THINKING OF RAMAYANA AS SITAAYANA ON
SITANAVAMI DAY
[Compilation from various authors on the
subject with suitable abstracts and introduction by N.R. Srinivasan, Nashville,
TN, USA, May 2021]
I wonder why neither Valmiki nor Tulsidas thought of a title SitaAyana for their historic Epoch? Similarly Sundarakanda to be titled Hanumat Kanada? May be Sita-Rama-Ayana is better suited! Perhaps that is why Rama patronized three-striped squirrels are absent in USA, a land that reminds of Kapilaranya (California), with its nearby Horse Island and Ash Island? Sita Navami is celebrated exactly after a month on Vaisakha Sukla Navami in some parts of India. Influenced by male chauvinistic American society, Hindu Americans also do not consider this most important day as SRE day for worship!
Hindu puranas glorify five sacred women celebrities, and Sita is one among them. Hindu scripture prescribe the following sloka for morning prayer:
aAhalyaa, Draupadii, Seetaa, Taaraa, Mandodari tathaa | Panchakanyaah smaren nityam
sarva mahaapaataka naasanam ||
By
remembering the Five Pure Women Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara and Mandodari all
the great sins are wiped out or destroyed.
This sloka explains all that Hindu women stand for. Draupadi fought for her rights; Sita was ready to undergo all the hardships that her husband went for; Tara established her right by making her son Angada the next king of Kishkinda; Ahalya, a sinner, was reformed and proved that every sinner has a future; and Mandodari, a chaste woman, but married to a demon Ravana advised him to send back Sita to Rama.
Goddess Sita, is the central female character of the Hindu epic Ramayana and daughter of King Janaka of Videha. She is an avatar of Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth and wife of Vishnu. Sita is the consort of Lord Rama (avatar of Vishnu) and is revered as a paragon of spousal and feminine virtues for all Hindu women. She is renowned for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity.
Sita, symbolizes the meaning of an ideal woman, filled with loyalty for her husband. The meaning of her name is “furrow” that symbolizes the place where she was found by her father. When we hear of Sita, the first thing that strikes us is her unconditional bond of love with Lord Rama. In the face of extreme hardship, Lord Rama’s queen displays extraordinary character, founded on her pure devotion to the Lord. Rama, had to pass Shiva’s test of lifting and breaking a heavy bow, to win the right to marry Sita. Rama is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, while Sita is the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi, hence, they were born to be together connected by a string of eternal love. Sita embodies the character of an ideal woman to an ideal man, containing the right thoughts and actions.
The birth of Sita, is still a very controversial topic, open to debate amongst scholars. In Valmiki’s Ramayana, she was found in a furrow, as an abandoned child. This is the reason she is called the daughter of Mother Earth. However other potent theories that have been proposed about Sita’s birth are:
Vedavati was the daughter of sage Kushadhwaja, a learned scholar,
living in hermitage deep inside the forests. Vedavati, who lives with her
father, grows up to be a woman with ethereal beauty, and a fervent devotee of
Lord Vishnu. She thus vows not to marry anyone except the Lord himself. One
day, after her parents’ death, Ravana spots her and tries to proposition
her. She denies as usual. Ravana, getting frustrated, tries to molest her by
pulling her hair. She cuts off her hair, and cursed Ravana that she would jump
in the fire and be reborn to become the cause of his destruction. She jumps
into the fire, and enters it fearlessly. Legend has it that she was reborn as Sita,
to cause the destruction of Ravana, and by being reborn as Sita, Vedavati also
fulfills her dream of marrying Vishnu.
Yet another theory about Sita being Ravana’s daughter is a very popular one. Ravana and his wife Mandodari were childless for many years after their marriage, and when Mandodari finally becomes pregnant, an astrology prediction states that the particular child will be the cause of his obliteration from the Earth. When this child was born, Ravana threw the child into a basket, however, that child was protected by Mother Earth, and was found by King Janaka. Thus, Ravana, while lusting for Sita, and tormenting and torturing her, never even imagined in his wildest dreams, that Sita was his own daughter. Thus he committed a greater sin, than just abducting Rama’s wife, he lusted for his own daughter, giving way to incest, which is a grave sin in Hindu mythologies. The astrology therefore proved to be right as Sita’s abduction and captivity was primarily responsible for Ravana’s obliteration from the face of Earth.
When Rama was banished to the forests, for fourteen years, she willingly gave up her luxurious life at the kingdom to accompany Rama, as she believed that it was her duty to stay with her husband. Rama initially denied her, but she still persisted and accompanied him. She was so worried when Rama went alone in the forests, she sends Lakshmana to accompany him, thereby risking her life by staying alone. She successfully passed and endured the test of fire, agni pareeksha, clearing all doubts of Rama, regarding her purity, thereby also proving that she had been untouched by any other man, during her period of abduction by Ravana. At the end of the story, she again proved her purity, however this time, she vanished inside the earth, from where she had originated.
Please recall my E-mail: Let us spend More Time Out-side Interacting with Nature and be Nurtured by Nature”. This thought is inspired from the life of Sita, who came out of Earth and went back to Earth in tote.
In Valmiki’s Ramayana, Sita’s origin is depicted to be from Mother Earth itself. Thus, Sita is a part of Nature, and is shown to always be in harmony and at peace with Nature. When Rama was denying her not to accompany him to the forests, she said that she would remain happy merely by gazing at the hills, lakes and rivers. This exhibited her immense love and oneness with Mother Earth and all its natural elements. Throughout the Ramayana she has been referred to as “golden-skinned” and “doe-eyed”. The golden deer symbolizes an image of beauty and forest wildness.
