Week 5 Story: Rama's trust in Sita

 

Rama and Sita Source: Flickr

    

    After a long and arduous battle, Rama has finally defeated Ravana. Rama's journey to defeat Ravana and retake his wife, Sita has left him weary. He could not wait to see his wife Sita as soon as possible. However, as brilliant as he was, he could not help but have the tiniest suspicion towards Sita's purity. Rama thought to himself, 'I trust Sita of course, but how could such a weak woman resist against a mighty warrior like Ravana? How can I face my subjects if she is impure? I cannot abandon Sita, but I also cannot abandon my people.' So, Rama came to a decision to have Sita prove her purity. 

    When Sita was brought to Rama from her prison, Rama coldly said to her, "Sita, you must prove your purity through the Trial of Fire. I do not doubt your virtue, but Ravana is a great warrior who can easily overwhelm any being he wished. You must prove that you were not overwhelmed and that you kept your purity through your sheer force of will." Sita easily agreed to Rama's suggestion. She was a very intelligent person and she knew why Rama was acting as such. Of course, it would be a lie to say that she was not a bit hurt by how cold Rama had treated her. However, she knew that she was pure and this was a good time to get rid of any future mistakes. 

    As expected, Sita completed the trial with flying colors and proved her purity and virtue. After her trial, Rama was finally able to talk to Sita alone without the scrutinizing eyes of his subjects. Rama said to her, "I am sorry for having you go through that Sita. Truthfully, I have had the tiniest doubt. However, I would have taken you in as my wife regardless of the result. I would have given up my throne to my brothers and left to live peacefully with you elsewhere. Now I can ascend to my rightful place without worry and give you the life of luxury that you deserve." 

    Rama and Sita returned to Ayodhya and started ruling their kingdom together. Sita quickly became pregnant upon their return and this was a joyful occasion. However, despite Sita's innocence proven, there were hushed voices gossiping about her. Some citizens doubted her purity and thought that her children might be Ravana's. These gossips could not be contained and quickly reached the ears of Rama and Sita. Rama was enraged by the gossips and thought carefully about what to do. Some of his advisers, the so-called wise brahmins asked him to exile Sita to secure his throne and to rule his people with a clear conscience. However, Rama struck down the brahmins who made such suggestions and came to a decision. He sent out people to find out the origin of these rumors and arrested the people who spread such malicious rumors. Then he sent out a notice to the people that such gossips and doubts would not have spread so far if his subjects were as pure and virtuous as his wife Sita. He was determined to not wrong Sita again and this quelled the ridiculous gossip and set Rama up as a stern ruler who set precedence for magnanimity and trust towards one's wife.

Bibliography

Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914).

Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Author's Notes

    The most controversial part of the Ramayana story as well as the one that stood out to me most was the story of Sita. In the original story, Sita proved her purity quickly upon being rescued, but had to be exiled again as a result of Rama's subjects not believer her purity. And if this wasn't enough, Rama, upon going to visit her again after 11 years of exile, asked her to prove her purity again in order to return with him. It said in the story that she used this trial to return to mother earth's womb. I somewhat thought that if the so called trials were set to test virginity and Sita had children with Rama, wasn't this second trial set to fail anyways? There were a lot of questions and weird parts about this story and it was very far from the image of Rama that I had in my mind. Thus, I decided to write my own edition of the story where Rama is more rational. I didn't think that his initial bit of doubt was unjustified. As someone who will rule and so set on setting a good example, the first trial could be seen as unjust to Sita but somewhat necessary. However, exiling Sita after all that they've gone through then asking her to do the trial again made me very upset. So in this story, Sita never goes into exile and the gossiping citizens who doubts Sita's purity is arrested.