immeasurable patience. Through her great character, she has captured hearts of millions of people.
The events and places related to the life of Shri Ram and Sita are true cultural and social heritage of every Indian irrespective of caste and creed.
I wish to clarify at the outset that I am going to focus primarily on the Sita of popular imagination rather than the Sita of Tulsi, Balmiki or any other textual or oral version of the Ramayan. Therefore, I deliberately refrain from detailed textual analysis. I have focused on how her life is interpreted and sought to be emulated in today’s context. However, there is no escaping the fact that in north India the Sita of popular imagination has been deeply influenced by the Sita of Ramcharit Manas by Tulsi. In most other versions of the Ramayan, close companionship and joyful togetherness of the couple are the most prominent features of the Ram-Sita relationship rather than her self-effacing devotion and loyalty which have become the hallmark of the modern day stereotype of Sita. The medieval Ramayan of Tulsi marks the transition from Ram and Sita being presented as an ideal couple to projecting each of them as an ideal man and woman respectively.
Agni Pariksha translates as "trial by fire." Ravan abducted Sita and held her captive for several months in his kingdom of Lanka. This forced Rama to invade Lanka, kill Ravan and free his wife.
But before accepting her he asked her to give the Agni Pariksha. She had to immerse herself in burning flames and come out unscathed in order to prove that she was unsullied. This has created a controversy and given ammunition to Hindu baiters.
The Moral Dilemma of the Agni Pariksha
In the 21st century if a woman is abducted, as Sita was, it would be considered heinous and unacceptable for her husband to demand a trial by fire. At least this would be the case in societies that believe in the equality of the genders. And by this benchmark Rama grievously erred in asking Sita to undergo the Agni Pariksha. But this event did not take place in the 21st century. It took place 7,000 years ago. Even 700 years ago women in all parts of the world were subject to exploitation. Hence the morality of events of ages gone by must be judged by the standards of those ages and not by current sensitivities.
In the Valmiki Ramayana Rama forgets that he is God, when he disowns Sita and compels her to enter the burning pyre. To the assembled deities he says, “I think of myself to be a human being, by name Rama, the son of Dasharath.” The deities then remind him that he is the avatar of the Supreme God. When Sita emerges from the flames Rama says that though he knew that Sita was pure the Agni Pariksha was essential to prove her fidelity before the society at large. Despite the rationalization attempted the morality of the act can still be questioned. One cannot compel someone to undergo torture in the guise of exoneration by society.
Tulsidas in his Ramcharita Manas adds an interesting twist. Before Sita is abducted Rama tells her that he will have to engage in some lila or play acting in which she would be abducted and made to suffer. He asked her to take refuge with Agni, the demi-God of Fire, and leave behind her image so that the image would face the tribulations and not the real Sita. During the Agni Pariksha Agni consumes the image and returns the real Sita to Rama. None of those witnessing the trial by fire can make this out. They think that Sita is proving her fidelity. This may seem another form of rationalization, but the simplicity of the idea and lyrical poetry used to describe it has to be lauded.
“The image and the social taint both perished in the fearsome flames / The deities and sages watching were unable to fathom what really happened. / Agni led the real Sita, the one worshipped by all, from the flames / And returned her to Rama ……..”
Ram may have forsaken Sita, but the power of popular sentiment has kept them united. Her name precedes Ram's in the popular greeting in North India: Jai Siya Ram, as also in several bhajans and chants. He is seen as incomplete without her.
His rejection of Sita is almost universally condemned while her rejection of him is held up as an example of supreme dignity. By that act she emerges triumphant and supreme, she leaves a permanent stigma on Ram's name. I have never heard even one person, man or woman, suggest that Sita should have gone through the second fire ordeal quietly and obediently and accepted life with her husband once again, though I often hear people say that Ram had no business to reject her in the first place.
Disqualified Husband
The rejection of Ram by Sita has come to acquire a much larger meaning in popular imagination than one woman's individual protest against the injustice done to her. It is a whole culture's rejection of Ram as a husband. For instance, people will say approvingly: "He is a Ram-like son, a Ram-like brother, or a Ram-like king." But they will never say as a mark of approval, "He is a Ram-like husband." If Ram had not been smart enough to win Sita for a wife by his skill in stringing Shiv's bow, if instead Janak had decided to match their horoscope and it had predicted that Sita would be abandoned by him, I doubt that Ram would have ever found a wife. No father would have consented to give his daughter to a man like Ram - his claims to godlike perfection notwithstanding. Most people I talked to echoed this sentiment: "Ram honge bade admi par Sita ne kya sukh paya?" (Ram may have been a great man, but what good did it do Sita?)
Jayati Goel
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