Trial by Fire
By Vikas Vij
When Sita chose Ram in the Swayamvar, she had no idea where her fate was headed.She insisted on accompanying Ram to the forest in exile so that she could be with her husband at all times. A girl who was born and brought up in immense luxuries, agreed to share her husband's misfortunes boldly in the jungles.Sita's miseries of life did not end with her difficult years as a nomad in the wilderness. Infact, they had only begun.While in the forest, Sita's erratic and arrogant brother-in-law slashed the ears and nose of a woman who wished to marry him. It was a barbaric act that only a man of Laxman's calibre could inflict upon a woman. And Laxman's brother, Maryada Purushottam Ram, kept silent at this criminal act and neither apologized to the victim or her family, nor did anything to redress the wrong or protect the victim.As a consequence of this savage act, Ravan kidnapped Sita and kept her in confinement, even though her only fault was that she was Ram's wife. An innocent and trusting woman kidnapped treacherously from her humble dwellings. Is there anything worse that can happen to a woman's self-esteem?Yes sir, there is. As later events would reveal, being kidnapped and imprisoned by Ravan was the least of Sita's humiliations. Ram waged a war against Lanka to avenge his own princely honor. While Sita imagined all this while that Ram was fighting for her sake. Upon her rescue by Ram, Sita wept, having been away from her beloved for so long and now excited at the prospect of a reunion.Ram, however, remained cold, aloof and distant from her. And then he went on to speak his mind: "Today I have avenged the insult to my honor. While you, Sita, stand without shame before me, even though suspicions have arisen with regard to your character. Today you appear as unacceptable to me as light to the one who is suffering from eyesores. Therefore, go wherever you wish, O Janak's daughter, all ten directions are open to you today. "What man born of nobility would accept a woman who has lived with another man, simply because she has been favorable to him in the past? How can I accept you, who was enveloped in the arms of Ravan while being taken away by him, and who was lusting for you? I do not have any interest in you anymore. Therefore, you may go wherever you want."In a complete state of shock, and with tears filled in her eyes, Sita addressed her obedient brother-in-law Laxman: "Raise for me a funeral pyre, O Laxman. I no longer wish to live as I'm accused falsely of crimes that I did not commit."Laxman looked at this brother, half-expecting him to put an end to this shameful public drama. But to his horror, Ram did not bat an eyelid, and did not stop this barbaric tragedy from going any further.The usually short-tempered Laxman, who was intolerant to injustice, and who had advised his brother Ram to launch an armed rebellion against their father's decision to send him to exile, surprisingly acted like a meek slave in the face of this criminal outrage against Sita.Not one of the assembled warriors, who had displayed exceptional valour on the battlefield just now, had the courage to open their mouth against this autocratic behavior of Ram, and to oppose the historic injustice against a woman that was about to be perpetrated.Laxman proceeded to prepare the fire.As a mark of respect, Sita walked in a circle around Ram, who, as the ancient texts describe it -- "stood with his head hung down."The entire cosmos came to a halt in horror as Sita approached the fire. Sita entered the raging flames. But lo and behold! Sita's blazing faithfulness singed the fire itself, and Agnidev cried out in pain. Sita had proved too pure for the fire to burn her out.Ram was suddenly beside himself with joy at this public display of his wife's purity of character. "The world would have whispered against me, and accused me of being a lustful man who accepted Sita without testing her chastity." Sita let Ram have his way, and followed him to Ayodhya without any protest.But Sita's cup of tragedy was not yet full. It still had room for more. Rumors started floating in Ayodhya about the wisdom of having a queen who had spent a long time in a kidnapper's captivity. Ram, surprisingly for a king, did not display any strength of conviction or a backbone of his own. A king must follow what is just and logical (nyaya-poorna and tark-sangat), and not what the mass opinion says. If ten thousand people say a wrong thing, it is still a wrong thing, and if only one person says the right thing, it is still the right thing.Even though Sita was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, Ram did not think twice and immediately decided to abandon Sita to the forests. Just like when your pet dog becomes a nuisance, you would abandon it in such a distant place from where it cannot return.The very next morning, Laxman took Sita to the forest in his chariot, lying to her that they were visiting a sage. On reaching the forest, Laxman said: "The king has abandoned you because he is afraid of the muffled protests taking place in his kingdom against him. I'm going to leave you near this hermitage now, and you will have to walk further on your own.Sita gave birth to twin sons in the forest, and brought them up as a single mother. When the sons reached their teens, the tales of their valour spread far and wide. When the glory of his sons came to Ram's notice, he wanted them back in his kingdom. He recalled Sita alongwith her sons from the jungle, and without even a hint of any regret or hesitation, quickly asked Sita to "perform" her Agni-Pareeksha once again, and enthrall the audiences of his kingdom with the same spectacle that she had earlier performed for him in Lanka.But this time round Sita reacted differently. She did not feel shocked or surprised at Ram's request. She did not have tears in her eyes. She did not ask Laxman to prepare a pyre for her. She did not walk around her husband in a circle of deference. She simply folded her hands, closed her eyes, and requested Mother Earth to take her in her bosom.Guru Vashishtha mili lagan sudhai, ek surya-mantra deenhaJo Sita Raghunath bihai, ik pal chein nahin keenha[A wisest sage like Vashishitha chose the most auspicious time for the marriage of Ram and Sita, and gave them the coveted Surya-mantra for the protection of their marriage. But defying all astrological predictions, "Jo Sita Raghunath bihai, ik pal chein nahin keenha..."]
