We are learning the beautiful story of Sita held captive in Lanka and Hanuman reaching the place in search of her and overlooking her secretively from a tree in Ashoka grove. Let us pause here and try to learn about the characterization of a woman that is Sita and her timeless, ageless, eternal relevance to every woman of this world. While Ramayana is the journey about Rama, the reason behind the story travelling along these lines revolves around his consort. If Rama is the ideal man known, Sita is the ideal woman ever known. It should be our pursuit to reach that stage of perfection and radiate the same virtues in the world around us. Half of the population are woman and there is no greater figure to learn about, follow and celebrate a woman more than Sita. As we came to know in the last post, she doesn’t speak directly to Ravana but by placing a blade of grass between them and turning away with her back towards him. It is the custom and tradition for a woman dealing with any stranger to behave as such, leave alone physical proximity, facing each other and maintaining eye contact. Women should be like Sita, without talking, thinking or connecting with any other man other than the better half. Those are the ideals which the women of this world should practice, and that kind of living would elicit respect and admiration from everyone else. Those should be the established norms in a society which needs to be encouraged to follow by all of us, leave alone creating a world which encourages the opposite. The character that is Sita needs to be embraced, absorbed and internalized by all the women and this character will alone prevail ultimately.
In the last post, we had seen Sita conversing and criticizing Ravana in no mean terms for his meanest act and attempts to persuade her to accept him. The sharp rebuke and bitter reality spoken by Sita enrages Ravana who gives her a two-month deadline to change her mind. To supplement, he asks the demon guards to cajole into changing her mind. This sets off a period of ill treatment by the ogre women into pushing Sita for submission. Unable to bear it, Sita wails and we can see in the upcoming chapters how she endures the depressing pain and decides to give up life, how this deadline passes and how a faint hope emerges by way of good omens.
In chapter 26, Sita ponders a lot and decides to give up life without Rama.
Sita wept for Rama and wondered where he was and why he, who had single-handed destroyed fourteen thousand rakshasas at Janasthana, had not come to rescue her. Away from Rama, she no longer found any use for her life as she lamented "Sinner that I am even death has deserted me. May I perish in the flames of a fire rather than bow to Ravana's base desires. Rama was lauded even by his enemies for his virtue, valour and compassion has mercilessly abandoned me. Can he not with his unequalled might conquer Ravana, whose might is so feeble compared to Rama's? Lanka may be impregnable, but is there a place on this earth where Rama's arrows cannot reach? Why is even Lakshmana silent? Who will now tell Rama of me since Jatayu too is dead?
Her anger soared, and her grief turned to vengeance as Sita cursed Lanka, looking at the rakshasa women, "If only Rama knows where I am, he will dry up the oceans and blow Lanka off the face of the earth. Does Ravana not realize that by desiring me he invites not only his doom but also that of the entire rakshasa race? Every rakshasa will be hunted down and killed by Rama and Lakshmana. Every woman in this kingdom will wail louder than me, when every man in every house lies dead. My wish that the whole of Lanka turn into a graveyard, filled with the acrid smoke of burning bodies and swooping vultures, will soon come true. I see a myriad omens that bode you ill. Mighty rakshasas will fall, Ravana too shall die and Lanka, like a woman without a husband shall be widowed, losing its lord, its glory and its splendor."
"Ignorant of the norms of virtue, unaware and unable to discern between good and evil, the indiscriminate hordes aspire to attain the unattainable. This pitiless demon Ravana with no qualms about defying dharma, will in his wickedness surely devour me, as the time he has given to yield to him is also drawing close. Sita who was battling with the turmoil that raged in her, even doubted if Rama still lived." Perhaps unable to bear my separation Rama has already reached the land of the gods. Fortunate are they who behold him in that heaven or has Rama in his asceticism lost interest in me? Is my misfortune the cause of my misery or is it punishment for some transgression of mine?" Brooding over her fate, fervently seeking death as salvation to her endless woes, Sita said, "That which one loves gives pleasure and that which one hates gives pain. I bow down to those sages who renouncing both pleasure and pain live in eternal bliss. Blessed are those who do not discriminate between good and evil, and whom neither sorrow nor joy sways but because I am not like one among them, I think only of that which pleases me and so I think of Rama alone whom I love. Bereft of him and prisoner of Ravana I cannot live."
