Sita for Shaktas?

[Guest guest]

Auspicious Sita, come thou near:

We venerate and worship thee

That thou mayst bless us and prosper us

And bring us fruits abundantly.

Rig Veda, IV.57.6

 

Namaskar to All!

 

We were given a challenge, and we accepted it! It was observed that

the Goddess Sita -- one of the most popular goddess forms in

Hinduism -- seems to represent the very antithesis of Shaktism.

 

Not so. Shaktism is broad enough to accomodate any view; Sita is

simply the form Devi takes to reach those who best understand Her in

that way. The html page, with photos and text highlights, etc., can

be found at:

 

http://www.shaktisadhana.org/sita.html

 

Plain text is below. As always, your comments, questions, criticisms

and corrections would be appreciated. The homepage is a malleable

thing and can easily be improved as necessary.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

 

DB

 

*********************

 

SITA IN MAINSTREAM HINDUISM

 

Sita is one of the most popular Goddesses in Hinduism today, but She

is almost never approached from a Shakta viewpoint. On the contrary,

She is most commonly understood as the consort-goddess par

excellence -- ever loyal, submissive and obediant to Her superior

husband, Rama, Avatar of the great god Vishnu, Ideal Hindu King of

Ayodhya, and hero of the epic Ramayana (c. 400-100 BCE):

 

In that epic, Sita devotedly follows Rama into forest exile, adapting

to the hardships of jungle life without complaint. When later

kidnapped by the demon King Ravana, She endures Her captivity with

grace, fortitude and unwavering faith in and love for Rama. When

Sita's steadfast devotion is rewarded with rejection (Rama tells Her

that He rescued Her not for love, but for His family's honor; and

expresses doubt concerning Her fidelity while in Ravana hands)-- She

stoically accepts His judgment, and proves Her purity by immersing

Herself in flames without harm.

 

Taking the Ramayana at its most literal level, patriarchal Hinduism

found in Sita a model of the perfect Hindu wife. Women from

traditional Hindu families were (and to a significant extent, still

are) raised from girlhood to womanhood under Sita's inassailable

example of wifely dharma, in which submission and selflessness are

the most prized of womanly virtues. Take, for example, this

declaration, spoken by Sita when Rama tells Her that She need not

join Him in exile:

 

"A wife wins the fate of her husband, and not her own, O bull of a

man! Knowing this, I shall live in the forest from now on! Here and

hereafter, there is but one goal for a woman: her lord, and not her

father, her child, herself, her mother nor her friends. ... O, take

me with you noble husband! Do as I ask, for my heart is devoted only

to you. If you leave without me, I shall die!"(The Valmiki Ramayana,

Critical Edition, Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1960-75, II.24.3,4,18.)

 

Sita's monumental deference to Rama virtually ensured that She

developed no independent existence as a Goddess. As David Kinsley

writes: "Sita is defined in the Ramayana, and in the subsequent cult

of Rama, almost entirely in relation to Her husband. ... [she] never

achieves the position of a great, powerful, independent deity. ...

[she] lacks an identity, power, and will of Her own. She remains in

Rama's shadow to such an extent that She is often hardly visible at

all. ... In popular Hinduism today, Sita is revered as a deity, [but

She] is rarely worshiped in Her own right. Though She is honored

along with Rama, it is understood that She is not His equal." Just as

partiarchal Hinduism understands Radha principally as Krishna's ideal

devotee, or Parvati principally as Shiva's ideal devotee, it

understands Sita's primary role as the ideal devotee of Rama -- or,

at best, as His benign, motherly intermediary; a lesser divinity who

can help Rama's devotees win Her superior husband's attention and

favors. That's hardly the stuff of Shaktism, obviously -- wherein any

goddess form is regarded as at least equal and usually superior to

Her male consort. And so, although She is acknowledged as a form of

Lakshmi (who does play a significant role in the worship of many

Shaktas), Shaktism generally dismisses Sita as a problematic if not

irrelevant aspect of Devi -- an incompletely realized Goddess,

suitable only for Rama-worshiping Vaishnavas for whom the Divine

Feminine is of but minor importance. Yet, both of these views seem

unnecessarily limited. I do not intend to criticize legitimate Hindu

traditions, or to disparage those who hold to the centuries-old,

patriarchal understanding of Sita. Nor do I wish to distort the

Ramayana beyond recognition, forcing it into a Shakta interpretation

where none is warranted. I would, however, like to point out that

many of the basic tenets of Shaktism are found illustrated even in

this least Shakta of epics: Sita is the Earth; She is Fertility; She

is Cosmic Order; and She is the animating Shakti. I believe that a

fresher, more rounded reading of the epic might be an enlightening

experience for all concerned.

SITA AS EARTH/FERTILITY GODDESS

 

Sita did not spring into existence with the Ramayana. In fact, She

predates that epic by a millennium or so, making Her earliest known

appearance in the Rig Veda, where She is worshiped in several hymns

as an agricultural and fertility deity. The Kausika Sutra also

identifies Her as "mother of gods, mortals, and creatures," and

equates Her with intelligence, growth, increase and prosperity. As

Cornelia Dimmitt explains, "Sita literally means 'furrow,' as in a

ploughed field, or the parting of the hair on the head; it also

implies the female vaginal furrow as the source of life." Vedic

writings "show that She was worshiped as a goddess, the furrow

personified." She is a Goddess who connects the fecundity of the

earth with the eternal divine; and no doubt Valmiki had these

powerful associations in mind when he described Her extraordinary

birth in the Ramayana. As Sita narrates:

 

