Sita

"The well-known Sanskrit hymn that defines the Panchakanyas (five iconic heroines of Hindu epics) runs:"

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: ahalyā draupadī sītā tārā mandodarī tathā । pañcakanyāḥ smarennityaṃ mahāpātakanāśinī॥"

"English translation: Ahalya, Draupadi, Sita, Tara and Mandodari One should forever remember the Panchakanya who are the destroyers of great sins."

"Sita is an integral part of our psyche. At every stage of an Indian woman's life her name is invoked. Certain aspects of a character have been emphasized more than others to suit the political and societal norms of the day. Most have focused on the negative interpretations of Sita, not the positive. Ramayan is rarely understood as Ramcharitramanas, a character study of humans and emotions. In a world where the role of women is still being redefined Sita's character teaches us valuable lessons for the contemporary society."

"For many immigrant women, the name, Sita, conjures up an image of a chaste pati vrata [dutiful wife] woman, the ideal woman. Some see her as victimized and oppressed who obeyed her husband's commands, followed him, remained faithful to him, served her in-laws or yielded to parental authority, generally did her duty whether she wanted to or not. Yet, there are others who see a more liberated Sita, a cherished wife of Ram. She was outspoken, had the freedom to express herself, said what she wanted to in order to get her way, fell for the temptation of the golden deer, spoke harsh words, repented for it, loved her husband, was faithful to him, served her family, did not get seduced by the glamour and material objects in Ravana'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."

"The poem [Ramayan] describes the royal birth of Rama in the kingdom of Ayodhya (Oudh), his tutelage under the sage Vishvamitra, and his success in bending Shiva’s mighty bow at the bridegroom tournament of Sita, the daughter of King Janaka, thus winning her for his wife. After Rama is banished from his position as heir by an intrigue, he retreats to the forest with his wife and his favourite half brother, Lakshmana, to spend 14 years in exile. There Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, carries off Sita to his capital, while her two protectors are busy pursuing a golden deer sent to the forest to mislead them. Sita resolutely rejects Ravana’s attentions, and Rama and his brother set about to rescue her. After numerous adventures they enter into alliance with Sugriva, king of the monkeys; and with the assistance of the monkey-general Hanuman."

"Vidyavan guni ati chatur, Ram kaj karve ko atur Prabhu charitra sunve ko rasiya, Ram Laklian Sita man basiya"

"Meaning: You are greatly learned, virtuous and supremely intelligent, always eager to accomplish Lord Ram's work, and take great relish in listening to the doings of your Lord (Ram). Lord Ram, Lakshmana and Sita love you so much that you always appear to be seated in the hearts."

"Sanskrit transliteration IAST: Asht siddhi navanidhi ke data, asvar dinh janki mata"

"English translation: Mother Janki (Sita) had given Hanuman a boon that he be master of all the eight adeptnesses and nine types of riches."

"Hanuman, the embodiment of devotion, brings Sita's jewels to Rama and then takes a gold ring back to her as a symbol of Rama's unflagging love, a ring given to him by Sita's father at the time of their marriage. Sita welcomes Hanuman, takes the ring and gives him one more jewel, a pearl mounted on a gold leaf that her father had tied to her hair on the day of the wedding. She refuses Hanuman’s offer to fly back to Rama, insisting he come to free her himself...Rama is able to free Sita only by securing the help of Hanuman. Hanuman, the monkey-god, son of the wind, is the bridge between the two lovers, the vehicle that helps them."

"...something of a trickster [Hanuman] but who is completely at the service of Rama, saving his life and rescuing his wife [Sita] from the evil demons."

"Grief-stricken Rama meets a tribe of vanaras whose chief Sugriva and eloquent minister Hanuman become Rama's devoted helpers in the task of rescuing the princess [Sita]. After leaping to Lanka Hanuman discovers the captive Sita surrounded by rakshasas in the Ashoka grove, but she insists on being rescued by her husband. Hanuman reports to Rama who assembles an army of Vanaras and crosses to Lanka where the final battle is fought between the heroes and the rakshasas."

"Sita, Rama and Lakshmana met the venerable ancient seer Agastya in their travels to the south. The company of the wise brings joy: seeing the three holy wanderers the yearnings of the heart are naturally fulfilled."

"Meditate with deep respect upon the teacher, upon elephant-headed Ganesha who removes obstacles, upon Lord Shiva, the ruler of the universe and his consort Mother Uma, and upon Sita, Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman. This is the way to the oracle."

"Probably no work of world literature, secular in its origin, has ever produced so profound an influence on the life and thought of people as Ramayana. The nobility and magnanimity of Rama’s character and the conjugal devotion and fidelity of his wife Sita, for a great many centuries, exercised as far-reaching moral effect as paragons for imitation among Indians."