In chapter 27, an ogress named Trijata describes her dream. She dreams of Sri Rama triumph and the demon Ravana is conquered.
The fearful forms of the demon guard in charge of Sita, watched with disdain her darkest moments of despair and desolation. Angry that she was still defiant and still wished for death rather than give in to Ravana, they renewed their threats of devouring her. Some among them went to report her disobedience to their master. It was then that Trijata, an old demoness who was until then asleep, sat up saying "Wicked women stop persecuting Sita who is adored by the whole world. Eat me if you want but spare her. Now listen to my dream and listen carefully. In that dreadful dream I witnessed that which heralded the destruction of the rakshasas and the victory of Rama." Alarmed at her words, the frightened monsters abandoned Sita and huddled around Trijata. They heard in fascination, the vivid description of her dream in which she had seen Rama and Lakshmana. Clad and garlanded in pristine white, they were in a shimmering palanquin crafted out of the white tusks of elephants and drawn by a thousand graceful swans. In the sea below on the peak of the Sweta mountain was Sita, who soon united with Rama, like the rays of light merging with the Sun. She had also sighted an elephant, large as a mountain, which had four tusks and was roaming all over Lanka. On it were sitting Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. Trijata said she had also seen Ravana clad in red, wearing a garland of red oleanders, smeared with oil, drinking oil. Later he was seen falling off the Pushpaka to be dragged away by a bald woman wearing black robes. Later I beheld him dancing like one demented riding a chariot drawn by donkeys from which he fell into an evil smelling bog. Kumbhakarna and the sons of Ravana were bathed in oil. Finally, I saw Ravana ride away on a pig, Indrajit on a crocodile and Kumbhakarna on a camel.
Then came visions of Vibhishana and his four ministers who sat on a magnificent four tusked elephant, which trumpeted like thunder as it walked in the skies. They rode through Lanka wearing white robes, white garlands to the sound of music and the blowing of conch shells. Trijata wove the story of her dream lurid in its horror to an end, in a hushed voice." I saw the once beautiful Lanka reduced to shambles. Its broken gates, mansions, chariots, horses and elephants lay amidst the rolling, crashing waves of the sea. I saw Lanka protected by Ravana burn, set ablaze by a messenger of Rama, a mighty vanara from across the sea. Raucous rakshasas drinking oil were trying to make their way through the unfordable streets of Lanka, shrouded in ash and dirt. So, flee! Do not stay here, for if you do you shall die. That Rama will soon be here is certain and that he will annihilate you for tormenting his consort is even more certain. If you think otherwise, listen to me, Rama's fury will not spare you, but Sita's compassion will. Seek her asylum, beg her pardon, for she alone can save you from Rama's rage. The destruction of Ravana, the triumph of Rama and the happiness of Sita are imminent. Not only my dream but the many signs that I witness, predict the ruin of Lanka. The call of the Pingala bird seems to say, "Rama will soon be here." and the eagle flapping its wings and flying around the tree seems to herald the coming of Rama and the end of Sita's sorrow."
In chapter 28, Sita recollects the time limit of two months given by Ravana and her vulnerability of being killed by him. After lamenting for a while, she tries to strangle herself to death with the braid of her hair. At that moment, a propitious omen, never seen before, appears on her.
Unaware of Trijata's dream and of her counsel to the rakshasa women, Sita still sorrowed and trembled with fear. Thinking of Ravana's threats, she wept like a child saying, "Death obviously declines to claim anyone before their time. If not, why do I continue living, in spite of my endless misery? Even my heart betrays me, for it refuses to shatter and end my torment. If Rama does not reach Lanka soon, Ravana, the bane of his beholders will carry out his threat. Just as a barber cuts up a dead infant, to remove it from the womb of its mother, so will Ravana sever me into little pieces. Lamenting her fate Sita wondered if Rama and Lakshmana too had perhaps perished at the hands of the demon masquerading as the magical deer. She felt that death himself had enticed her in the form of the deer. 'Of what use are my chastity, my austerity and my adherence to righteousness if I cannot see Rama. Hoping to see Rama, I lived and endured this life of turmoil. If only I had died the day Ravana abducted me, I would have been spared so much of agony. Rama, will you after fulfilling your father's wishes, return home to forget me and revel with the wide-eyed maidens of Ayodhya? As for me, liberation, even by death is denied, for there are none here to give me either poison or weapon. Perhaps I can use my braided hair to hang myself.' Even as Sita grieved there appeared many auspicious omens that revived her failing courage and hope.
