The exile of Sita is an event described in the Uttara Kanda chapter in the Ramayana. However, many scholars believes that it is not a part of original epic, but a later interpretation in it. This section of epic goes in detail, after the coronation of Rama and Sita as king and queen of Ayodhya. Rama raises suspicion of his wife Sita, and sent her into exile and revoking her title of queen, despite being pure, and birth of his twin sons, Lava and Kusha. This particular event is an important period in the life of Sita.[1][2]
Background
editCoronation of Sita and downfall
editIn the Uttara Kanda, following their return to Ayodhya, Rama was crowned as the king with Sita by his side.[3] While Rama's trust and affection for Sita never wavered, it soon became evident that some people in Ayodhya could not accept Sita's long captivity under Ravana. During Rama's period of rule, 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". The common folk started gossiping about Sita and questioned Ram's decision to make her queen. Rama was extremely distraught on hearing the news, but finally told Lakshmana that as a king, he had to make his citizens pleased and the purity of the queen of Ayodhya has to be above any gossip and rumour. With a heavy heart, he instructed him to take Sita to a forest outside Ayodhya and leave her there.[4]
Exile and Vanishing into Earth
editThus Sita was forced into exile a second time. Sita, who was pregnant, was given refuge in the hermitage of Valmiki, where she delivered twin sons named Kusha and Lava.[5] In the hermitage, Sita raised her sons alone, as a single mother.[6] 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 Bhūmi. Hearing her plea for release from an unjust world and from a life that had rarely been happy, the Earth dramatically split open; Bhūmi appeared and took Sita away.
According to the Padma-puran, Sita's exile during her pregnancy was because of a curse during her childhood.[7] Sita had caught a pair of divine parrots, which were from Valmiki's ashram, when she was young. The birds were talking about a story of Sri Ram heard in Valmiki's ashram, which intrigued Sita. She has the ability to talk with animals. The female bird was pregnant at that time. She requested Sita to let them go, but Sita only allowed her male companion to fly away, and the female parrot died because of the separation from her companion. As a result, the male bird cursed Sita that she would suffer a similar fate of being separated from her husband during pregnancy. The male bird was reborn as the washerman.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Ramashraya Sharma (1986). A Socio-political Study of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-81-208-0078-6.
- ^ Gregory Claeys (2010). The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 240–241. ISBN 978-1-139-82842-0.
- ^ Gregory Claeys (2010). The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Cambridge University Press. pp. 240–241. ISBN 978-1-139-82842-0.
- ^ Cakrabartī, Bishṇupada (2006). The Penguin Companion to the Ramayana. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-310046-1. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ Swami Parmeshwaranand (1 January 2001). Encyclopaedic Dictionaries of Puranas. Sarup & Sons. pp. 1210–1220. ISBN 978-81-7625-226-3. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- ^ Bhargava, Anju P. "Contemporary Influence of Sita by". The Infinity Foundation. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- ^ "Padma-puran pdf file" (PDF). 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ "Uttara Kanda of Ramayana was edited during 5th century BCE - Puranas". BooksFact - Ancient Knowledge & Wisdom. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.