When Sita chose Ram in the Swayamvar, she had no idea where her fate was headed.She insisted on accompanying Ram to the forest in exile so that she could be with her husband at all times. A girl who was born and brought up in immense luxuries, agreed to share her husband's misfortunes boldly in the jungles.Sita's miseries of life did not end with her difficult years as a nomad in the wilderness. Infact, they had only begun.While in the forest, Sita's erratic and arrogant brother-in-law slashed the ears and nose of a woman who wished to marry him. It was a barbaric act that only a man of Laxman's calibre could inflict upon a woman. And Laxman's brother, Maryada Purushottam Ram, kept silent at this criminal act and neither apologized to the victim or her family, nor did anything to redress the wrong or protect the victim.As a consequence of this savage act, Ravan kidnapped Sita and kept her in confinement, even though her only fault was that she was Ram's wife. An innocent and trusting woman kidnapped treacherously from her humble dwellings. Is there anything worse that can happen to a woman's self-esteem?Yes sir, there is. As later events would reveal, being kidnapped and imprisoned by Ravan was the least of Sita's humiliations. Ram waged a war against Lanka to avenge his own princely honor. While Sita imagined all this while that Ram was fighting for her sake. Upon her rescue by Ram, Sita wept, having been away from her beloved for so long and now excited at the prospect of a reunion.Ram, however, remained cold, aloof and distant from her. And then he went on to speak his mind: "Today I have avenged the insult to my honor. While you, Sita, stand without shame before me, even though suspicions have arisen with regard to your character. Today you appear as unacceptable to me as light to the one who is suffering from eyesores. Therefore, go wherever you wish, O Janak's daughter, all ten directions are open to you today. "What man born of nobility would accept a woman who has lived with another man, simply because she has been favorable to him in the past? How can I accept you, who was enveloped in the arms of Ravan while being taken away by him, and who was lusting for you? I do not have any interest in you anymore. Therefore, you may go wherever you want."In a complete state of shock, and with tears filled in her eyes, Sita addressed her obedient brother-in-law Laxman: "Raise for me a funeral pyre, O Laxman. I no longer wish to live as I'm accused falsely of crimes that I did not commit."Laxman looked at this brother, half-expecting him to put an end to this shameful public drama. But to his horror, Ram did not bat an eyelid, and did not stop this barbaric tragedy from going any further.The usually short-tempered Laxman, who was intolerant to injustice, and who had advised his brother Ram to launch an armed rebellion against their father's decision to send him to exile, surprisingly acted like a meek slave in the face of this criminal outrage against Sita.Not one of the assembled warriors, who had displayed exceptional valour on the battlefield just now, had the courage to open their mouth against this autocratic behavior of Ram, and to oppose the historic injustice against a woman that was about to be perpetrated.Laxman proceeded to prepare the fire.As a mark of respect, Sita walked in a circle around Ram, who, as the ancient texts describe it -- "stood with his head hung down."The entire cosmos came to a halt in horror as Sita approached the fire. Sita entered the raging flames. But lo and behold! Sita's blazing faithfulness singed the fire itself, and Agnidev cried out in pain. Sita had proved too pure for the fire to burn her out.Ram was suddenly beside himself with joy at this public display of his wife's purity of character. "The world would have whispered against me, and accused me of being a lustful man who accepted Sita without testing her chastity." Sita let Ram have his way, and followed him to Ayodhya without any protest.But Sita's cup of tragedy was not yet full. It still had room for more. Rumors started floating in Ayodhya about the wisdom of having a queen who had spent a long time in a kidnapper's captivity. Ram, surprisingly for a king, did not display any strength of conviction or a backbone of his own. A king must follow what is just and logical (nyaya-poorna and tark-sangat), and not what the mass opinion says. If ten thousand people say a wrong thing, it is still a wrong thing, and if only one person says the right thing, it is still the right thing.Even though Sita