The natural and scenic beauty of the forests give Sita a sense of pleasure and inner peace. The serenity of the forests makes her feel delighted and so cheerful that she would choose the simplicities of the forest life over the complexities of the life at the kingdom. She never at once regretted sacrificing the comforts of palatial life, as her inner frequencies were seamlessly in a sync with the frequencies of the forests, animals, lakes, trees, birds and rivers. Sita had a special connection with these elements of the earth. In Ramayana, when the couple is first crossing the Ganga, Sita prays to Goddess Ganga to protect Sri Rama from all the hardships of forest life. When Ravana abducts her, she calls out to all these elements of the natural world to come and rescue her. She calls upon the rivers, the animals, the trees, desperately begging to save her from the hands of the evil Ravana. The trees wept in the form of sap, as they couldn’t help Sita. Even the animals were heartbroken to see her being captured by the cruel devil. While she was being abducted, it seemed like the entire Earth went into a trance of poignancy. In all her attempts to ask Nature for help, she wakes an old vulture, Jatayu who dies fighting Ravana and drops her jewels to some monkeys, who later helped Rama in finding Sita.
Ravana tries to win over Sita in Lanka, by claiming that he loves her. However, Sita mocks Ravana by calling him a “duck meandering on the shore”, while referring to herself as a graceful swan, who will not be swayed by a crass duck. At Lanka, during her dialogues with Ravana, she is portrayed to be a fearless woman, who can fight for her moral values and devotion to her husband, and the doubts of her being a submissive and weak woman is absolutely erased. This enraged Ravana, and he gave Sita twelve months to change her mind, and sends her to a grove of Ashoka trees, where she was tortured by cruel and filthy women. In spite of all this bad treatment, Sita was calm both outside and inside. Her soul was still in absolute harmony, and this harmony with nature gave her the tolerance and resistance to face the terror of Ravana and his fellow demons. She constantly tells Ravana to give up even shimmer of hope that she would give in to him, as his intentions were evil and actions perverse, and that she is inseparable from Rama as sunlight is from the Sun. Her unequivocal devotion for Rama had been derived from her oneness, harmony, inner peace and stability with Nature. Nature gave her the strength to tolerate her stay at Lanka. Nature gave her the self-belief that Rama would vanquish Ravana and rescue her from that unholy kingdom, replete with devils, filled with cruel intentions.
It is this inner harmony that breeds other good qualities of Sita. We see her extreme forgiveness, when she pardons all the female guards, when Hanuman offered to kill them. She understood that what they did was a consequence of Ravana’s orders. She is also very generous, when it comes to gratitude. She willingly gifts Hanuman the necklace that Rama gave her, as a token of appreciation of all the help that that he and his army provided to Rama to rescue her back. Her generosity is also highlighted when she asks the wives of all the monkey warriors to accompany them back to Ayodhya, to participate in the grand celebrations there with them.
To celebrate the birth of Goddess Sita, devotees place symbols of a plough and Goddess Earth in front of the idols of Rama, Sita, King Janaka and Mata Sunayana. Sita Navami puja is then performed using rice, sesame and barley as offerings. Sita Navami is celebrated with fervor and gaiety all over India and people seek blessings from Sita Devi for happiness and long life of their spouse. Worshipping Lord Rama and Sita together brings peace, harmony and happiness in marriage. Many women also observe fast with purity, devotion and faith which inspire qualities like sacrifice, modesty, motherhood and dedication that we need.
For many Hindus, the name Sita conjures up an image of a chaste woman, the 'Ideal Woman.' The chaste ideal becomes negative, especially in the Bollywood portrayal, when she is shown as victimized and oppressed. She obeyed her husband's commands, followed him, remained faithful to him, served her in-laws or yielded to parental authority, had to prove her innocence, raised her children alone, and generally did her duty whether she wanted to or not.
Many modern women see in Sita, a more liberated woman, the cherished wife of Rama, who lived a complicated, honorable life that many a modern woman could relate to. She was outspoken, had the freedom to express herself, asserted herself whenever she wanted to get her way, fell for the temptation of the golden deer, spoke harsh words, repented it, loved her husband, was faithful to him, served her family, did not get seduced by the glamour and material objects in her abductor's palace, faced an upset, agitated and suspicious husband, tried to appease him, reconciled her marriage, later accepted her separation, raised well-balanced children as a single mother, and then moved on.
Sita revealed her greatness wherever she was placed. This is not a greatness free from human weakness and upset, full of divine protective forces. On the contrary, the great characters reveal their strength in the form of truth, sincerity, self-sacrifice, and other virtues. Sita’s greatness stands out for her ability to remain true to her principles in spite of terrors and temptations, perhaps more than any other character in the Ramayana, except possibly Rama. But it is not that Sita did not cry or complain. She was a real woman, not a stone or a wall with no outside expression of her inner workings. Hers was the special capacity, amidst the wailing and complaints, to use her discrimination and to face her challenges in a dignified manner.
In the Ramayana, in the case of almost every great woman character, the initial stroke of calamity from outside or the surging up of greed from within did produce desperation. But eventually, every woman regained her balance, very slowly in some cases, but steadily until at last she transformed and reached the highest levels of consciousness that mankind or womankind could ever manifest under similar circumstances, through forgiveness, peace, fortitude, and wisdom.