"It is interesting to trace the origin of each cycle of legends. Ayodhya legends are of North Indian Aryan origin, while the other two Kishkinda legends of Valin, Sugriva and Hanumat, and the Lanka legend of Sita’s abduction and Ravana’s discomfiture] are South Indian Dravidian products."

"As the Ramayana seeks to extol Rama and Sita as ideals in every respect, we can from the descriptions of their forms reconstruct the ancient Indian view of personal beauty. Rama was dark and had red eyes, a round (moon-like) face, a broad chest, large arms, and shoulders similar to those of a bull, the broad chest is normally compared to that of a lion while the eyes were of the shape of lotus petals. The Ramayan shows that the concept of feminine beauty had been far subtler, and the numerous descriptions of beautiful women in the epic provides us with sufficient data on the subject. And Sita, of course is portrayed as the prettiest of them."

"Decking with flowers and marking a tilaka have been important in Indian courtship, but kissing— not the kiss on the head but on the face and the lips — is not mentioned at all in the Ramayana. The posture in which Rama and Sita were making love has been regarded in Indian art to be conventional posture of love-making."

"The first major legendary reference to Sri Lanka is found in the great Indian epic, the Ramayana (Sacred Lake of the Deeds of Rama), which was written around 500 B.C. It refers to a conquest of Lanka in 3000 B.C. by Rama, to liberate his abducted wife, Sita, from Ravana, the demon god of Lanka. It is believed that this poetic account is an indicator of the early southward expansion of Brahmanic civilization. Many place names in Sri Lanka, very especially in and around Sri Lankan cities such as Galle, and Nuvara Eliya have close resemblance and relationship with this legendary."

"One of the dramatic episodes in the Ramayana is the abduction by Ravana, the demon-king of Ceylon, of Sita, wife of Rama exiled in the forest. Rama is lured into the forest in pursuit of a deer (a demon in disguise), and his brother Lakshmana, guarding Sita, is tricked into leaving her. Ravana then appears, sweeps Sita off in his aerial chariot. A great vulture, Jatayu, tries to rescue her and though mortally wounded lives long enough to tell Rama of Sita's abduction."

"The Ramayana has a special place in India and South Asia because of the purity of Rama and Sita and their love symbolizing fidelity. The ideal of chivalry in the epic corresponds to that of Europe in the Middle Ages, for Rama is the protector of the oppressed, of widows and orphans; he is the perfect Knight valiant in face of danger, protective and tender to all women while loving Sita alone."

"The Ramayana tells the story of the deeds of Lord Ram who, having devoted himself to fighting demons, defeats in a mighty war Ravan, the demon king of Lanka (present day Sri Lanka), who had kidnapped his wife Sita."

"Hanuman said, "I know that, but the Rama form is for me. The Lord of Jânaki (Janaki is a name of Sitâ.) and the Lord of Shri (Shri is a name of Laksmi.) are the same. They are both the incarnations of the Supreme Self. Yet the lotus-eyed Rama is my all in all". This is Nishtha — knowing that all these different forms of worship are right, yet sticking to one and rejecting the others. We must not worship the others at all; we must not hate or criticize them, but respect them."

"I know that the race that produced Sita— even if it only dreamt of her— has a reverence for woman that is unmatched on earth."

"A Bhakta [Devotee] should be like Sita before Rama. He might be thrown into all kinds of difficulties. Sita did not mind her sufferings; she centered herself in Rama."

"The creative imagination of the Hindus has conceived no loftier and holier character than Sita; the literature of the world has not produced a higher ideal of womanly love, womanly truth, and womanly devotion."

"Ramayana says that when Ram returned home with Sita after destroying w:RavanaRavan, he boastfully narrated the stories of his victories to Sita. She smiled and said. "You rejoice because you have killed a Ravan with ten hands. But what shall you do with one thousand hands. Rama proudly said that he would destroy that demon too."

"This bird [Jatayu] tried to rescue Sita, when Ravan was fleeing after kidnapping her. Ravan fights him and wounds him fatally. Ram himself cremated this bird after death and sent it to heaven."

"In some temples his image [Hanuman] is set up alone standing with a mace in the right hand or sitting in a devotional posture before the images of Ram and Sita. He is considered to be the god of power and strength, who remained a celibate through his whole life."

"...when Vishnu appeared incarnated as Rama she [Lakshmi] came here as Sita."