was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, Ram did not think twice and immediately decided to abandon Sita to the forests. Just like when your pet dog becomes a nuisance, you would abandon it in such a distant place from where it cannot return.The very next morning, Laxman took Sita to the forest in his chariot, lying to her that they were visiting a sage. On reaching the forest, Laxman said: "The king has abandoned you because he is afraid of the muffled protests taking place in his kingdom against him. I'm going to leave you near this hermitage now, and you will have to walk further on your own.Sita gave birth to twin sons in the forest, and brought them up as a single mother. When the sons reached their teens, the tales of their valour spread far and wide. When the glory of his sons came to Ram's notice, he wanted them back in his kingdom. He recalled Sita alongwith her sons from the jungle, and without even a hint of any regret or hesitation, quickly asked Sita to "perform" her Agni-Pareeksha once again, and enthrall the audiences of his kingdom with the same spectacle that she had earlier performed for him in Lanka.But this time round Sita reacted differently. She did not feel shocked or surprised at Ram's request. She did not have tears in her eyes. She did not ask Laxman to prepare a pyre for her. She did not walk around her husband in a circle of deference. She simply folded her hands, closed her eyes, and requested Mother Earth to take her in her bosom.Guru Vashishtha mili lagan sudhai, ek surya-mantra deenhaJo Sita Raghunath bihai, ik pal chein nahin keenha[A wisest sage like Vashishitha chose the most auspicious time for the marriage of Ram and Sita, and gave them the coveted Surya-mantra for the protection of their marriage. But defying all astrological predictions, "Jo Sita Raghunath bihai, ik pal chein nahin keenha..."]
Venu Gopal said...
10:23 PM 5/Nov/07
When Rama was about to be anointed as the successor to the King, his father was forced to have a change of heart. But such was the integrity of Rama that even the one chosen to the throne in his place refused to sit on it but placed there Rama’s shoes as a token of Rama''s sovereignty. When asked to go to the forest in exile, he did not forcefully take his wife along but his wife dutifully volunteered to go along, again proving Rama''s integrity.
Surpanekha might have fallen in love with Rama but for Rama the question of marrying her did not arise. He, amused by her approach and prescient about the events about to unfold, asked her to seek Lakshmana's hand. But when Lakshmana refused her she became violent, transformed herself into the witch she actually was before she had changed her form into a beautiful woman to entice Rama, and started attacking Sita. It was only at this point and circumstance that Lakshmana too turned violent. We must remember Lakshmana was absolutely devoted to Sita and his respect for her was such that he did not ever cast a look at her face but always looked at her feet while addressing her. He was therefore naturally outraged to see Sita being attacked thus and lost his sense of proportion. This episode indicates not Lakshmana’s lack of chivalry in attacking a woman, but his overwhelming determination to ensure that not the slightest hurt happens to Sita.
If Rama was the type to doubt Sita’s chastity, he would have given up on her after she was kidnapped, married another woman and settled down. But he undertook a long and eventful rescue mission. Then again, as Agnipariksha would have revealed whether Sita was chaste, Rama would not have asked her to go through the rite if he is was not certain of her chastity, as otherwise she would have been burnt to ashes and Rama’s image, which his modern day critiques say he wanted so much to protect, would have taken a beating.
When Rama and Sita went back to Ayodhya, a washerwoman’s comment about the upright King Rama reflected his subjects’ unspoken doubt about Sita’s chastity. If through many thousands of years after the characters of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha lived, the names of Sita, Sati, Savtri and many others continue to present to humanity everything that is most noble in the character of womanhood, it is, in Sita’s story, because Rama, being an Avataar who had descended from Godhood and come to reinstate Dharma on earth, exhibited to the world at large the absolute divine qualities of his consort for all times. The medium he chose to do so was the concept of chastity and the ritual of agnipareeksha.