In our society today, separation, divorce, and single parenthood are increasing realities. The Ramayana, written thousands of years ago, dealt with those issues. Sita was a single mother, unofficially divorced. Though unhappy with the separation from her husband, she taught her children to respect their father. She did not teach them hate and vengeance. No one could say her children came from broken homes or that they were affected by that fact in any way. Rama did not attempt to have their custody so he could bring them up in a manner befitting their social obligations. He knew that in the hermitage Sita would ensure they were raised to be future kings. In our society, we see men and women fighting with each other and using their children as weapons.
Sita and Ram’s story holds a
lesson for modern society of a better path
Sita did not see herself as a victim. If she had, she would have
gone back to face Rama and demanded her equal rights, as perhaps Draupadi (the
main female character in another Hindu epic, the Mahabharata) would have done.
Sita was not a docile character, though she was an unhappy person. For her, it
was the loss of a husband who had loved and cherished her once. She understood
the struggle between the king and her husband and rose above the situation.
Once her children were accepted by the people and by their father, Rama, as the
future heirs, she did not have to prove herself publicly. So she ended her
story. Her role as a mother and a wife was completed.
The Ramayana is a story of the struggle to overcome
difficulties and the tough choices the characters made in keeping with dharma,
the socially accepted ideals of that time. By emphasizing the qualities of
strength and courage in the stories, we can change the contemporary societal
perspective of Hindu women who are seeking strong role models, as these
characters serve as an inner moral compass. Social justice will then have more
meaning then to be an explicit part of the Diwali celebration around the
world.
Many people in
India find it difficult to justify or reconcile themselves to the fact that in
a culture which worships Saraswati as the Goddess of Learning, so many girls
are deprived of even primary education; in a culture which worships Lakshmi as
the Goddess of Wealth, so many modern-day Lakshmis live a slavish life of
economic dependence; in a culture where male Gods have had to appeal for
perfection to the feminine Shakti, women among many communities are not allowed
to venture out of their domestic confines without male protection.
This bewilderment and guilt has compelled numerous people to pick up cudgels on
behalf of women, throwing up important social movements. It is noteworthy that
a majority of women's rights struggles and movements in modern India have been
often initiated, led and sustained by men. Please go through the attached
article by Madhu Kishwar: The
Power of Mother Sita in Modern India.
--Opinions of Various authors on the subject
APPendix
The Power of Mother Sita in Modern
India
[Sharad Joshi's 1980 campaign for
women's empowerment did not discard, but rather drew upon India's great legacy
of Hindu Gods and Their lives]
Madhu Kishwar, New Delhi
Many
people in India find it difficult to justify or reconcile themselves to the
fact that in a culture which worships Saraswati as the Goddess of Learning, so
many girls are deprived of even primary education; in a culture which worships
Lakshmi as the Goddess of Wealth, so many modern-day Lakshmis live a slavish
life of economic dependence; in a culture where male Gods have had to appeal
for perfection to the feminine Shakti, women among many communities are not
allowed to venture out of their domestic confines without male protection. This bewilderment and guilt has
compelled numerous people to pick up cudgels on behalf of women, throwing up
important social movements. It is noteworthy that a majority of women's rights
struggles and movements in modern India have been often initiated, led and
sustained by men.
In
the nineteenth century, considered by many as a period of severe erosion of
women's rights in India, Vidyasagar in Bengal, Ranade and Phule in Maharashtra,
Veerasalingam in Andhra, Lala Devraj in Punjab and a host of others committed
their entire lives to the cause of women. In the writings of these social
reformers, cutting across regional and caste boundaries, woman as the wronged
matri shakti, is a recurring metaphor. A good part of their efforts went into
convincing other men that Indian society could not make progress as long as
their partners stayed oppressed, that the country's freedom could not be won as
long as women were denied their rightful due in the family and in society. To
women, their message was that they should recognize their own feminine shakti
and become modern-day Durgas without, of course, losing Sita's nurturing
qualities.
Sita
is considered a very negative role model, the hallmark of wifely slavery for
most of those who consider themselves progressives and feminists. Her suffering
is seen as a product of masochism, lack of selfhood and supine surrender to
patriarchy. Many Indian "modernists" see Sita as an adversary whose
influence among people is to be countered. The association of the feminine with
nurturing mother figures is seen as a patriarchal conspiracy to put women in
restrictive and self-effacing roles.
Needless
to say, this projection is altogether contrary to the popular perception of
Sita. The Ramayana tells the story of a whole spectrum of voluntary sacrifices
and hardships endured by most of the main characters in their resolve to adhere
to their dharmic codes. However, it is Sita's sacrifices, and the raw deal
meted out to her, that loom much larger in the Indian consciousness than the
hardships undergone by any of the other characters in the epic. Sita emerges as
the final moral touchstone of the story. Her pain and sorrow hang heavily on
the collective consciousness of the Indian people like that of no other
character, divine or mortal.
Sita
short-changed: The popular obsession with Sita's
predicament is rooted in the three episodes after her liberation from Ravana's
captivity: her agnipariksha (ordeal by fire), her later banishment by Rama and,
in the end, Rama's demand for a second fire-ordeal, which she rejects through
an appeal to her mother, Prithvi (Goddess Earth), to receive her back into Her
womb. These episodes, as depicted in the Valmiki Ramayana, have disturbed
devotees and non-devotees alike throughout the centuries. Rama's treatment of
Sita, in the latter parts of the Ramayana, remains immensely controversial and
has provoked innumerable attempts by successive generations to critique and
rework their relationship. From Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti to Kamban, Tulsidas and
contemporary writers such as Bharat Bhushan Agarwal and Maithili Sharan Gupta
authors have challenged Rama's behavior towards Sita or have attempted to
reform Rama to make him prove himself a more worthy husband for her.