"It is indeed funny to hear people criticize Lord Rama for giving up his beloved consort princess Sita. They know that by no means are they going to get any satisfactory answer on that question but still this type of criticism of mythology lingers on ..."

"Thus Vishnu was born as Ram and had to take the help of Hanuman to free Sita from the clutches of Ravan."

"The son of Dasaratha and Kausalya, he was a king of Ayodhya who, in the Ramayana, slew the demon Ravana that had captured his consort Sita and was upheld as a deity par excellence in respect of manhood and honour, though his subsequent treatment of his wife might be treated as cavali."

"Innumerable temples are scattered all over India having the images or Ram, his younger brother Lakshman and his consort, Sita."

"Sītā, the Ideal Wife She came, and with her wise maidens escorting her, singing sweet-voiced songs. The mother of creation was she, of incomparable beauty; her delicate frame veiled in a fair white robe, and with a profusion of brilliant and tasteful ornaments with which her maidens had bedecked her very limb."

"The word ‘Sita' means "furrow", “the line made by a plough”, and is the name of goddess associated with ploughed fields in the Vedic literature. In a hymn addressed to the lord of the fields, Kshetrapati, Sita is invoked as follows."

"Auspicious Sita, come thou near; We venerate and worship thee That thou mayst bless and prosper us And bring us fruits abundantly. O goddess, you are the altar's center in the sacrifice May Indra press the furrow down, May Pishan guide its course aright May she, as rich in milk, be drained for us through each succeeding year."

"In Kaushika sutra, Sita is the wife of Parjanaya, a god associated with rain. She is the mother of gods, mortals and creatures and is petitioned for growth and prosperity."

"Sita is invoked as one of the names of the Goddess Arya in the Harivamsa:"

"O goddess, you are the altar's center in the sacrifice, Sita to those who hold the plough And Earth to all living being."

"Sita is not a very significant deity prior to the Ramayana of Valmiki."

"Underlying Sitā's epic character and personality is the ancient fertility goddess associated with the plowed field, who was worshiped for abundant crops and who was ritually activated by rulers in certain contexts. Sītā, the epic heroine, has ancient roots, and one important dimension of her character associates her with the primordial powers of the earth."

"When Rāvana abducts Sītā and takes her to Lanka, he keeps her prisoner in a garden surrounded by demonesses. Several long descriptions portray Sītā's pitiful condition in the absence of Rama. Through a series of metaphors, Valmiki tries to capture both Sita's great beauty and her great [[grief."

"After Rama defeats Rāvana, Sītā's loyalty to her husband is severely tested. Sītā is brought before Rama, and she beams with joy at seeing him. He, however, scowls at her and announces that he has only undertaken the defeat of Rāvana in order to uphold his family's honour and not of love for her."

"My mind now tells me that save for Rama's and Sītā's feet I shall go nowhere else. In his invocation to his Rāmcarit-mānas, Tulsī Dās invokes several deities and includes this verse to Sītā: "Hail to Rama's own beloved Sītā, victor over all suffering/Mistress of birth, life, death, and all of happiness the giver."

"A wide image is presented from the fierce Durga, to the gentle but firm, Sita: from the erotic goddesses Inanna and Aphrodite, to the chaste figures of Mary and Athena: from goddesses closely associated with material wealth such as Lakshmi to ethereal goddesses such as Kuanyin."

"Rama with Sita and his followers left Lanka. But there ran a murmur among the followers. "The test! The test!" they cried, "Sita has not given the test that she was perfectly pure in Ravana's household. "Pure! she is chastity itself" exclaimed Rama. "Never mind! We want the test," persisted the people. Subsequently, a huge sacrificial fire was made ready, into which Sita had to plunge herself. Rama was in agony, thinking that Sita was lost; but in a moment, the God of fire himself appeared with a throne upon his head, and upon the throne was Sita. Then, there was universal rejoicing, and everybody was satisfied."

"After Rama regained his kingdom, he took the necessary vows which in olden times the king had to take for the benefit of his people. The king was the slave of his people, and had to bow to public opinion, as we shall see later on. Rama passed a few years in happiness with Sita, when the people again began to murmur that Sita had been stolen by a demon and carried across the ocean. They were not satisfied with the former test and clamoured for another test, otherwise she must be banished."

"In order to satisfy the demands of the people, Sita was banished, and left to live in the forest, where was the hermitage of the sage and poet Valmiki. The sage found poor Sita weeping and forlorn, and hearing her sad story, sheltered her in his Âshrama. Sita was expecting soon to become a mother, and she gave birth to twin boys. The poet never told the children who they were. He brought them up together in the Brahmachârin life. He then composed the poem known as Ramayana, set it to music, and dramatised it."