Rama had not ‘abandoned’ her for the wild animals in the jungle, as some modern day writers seem to make out, but sent to live for a period in the Ashram of none other than Valkmiki, who was later on to write the Ramayana. If Sita had not understood who Rama was and the implications of his actions and if she had thought ill of Rama, Valkimi would have been the first to know and he would have hardly endeavoured to create the Ramayana in glory of Rama. This itself is proof that all actions of Rama was a premeditated trajectory to fulfil the goals of his avataarhood.
The events of Ramayana are certainly larger than life and timeless demonstrations of love, fidelity, honour and righteousness to stand the test of time. It has stood the test of time - for even today Rama is Purushottam (the perfect gentleman) and Sita is the perfect womanhood of devoted wife and dedicated motherhood for millions of Hindus. It was a fitting finale to the story that Sita returns to the bosom of earth, from where she had come as the child of mother earth. And Rama gave up his life in the Sarayu, on the banks of which he was born.
10:23 PM 5/Nov/07
When Rama was about to be anointed as the successor to the King, his father was forced to have a change of heart. But such was the integrity of Rama that even the one chosen to the throne in his place refused to sit on it but placed there Rama’s shoes as a token of Rama''s sovereignty. When asked to go to the forest in exile, he did not forcefully take his wife along but his wife dutifully volunteered to go along, again proving Rama''s integrity.
Surpanekha might have fallen in love with Rama but for Rama the question of marrying her did not arise. He, amused by her approach and prescient about the events about to unfold, asked her to seek Lakshmana's hand. But when Lakshmana refused her she became violent, transformed herself into the witch she actually was before she had changed her form into a beautiful woman to entice Rama, and started attacking Sita. It was only at this point and circumstance that Lakshmana too turned violent. We must remember Lakshmana was absolutely devoted to Sita and his respect for her was such that he did not ever cast a look at her face but always looked at her feet while addressing her. He was therefore naturally outraged to see Sita being attacked thus and lost his sense of proportion. This episode indicates not Lakshmana’s lack of chivalry in attacking a woman, but his overwhelming determination to ensure that not the slightest hurt happens to Sita.
If Rama was the type to doubt Sita’s chastity, he would have given up on her after she was kidnapped, married another woman and settled down. But he undertook a long and eventful rescue mission. Then again, as Agnipariksha would have revealed whether Sita was chaste, Rama would not have asked her to go through the rite if he is was not certain of her chastity, as otherwise she would have been burnt to ashes and Rama’s image, which his modern day critiques say he wanted so much to protect, would have taken a beating.
When Rama and Sita went back to Ayodhya, a washerwoman’s comment about the upright King Rama reflected his subjects’ unspoken doubt about Sita’s chastity. If through many thousands of years after the characters of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharatha lived, the names of Sita, Sati, Savtri and many others continue to present to humanity everything that is most noble in the character of womanhood, it is, in Sita’s story, because Rama, being an Avataar who had descended from Godhood and come to reinstate Dharma on earth, exhibited to the world at large the absolute divine qualities of his consort for all times. The medium he chose to do so was the concept of chastity and the ritual of agnipareeksha.
Rama had not ‘abandoned’ her for the wild animals in the jungle, as some modern day writers seem to make out, but sent to live for a period in the Ashram of none other than Valkmiki, who was later on to write the Ramayana. If Sita had not understood who Rama was and the implications of his actions and if she had thought ill of Rama, Valkimi would have been the first to know and he would have hardly endeavoured to create the Ramayana in glory of Rama. This itself is proof that all actions of Rama was a premeditated trajectory to fulfil the goals of his avataarhood.
The events of Ramayana are certainly larger than life and timeless demonstrations of love, fidelity, honour and righteousness to stand the test of time. It has stood the test of time - for even today Rama is Purushottam (the perfect gentleman) and Sita is the perfect womanhood of devoted wife and dedicated motherhood for millions of Hindus. It was a fitting finale to the story that Sita returns to the bosom of earth, from where she had come as the child of mother earth. And Rama gave up his life in the Sarayu, on the banks of which he was born.