Who
is to blame? This obsession with reforming
Rama has to do with the popular perception of Sita as perfection incarnate, so
much so that even Maryada Purushottam Rama, the Divinely Perfect Rama, does not
measure up to her. Sita is seen as flawless, despite the fact that she brings
about trouble for everyone by crossing the magic circle of protection around
her forest hut. In this projection, people have voluntarily glossed over those
few occasions when Sita behaves unreasonably as in her castigation of Lakshmana,
accusing him of lustful intentions towards her at the time he refuses to follow
her dictates and go to help Rama in the forest.
Whereas
feminists interpret Sita's offer to undergo agnipariksha as an act of surrender
to the whims of an unreasonable husband, in popular perception it is seen as an
act of defiance that challenges her husband's aspersions. Sita emerges as a
woman that even Agni, the Fire God--who has the power to destroy everything He
touches--does not dare harm.
My
assessment is that while no one in India feels offended if Rama is asked to
improve, reform and change some of his anti-women notions, people unencumbered
by "isms " are not enthusiastic about Sita being subjected to
"improvements " which make her behave altogether out of character. Politically
inspired attempts to make Sita lose the very qualities that make her Sita are
resented or simply dismissed by those who have some roots in their culture and
tradition.
Sita
as ally: If we want people to gracefully yield space for our newly
acquired ideologies, we have to learn to be tolerant and respectful of those
they already hold. There is no need to treat our traditional Gods and Goddesses
as adversaries, especially considering that they are willing to come a long way
to support our causes. At the heart of this controversy between these two
opposing approaches to social and religious reform is the key question: How do
we relate to our cultural heritage and define our relationship to our own
people and the values they cherish?
Do
we disown tradition and position ourselves outside it, or do we accept it as
our own, in the way we accept our gene stock? Owning up to our traditions does
not imply subscribing to every one of their pathological norms and endorsing
harmful practices. It simply means learning to distinguish between inherently
unjust practices and those that one doesn't like because one has adopted a
different value framework.
Social
reformers can be effective only when people see them as caring insiders who
have stood by them in their various trials and tribulations. But if we descend
as attacking outsiders, focusing solely on practices we disapprove of, we will
not make much of a dent. Only by creating a shared sense of right and wrong
with the people whose lives we wish to change for the better can we create a
new social consensus for a more just and humane society within our respective
communities.
Mahatma
Gandhi was among the most creative reformers who instinctively understood the
creative potential of many of our traditions and values. For example, he used
the Sita symbol to advocate the idea of women's strength, autonomy and ability
to protect themselves rather than depend on men for safety. His Sita was like a
"lioness in spirit " before which Ravana became "as helpless as
a goat." For the protection of her virtues even in Ravana's custody, she
did not "need the assistance of Rama." Her own purity was her sole
shield.
Gandhi's
Sita became a symbol of swadeshi or the decolonization of the Indian economy.
He asked the women of India to follow her example by wearing Indian homespun
and boycotting foreign fineries because Gandhi's Sita would have never worn
imported fabric. Gandhi wanted to create a whole army of new Sitas who were not
brought up to think that a woman "was well only with her husband or on the
funeral pyre." He wanted them to stop aspiring to be mere wives and
instead become leaders of men, teaching them the message of peace and social
harmony.
Even
those who are put off by Gandhi's use of Hindu religious symbols for political
mobilization and who have problems with many of his views on women and
sexuality do not deny that, more than any other modern leader, he helped create
a favorable atmosphere for women's large scale and respectful entry into public
life. Gandhi's moral backing legitimized women's right to hold political office
without having to wage long-drawn battles, like the Suffragists in the West had
to do to. His Sitas were encouraged to break the shackles of domesticity, to
come out of purdah, to lead political movements and teach the art of peace to
this warring world.
Joshi's
movement: In recent years, the Shetkari Sangathana leader Sharad
Joshi also used the Sita symbol to drive home a radical message of gender
justice among the farmers of Maharashtra. It was in 1986 that I was first
invited to come and work out a program of action for the Shetkari Sangathana's
women's front, the Shetkari Mahila Aghadi. An important outcome of my inputs
and interactions with the Mahila Aghadi was the Lakshmi Mukti Karyakram. That
is, the program for Liberating Lakshmis--the Goddesses of wealth. Sita is
believed to be an incarnation of Lakshmi. An ordinary wife is also referred to
as a Lakshmi of the household--a grihalakshmi. The Lakshmi Mukti Karyakram
revolved around the idea that the peasantry could not get a fair deal for
itself and would remain exploited by urban interests as long as the curse of
Mother Sita stayed on them, that is, as long as they kept their wives or
grihalakshmis enslaved by keeping them economically dependent and powerless in
the family. The Sangathana announced in 1989 that any village in which a
hundred or more families transferred, of their own accord, a piece of land to
the wife's name would be honored as a Lakshmi Mukti Gaon, a village which had
liberated its hitherto enslaved Lakshmis.