In chapter 29, Sita experiences some good omens as follows; Her left eye, left shoulder and left thigh quivered, as also her clothing slipped a bit. Feeling these omens, her consciousness was awakened with exaltation.
Sita oppressed by fear and anxiety suddenly became aware of the many signs of auspiciousness that appeared without warning. They seemed to indicate a change in her life, heralding the end of her woes and the coming of happier times. Into her beautiful eyes fringed with lush black lashes crept a light of joy and her left eye twitched like a lotus touched by a fish. Her left shoulder that had once known the most exotic of unguents, which had pillowed the head of Rama, lord of all creatures, also quivered. Her tyrannized mind bogged down in misery no longer felt the pain and the sorrow that had for so long veiled her mesmeric beauty seemed to melt away. The lackluster, woebegone princess was springing back to life like a scorched sapling with the first showers of rain. Her face with its golden sheen, berry red lips, limpid eyes below arched black brows, was ravishing. Its radiance, surrounded by a halo of soft silky hair, black as the raven's wing, was like that of the moon emerging from the clutches of Rahu.
In chapter 30, Hanuman falls in a dilemma whether to console Sita or to remain silent. Finally, Hanuman decides to console Seetha, by eulogizing Rama's attributes in a sweet voice, so that Sita can give credence to his words.
Hanuman who from his perch in the Simsapa tree had watched the abuse of Sita by the rakshasa women, who had heard Trijata's narration of her dream also, saw the noble consort of Rama. Beholding the celestial beauty, which seemed to have descended from the garden groves of the gods, he was ecstatic. "I have found her" he exulted. I have found her for whom countless vanaras search the four corners of the earth. Roaming all over Lanka, invisible to the inquisitive and hiding from the harmful, I have discreetly gathered much information. I have seen the ways of the rakshasas, of how they live their lives and I have seen the power and might of Ravana, their king. I must now console Janaki. I cannot go back without speaking to her and consoling her. Rama will give up his life, the moment he hears of Sita being alone and unprotected in Lanka. Uneasy about speaking to her in the presence of her dreaded guard and unwilling to remain silent Hanuman fell into a dilemma. Debating within himself about the wisdom of conversing with Sita he said "Speaking to her in the open, I will probably court detection and death. Dead, I will be of no use to Rama, for no one knows where Sita is, and no one can leap across the sea to reach Lanka. I can surely vanquish these demons, but wearied after warring, I may not be able to reach the safety of the other shore. The wise never attempt with certainty, that, of which they are not certain, so I shall desist from fighting them". Viewing and eliminating the many ways of communicating with Sita, Hanuman also fell into a quandary about the language. "I can talk to her in Sanskrit, but Sita may wonder at a monkey's knowledge of it. She may even be alarmed, suspecting me to be Ravana, who can change his form at will. I will speak to her in the language of the humans". Wanting to make sure that Sita in her despair would not end her life, he decided to softly sing of Rama, to soothe and lull her fears.
This concludes chapters 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 of Sundara Kanda where we had seen Sita weeping inconsolably at the pain induced by the words of demon guards. She laments in different ways about the time lapse in Rama rescuing her and curses the Lanka kingdom to fall into ruins. Such is the pain in captivation she has to endure and this is the moment a woman has been abducted circumventing all dharma by a demon whose eyes are closed with lust, which is going to turn Lanka into ashes. If abducting her is one mistake, causing much sorrow by bringing a lot of pain and allowing the curse to flow from an ideal woman, daughter of earth and wife of Rama has laid the foundation for the upcoming decimation which Hanuman is going to start, and Rama will conclude. This is the same reality which an old demon guard Trijata saw in her dream and narrates to the ogres guarding Sita about their future. Unaware of this, Sita, engulfed in sorrow, tries to end her life as well but feels some auspicious omens upon her. Meanwhile, Hanuman who has watched all of this and who himself feels the pain of Sita, ponders on this next step – thinking about ways to console Sita and inform about the arrival of him as a messenger from Rama. It is going to take some time and effort from Hanuman to get the belief of Sita about the credence of an unfamiliar vanara in a deceptive, captive world of Lanka which will be seen in subsequent chapters.