This
campaign became the real turning point in my understanding of the powerful
emotional hold of certain traditional symbols on the psyches of people of all
ages and varied communities in India. During the campaign tours, while I would
use images and examples from contemporary life, Sharad Joshi's speeches
revolved around the Sita story, which seems to have played a crucial role in
striking a deep emotional chord among the Sangathana followers. I quote from
his very evocative speech which first establishes a link between the daily
privations, drudgery and acts of loyalty of the wives of ordinary, poor farmers
and the privations suffered by Sita in Valmiki Ramayana:
"During
our struggle for remunerative prices I taught you to calculate the cost of
production of farm produce and asked you to get into the habit of noting down
each and every item of agricultural work and the cost involved. I would now
suggest another exercise: On an off day, just sit down in a quiet corner of your
house and start noting down on a long sheet of paper the various tasks your
Lakshmi performs from as early as five in the morning to late at night: feeding
the cattle, followed by all the chores required for the upkeep of the house and
its surroundings, cooking, fetching water, and the care of children. All these
by themselves represent a full day's work. But she goes on non-stop.
"After
completing housework, she goes to the fields and, at the end of a back-breaking
day of work, on her way back home, she tries to scrounge around and collect
anything that can be used as firewood for the evening meal. Then she follows
with a second round of tasks--cooking the evening meal, looking after little
children, feeding the animals and tending to the needs of other family members
including the old and sick. From the time she wakes up to feed the cattle to
the time she lays down to sleep, she has probably put in no less than 15 hours
of work. How do you calculate in rupee terms the love, care and affection that
she puts into all these tasks? How do you put a money value on the services of
a person who saves the honor of the family by going and stealthily borrowing
milk or sugar from the neighbors so she can provide tea for your guests who
come at an unexpected hour at a time when the house does not have those
provisions? Let us put the value of all these acts of loyalty and love at zero.
But shouldn't she get at least as much money as a person working for the
Employment Guarantee Scheme gets for simply moving earth from one place to
another?
"Let
us figure out the value of her labor on the basis of a minimum wage of 12
rupees per day [then us$1]. She works 365 days a year. Let us say she has been
married to you for 20 years. Given that she has worked 365 days a year for 20
years, the amount comes to more than 160,000 rupees [$12,700]. She has never
tried to demand this amount you owe her, nor sent a notice with a jeep load of
people to come, seize and take away your household utensils as the bank
officials do when you owe much smaller amounts as agricultural loans to
government banks. On the contrary, to save you from other creditors, remember
how often she even sold off the little bit of jewellery she was wearing? If we
calculate the total, along with the interest, it comes to a minimum of 400,000
rupees [$31,700]. What have you given her in return? Two saris for a whole year
and that, too, forgotten if there is a drought. No guarantee of even adequate
food. If there is not enough food in the house, the husband's share is not
reduced. And a mother will hardly snatch food away from her own children's
mouths. She makes do with whatever is left over--a half or a quarter chapati
and fills the rest of her stomach by drinking water. This has been her fate so
far."
Having
thus established the credentials of their wives as no less self-effacing than
Sita Mata herself, Joshi goes on to show them that they are emulating a very
negative role model and being as ungrateful and uncaring as was Rama:
"That
this situation is not new is certain. But how and when did it start? Prabhu
Ramchandra is considered a purushottam, the ideal human. But think of how he
treated Sita Mata, who joyfully embraced exile in the forest for 14 years to be
with him. As soon as Rama was appointed as king, he decided to cast her off. It
is not necessary for us to get into a debate on whether it was right or not for
Rama to give up Sita. But was it not necessary for him to at least take the
trouble of explaining to Sita why, as a king, he was compelled to abandon her?
He could have assured her that she need not lack anything after his parting
company with her, that she could continue living respectably in Ayodhya. Better
still, Rama should have told his subjects: 'If she is not good enough for you
as a queen, I will go along with her.' After all that is what she had done when
Rama was banished by Kaikeyi who had told Sita she could continue living in the
palace. But Sita had said, 'Jithe Rama, tithe Sita'; [ "Wherever Ram goes,
there goes Sita "]. Even if Rama was not ready to leave his kingship for
her, surely there were less cruel ways to deal with the situation. Sita was
pregnant at that time. If Rama had provided her a small straw hut till the time
of her delivery, he would not have lost any of his greatness by doing so."
Joshi
then links the story to an architectural relic which stands as testimony to the
injustice done to Sita in popular imagination: "There is a Sita temple at
Raveri village of Maharashtra. The villagers in that area tell you that Sita
Mata delivered her two sons on that very spot. She was in such a destitute
condition that she went begging for a handful of grains. The people of village
Raveri spurned her and refused to give her any. Sita Mata cursed them in her
grief. Such was the power of that curse that not a grain of wheat would grow in
that village for centuries (until the arrival of the hybrid variety), even
though the neighboring villages produced plentiful harvests of wheat. In other
words, the poverty of Indian farmers will not go away unless they get rid of
the curse of Mother Sita by atoning for the misdeed of Rama. They can do so by
repaying their debt to their own Lakshmis and free themselves of her curses.
After all the husband of a slave cannot be a free man."
Sharad
Joshi would conclude his speech by saying that the purpose of the Lakshmi Mukti
campaign was to see that no modern-day Sita would ever have to suffer the fate
of Rama's Sita because she had nothing to call her own, no house or property of
her own. By transferring land to their wives, they were paying off "a long
overdue debt " to Mother Sita: "Through this gesture you, my farmer
brothers, will be vanquishing that monster of male tyranny which even Prabhu
Ram could not vanquish though he slayed a greater warrior like Ravana with
ease."
This
is indeed a hard-hitting critique of Bhagwan Rama, and yet no one seemed to
mind because Joshi was drawing upon popular sentiment on this issue even while
putting it far more strongly. In village after village, I saw men reduced to
tears as Sharad Joshi retold the story of Sita, adapting it movingly to the
context of the campaign. Within a couple of years, hundreds of villages had
already been honored as Lakshmi Mukti villages and hundreds more had volunteered
to carry out Lakshmi Mukti. Most of the villages that carried out Lakshmi Mukti
celebrated it as though it were a big festival. We would find the entire
village decorated with buntings, balloons and rangoli (colored floor designs).
We would be received with women performing aratis (worship with oil lamps)
while men danced to the beat of celebratory drums. Men seemed even more elated
than women--some of the men I interviewed described the whole campaign as a
mahayagna, a great religious sacrifice.
For
as long as it lasted, this unique campaign was able to draw deep emotional
response because Mother Sita has the power to guilt-trip the most hard-hearted
Hindu men to respond to her plea for justice. Needless to say, this campaign
for women's economic rights could take off in rural Maharashtra in large part
due to Joshi's charisma and credibility as a leader. However, as the Sangathana
gravitated more and more towards electoral politics, it lost a good deal of its
power to evoke similar enthusiasm for such nonpartisan, moral causes. Is it
because, while people in India have let Lord Rama be dragged into the murkiness
of electoral politics, they do not want Mother Sita to be used for such narrow
purposes?
Madhu
Kishwar, New Delhi, is editor of Manushi,
India's leading magazine on human issues, especially women's rights. This essay
is a revised version of excerpts from two essays in Manushi--A Journal about
Women and Society published from Delhi since 1978: "Of Humans and Divines,
Female Moral Exemplars in the Hindu Tradition, " issue 136 of 2003, and
"Yes to Sita, No to Ram: The Continuing Hold of Sita on Popular
Imagination, " issue 98 of 1997. Both these issues and subscriptions to
Manushi can be ordered from Manushi, C1/3 Sangam Estate, 1 Underhill Road,
Civil Lines, Delhi 110054 India. E-mail Manushi@nda.vsnl.net.in
peace with Nature. When Rama was
denying her not to accompany him to the forests, she said that she would remain
happy merely by gazing at the hills, lakes and rivers. This exhibited her
immense love and oneness with Mother Earth and all its natural elements.
Throughout the Ramayana she has been referred to as “golden-skinned” and
“doe-eyed”. The golden deer symbolizes an image of beauty and forest wildness.
The natural and scenic beauty of the
forests give Sita a sense of pleasure and inner peace. The serenity of the
forests makes her feel delighted and so cheerful that she would choose the
simplicities of the forest life over the complexities of the life at the
kingdom. She never at once regretted sacrificing the comforts of palatial life,
as her inner frequencies were seamlessly in a sync with the frequencies of the
forests, animals, lakes, trees, birds and rivers. Sita had a special connection
with these elements of the earth. In Ramayana, when the couple is first
crossing the Ganga, Sita prays to Goddess Ganga to protect Sri
Rama from all the hardships of forest life. When Ravana abducts her, she calls
out to all these elements of the natural world to come and rescue her. She
calls upon the rivers, the animals, the trees, desperately begging to save her
from the hands of the evil Ravana. The trees wept in the form of sap, as they
couldn’t help Sita. Even the animals were heartbroken to see her being captured
by the cruel devil. While she was being abducted, it seemed like the entire
Earth went into a trance of poignancy. In all her attempts to ask Nature for
help, she wakes an old vulture, Jatayu who dies fighting Ravana and drops her
jewels to some monkeys, who later helped Rama in finding Sita.
Ravana tries to win over Sita in Lanka,
by claiming that he loves her. However, Sita mocks Ravana by calling him a
“duck meandering on the shore”, while referring to herself as a graceful swan,
who will not be swayed by a crass duck. At Lanka, during her dialogues with
Ravana, she is portrayed to be a fearless woman, who can fight for her moral
values and devotion to her husband, and the doubts of her being a submissive
and weak woman is absolutely erased. This enraged Ravana, and he gave Sita
twelve months to change her mind, and sends her to a grove of Ashoka trees,
where she was tortured by cruel and filthy women. In spite of all this bad
treatment, Sita was calm both outside and inside. Her soul was still in
absolute harmony, and this harmony with nature gave her the tolerance and
resistance to face the terror of Ravana and his fellow demons. She constantly
tells Ravana to give up even shimmer of hope that she would give in to him, as
his intentions were evil and actions perverse, and that she is inseparable from
Rama as sunlight is from the Sun. Her unequivocal devotion for Rama had been
derived from her oneness, harmony, inner peace and stability with Nature.
Nature gave her the strength to tolerate her stay at Lanka. Nature gave her the
self-belief that Rama would vanquish Ravana and rescue her from that unholy
kingdom, replete with devils, filled with cruel intentions.
It is this inner harmony that breeds
other good qualities of Sita. We see her extreme forgiveness, when she pardons
all the female guards, when Hanuman offered to kill them. She
understood that what they did was a consequence of Ravana’s orders. She is also
very generous, when it comes to gratitude. She willingly gifts Hanuman the necklace that Rama gave her,
as a token of appreciation of all the help that that he and his army provided
to Rama to rescue her back. Her generosity is also highlighted when she asks
the wives of all the monkey warriors to accompany them back to Ayodhya, to
participate in the grand celebrations there with them.
To celebrate the birth of Goddess Sita,
devotees place symbols of a plough and Goddess Earth in front of the idols of
Rama, Sita, King Janaka and Mata Sunayana. Sita Navami puja is then performed
using rice, sesame and barley as offerings. Sita Navami is celebrated with
fervor and gaiety all over India and people seek blessings from Sita Devi for happiness and long life of
their spouse. Worshipping Lord Rama and Sita together brings peace, harmony and
happiness in marriage. Many women also observe fast with purity,
devotion and faith which inspire qualities like sacrifice, modesty, motherhood
and dedication that we need.
For many Hindus, the name Sita conjures
up an image of a chaste woman, the 'Ideal Woman.' The chaste ideal becomes
negative, especially in the Bollywood portrayal, when she is shown as
victimized and oppressed. She obeyed her husband's commands, followed him,
remained faithful to him, served her in-laws or yielded to parental authority,
had to prove her innocence, raised her children alone, and generally did her
duty whether she wanted to or not.
Many modern women see in Sita, a more liberated woman, the cherished wife of
Rama, who lived a complicated, honorable life that many a modern woman could
relate to. She was outspoken, had the freedom to express herself, asserted
herself whenever she wanted to get her way, fell for the temptation of the
golden deer, spoke harsh words, repented it, loved her husband, was faithful to
him, served her family, did not get seduced by the glamour and material objects
in her abductor's palace, faced an upset, agitated and suspicious husband,
tried to appease him, reconciled her marriage, later accepted her separation, raised
well-balanced children as a single mother, and then moved on.
Sita revealed her greatness wherever
she was placed. This is not a greatness free from human weakness and upset,
full of divine protective forces. On the contrary, the great characters reveal
their strength in the form of truth, sincerity, self-sacrifice, and other
virtues. Sita’s greatness stands out for her ability to remain true to her
principles in spite of terrors and temptations, perhaps more than any other
character in the Ramayana, except possibly Rama. But it is not that Sita did
not cry or complain. She was a real woman, not a stone or a wall with no
outside expression of her inner workings. Hers was the special capacity, amidst
the wailing and complaints, to use her discrimination and to face her
challenges in a dignified manner.
In the Ramayana, in the case of almost
every great woman character, the initial stroke of calamity from outside or the
surging up of greed from within did produce desperation. But eventually, every woman
regained her balance, very slowly in some cases, but steadily until at last she
transformed and reached the highest levels of consciousness that mankind or
womankind could ever manifest under similar circumstances, through forgiveness,
peace, fortitude, and wisdom.
In our society today, separation,
divorce, and single parenthood are increasing realities. The Ramayana, written
thousands of years ago, dealt with those issues. Sita was a single mother,
unofficially divorced. Though unhappy with the separation from her husband, she
taught her children to respect their father. She did not teach them hate and
vengeance. No one could say her children came from broken homes or that they
were affected by that fact in any way. Rama did not attempt to have their
custody so he could bring them up in a manner befitting their social
obligations. He knew that in the hermitage Sita would ensure they were raised
to be future kings. In our society, we see men and women fighting with each
other and using their children as weapons.
Sita and Ram’s story holds a lesson for
modern society of a better path.
Sita did not see herself as a victim. If she had, she would have gone back to
face Rama and demanded her equal rights, as perhaps Draupadi (the main female
character in another Hindu epic, the Mahabharata) would have done. Sita was not
a docile character, though she was an unhappy person. For her, it was the loss
of a husband who had loved and cherished her once. She understood the struggle
between the king and her husband and rose above the situation. Once her
children were accepted by the people and by their father, Rama, as the future
heirs, she did not have to prove herself publicly. So she ended her story. Her
role as a mother and a wife was completed.
The Ramayana is a story of the struggle
to overcome difficulties and the tough choices the characters made in keeping
with dharma, the socially accepted ideals of that time. By emphasizing the
qualities of strength and courage in the stories, we can change the contemporary
societal perspective of Hindu women who are seeking strong role models, as
these characters serve as an inner moral compass. Social justice will then have
more meaning then to be an explicit part of the Diwali celebration around the
world.
Many people in India find it difficult to justify or
reconcile themselves to the fact that in a culture which worships Saraswati as
the Goddess of Learning, so many girls are deprived of even primary education;
in a culture which worships Lakshmi as the Goddess of Wealth, so many
modern-day Lakshmis live a slavish life of economic dependence; in a culture
where male Gods have had to appeal for perfection to the feminine Shakti, women
among many communities are not allowed to venture out of their domestic confines
without male protection. This
bewilderment and guilt has compelled numerous people to pick up cudgels on
behalf of women, throwing up important social movements. It is noteworthy that
a majority of women's rights struggles and movements in modern India have been
often initiated, led and sustained by men. Please go through the attached
article by Madhu Kishwar: The
Power of Mother Sita in Modern India.
Sitayanam: A
Woman’s Journey of Strength
Anju
Bhargava
The Hindu culture is shaped by the
countless stories in our mythologies. These stories illustrate human existence
and emphasize good overcoming ignorance (evil). The deities are sacred
characters who personify values and bring difficult concepts to life.
Like many others in my generation, growing up, I pretty much ignored the Hindu
gods and goddesses and deities. I did not see their relevance in contemporary
life. Yet, unconsciously, they were so much a part of me. When I became an
immigrant mother I realized I needed a cultural connection with my daughter. I
also realized as a minority it was important for her to know her heritage and
be proud of it. My search for Truth and my identity as an Indian woman led me
to the Vedas, then the Puranas and now Seva (Seva, a Sanskrit word
for service is community social responsibility). I came to see these stories
through their historical context as important steps in the various stages of
human development.
I believe by taking a new look at the
stories and characters as adults, from a contemporary perspective, we can
connect with our inner archetypes and better understand how our Hindu tradition
deals with life and its changes, so beautifully. When I got divorced, at a
relatively young age, I struggled to find acceptance within the Hindu psyche in
me. Then I discovered Sita (the main female character in the epic Ramayana, a
sacred Hindu text) and looked at her with a new lens. And I found my
archetype—a single woman who raised well balanced children. In order to
discover that reality I had to peel back layers of misperception.
I see that Sita, more than any other
character, is an integral part of the Indian woman's psyche. At every stage of
an Indian woman's life, her name is invoked. I find it amazing that one great
epic written by a poet thousands of years ago has shaped and continues to shape
and reshape the thinking of an entire culture. I’m further fascinated by how
certain aspects of a character have been emphasized more than others to suit
the political and societal norms of the day. They have been understood or
misunderstood to manage relationships through control and power. Most have
focused on the negative interpretations rather than the positive.
The constant negative depiction of Sita
in Bollywood movies, such as Lajja negates the positive, empowering
archetype of Sita, so integral to a Hindu psyche. The constant negative
messaging makes her acceptance difficult for the educated, urban Sitas of
tomorrow. I believe we have to understand the deities as the flesh and blood
characters that the poet, Valmiki, was attempting to bring to life in his great
poem.
To briefly tell the story of Sita:
Princess Sita married Ram, the prince of a great kingdom, Ayodhya, after he
proved his valor. She accompanied him to the forest when he was banished for 14
years. There Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducted her and wanted to marry her.
She refused and was kept a prisoner until Ram rescued her. However, Ram asked
her to undergo a test to prove her innocence which she did. The festival of
Diwali is celebrated all over the world to welcome their return and rejoice the
good overcoming evil (ignorance). Later, to keep a democratic balance, Ram had
her taken to a hermitage. There she raised their children to be future
kings.
For many Hindus, the name Sita conjures
up an image of a chaste woman, the 'Ideal Woman.' The chaste ideal becomes
negative, especially in the Bollywood portrayal, when she is shown as
victimized and oppressed. She obeyed her husband's commands, followed him,
remained faithful to him, served her in-laws or yielded to parental authority,
had to prove her innocence, raised her children alone, and generally did her
duty whether she wanted to or not.
Yet, there are others, like me, who see
a more liberated Sita, the cherished wife of Ram, who lived a complicated,
honorable life that many a modern woman could relate to. She was outspoken, had
the freedom to express herself, asserted herself whenever she wanted to get her
way, fell for the temptation of the golden deer, spoke harsh words, repented
it, loved her husband, was faithful to him, served her family, did not get
seduced by the glamour and material objects in her abductor's palace, faced an
angry and suspicious husband, tried to appease him, reconciled her marriage,
later accepted her separation, raised well-balanced children as a single
mother, and then moved on.
To me Sita revealed her greatness
wherever she was placed. This is not a greatness free from human weakness and
upset, full of divine protective forces. On the contrary, the great characters
reveal their strength in the form of truth, sincerity, self-sacrifice, and
other virtues. Sita’s greatness stands out for her ability to remain true to
her principles in spite of terrors and temptations, perhaps more than any other
character in the Ramayana, except possibly Rama. But it is not that Sita did
not cry or complain. She was a real woman, not a stone or a wall with no
outside expression of her inner workings. Hers was the special capacity, amidst
the wailing and complaints, to use her discrimination and to face her
challenges in a dignified manner.
In the Ramayana, in the case of almost
every great woman character, the initial stroke of calamity from outside or the
surging up of greed from within did produce desperation. But eventually, every
woman regained her balance, very slowly in some cases, but steadily until at
last she transformed and reached the highest levels of consciousness that
mankind or womankind could ever manifest under similar circumstances, through
forgiveness, peace, fortitude, and wisdom.
In our society today, separation,
divorce, and single parenthood are increasing realities. The Ramayana, written
thousands of years ago, dealt with those issues. Sita was a single mother,
unofficially divorced. Though unhappy with the separation from her husband, she
taught her children to respect their father. She did not teach them hate and
vengeance. No one could say her children came from broken homes or that they
were affected by that fact in any way. Rama did not attempt to have their
custody so he could bring them up in a manner befitting their social
obligations. He knew that in the hermitage Sita would ensure they were raised
to be future kings. In our society, we see men and women fighting with each
other and using their children as weapons. Sita and Ram’s story holds a lesson
for modern society of a better path.
I feel Sita did not see herself as a victim. If she had, she would have gone
back to face Rama and demanded her equal rights, as perhaps Draupadi (the main
female character in another Hindu epic, the Mahabharata) would have done. Sita
was not a docile character, though she was an unhappy person. For her, it was
the loss of a husband who had loved and cherished her once. She understood the
struggle between the king and her husband and rose above the situation. Once
her children were accepted by the people and by their father, Rama, as the
future heirs, she did not have to prove herself publicly. So she ended her
story. Her role as a mother and a wife was completed.
The Ramayana to me is a story of the struggle to overcome difficulties and the
tough choices the characters made in keeping with dharma, the socially accepted
ideals of that time. And I believe by emphasizing the qualities of strength and
courage in the stories, we can change the contemporary societal perspective of
Hindu women who are seeking strong role models, as these characters serve as an
inner moral compass. Social justice will then be an explicit part of the Diwali
celebration around the world
-
Spokeswoman from Berkley Center for Religion, Peace &
World Affairs
Oprice
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