"Truly when [King Janaka, Her father in the epic] was ploughing a

round field, I appeared, splitting the earth, as the daughter of the

king. ... He saw my body all covered with dirt and was amazed. Having

no children of his own, he put me affectionately on his lap and said,

overwhelmed with love for me, 'This is my child!'" (II.110.27-29)

Similarly, at the end of the epic, Sita does not die, but rather re-

enters a crevice of the Earth with "a mighty tremor," on a throne

sent by Her Mother, identified as Madhavi Dharani, or "Earth, the

Upholder." (VII.88)

 

Sita's ancient associations with fertility and the Earth are

continually echoed throughout the Ramayana. Plants and animals

constantly reflect Sita's actions and moods. As the very essence of

Prakrita, or Nature, Sita does not find Her jungle exile

fearful: "Just as Sita used to delight in going through the city

parks, so is She now content in the forest solitude." (II.54.9) At

one point, when Sita makes a sacrificial offering under a "green-

leafed Nyagrodha tree," all growing plants are brought to Her for

inspection (II.49). In general, Sita is presented "as if She were

truly the mistress of vegetation," Dimmitt notes. When Sita is

kidnapped by Ravana, the forest itself reflects Her absence. as Rama

surveys the spot from which She had been abducted -- "the trees

nearby that seemed to be weeping, the melacholy birds, miserable

deer, and faded flowers ..." (III.58.6). Similarly, while in

captivity, Sita literally begins to wilt like a flower deprived of

its sap; at one point She is described as "a lotus pool stripped of

its flowers" (V.15). But when She returns to Ayodhya, "fruitless

trees became fruitful; trees without flowers abounded in blossoms;

those that were withered sprouted leaves, and the foliage dripped

honey" (VI.112). Sita has an similarly powerful effect on animals,

another aspect of Nature: When She leaves Ayodhya, elephants and cows

cease to perform their functions (II.36); when She is kidnapped,

lions and tigers follow Her shadow (III.50), a vulture tries to

rescue Her (III.14), deer show Rama the direction in which She was

taken (III.60), a crow keeps them on the right path (IV.1), and an

army of monkeys (led by the great God Hanuman) and bears helps Rama

to defeat Ravana and rescue Her.

 

SITA AS UPHOLDER OF COSMIC ORDER

 

Shaktism -- and many non-Shakta schools of Hinduism -- associate

Devi, the Goddess, with cosmic order. Countless legends, most

prominently those associated with Durga in the Devi Mahatmyam, or the

various Goddess forms in the Devi Bhagavata Purana, depict Her as the

force the Gods turn to when Universal Order is threatened by the

forces of Chaos. Now, Sita is clearly no avenging warrior goddess

like Durga or the Matrikas -- but a close reading of the Ramayana

clearly reveals that Creation would unravel without Her.

 

This aspect of Sita can also be traced back to the Vedas, which

contain a primary source for the Ramayana -- the legend of how the

thunder god Indra (who becomes Rama in Valmiki's epic) defeated the

demon Vritra (who becomes Ravana). In the Vedic tale, Vritra

(literally, the "encloser" or "container") was withholding the

sources of life -- water, rain, rivers, cows, sunshine, and fertile

land (all of whom become Sita in the Ramayana) -- from humankind.

After a mightly battle, Indra releases these life-giving forces back

to the Earth (Rig Veda, I.32).

 

The belief reflected in Vedic legend is that Indra, the masculine

fertility deity of the Vedic peoples, had as His main function the

task of "pouring down the rain that nourishes vegetation by

impregnating Earth," Dimmitt explains. "Sita, on the other hand, is

the feminine productive furrow who is thus fertilized. ... Two modes

of fertilizing power are in these passages united in a sexual

metaphor: the male thunderstorm mates with the female earth."

 

This Indra legend is precisely repeated in the Ramayana, where

Ravana, by kidnapping Sita, has "obstructed the growing processes of

Nature by confining their source," as Dimmitt writes. "That Her death

would mean the end of the world is echoed in Rama's expressions of

despair at the thought of Her loss." And one of Ravana's principle

motivations for the kidnapping is his knowledge that "Rama will not

survive without Sita" (III.29).

 

The resolution of the crisis is the same in both legends: "Rama kills

Ravana as Indra slew Vritra, and for the same purpose: to release the

obstructed powers of fertility and prosperity for his people." The

importance of Devi's grace (and more particularly Lakshmi's grace) to

a King's legitimacy was an important idea in traditional Hinduism.

Kinsley explains: "Just as the King is needed to activate or provoke

the Earth into life and fertility, so the Earth's fruitfulness is

necessary to the King's success as a ruler." And so it is only when

Rama has returned Sita to His side that He is able to return to

Ayodhya and initiate His legendary age of ideal and perfect rule.

 

SITA AS SHAKTI

 

Conventional readings of the Ramayana see Rama as a pure "action

hero," and Sita as an essentially passive damsel-in-distress who gets

herself into trouble and then must be rescued by a powerful male

savior. But closer analysis reveals that Sita is in fact the moving

force of the entire epic, none of which could have happened without

Her: "It is Sita, as a Goddess in the mode of Shakti, or energy, who

actually instigates the action Herself, forcing the hero again and

again to acts of heroism." At all major turns in the narrative, Sita

steps out of Her demure submission and imposes Her will. For example:

 

1. Sita vociferously insists on accompanying Rama into the forest

after He has already decided to leave Her behind. (II.24).

"Ostensibly, Sita is behaving like a loyal and devoted wife," writes

Dimmitt. "Actually, She is insisting on Her rights to be protected

and cared for by Her husband; she is forcing Him to do his duty."

 

2. Sita insists on possessing the illusory golden deer, sent by

Ravana to trick Rama into leaving Sita alone.

3. When Rama leaves His brother Lakshmana behind to guard Sita while

He chases the deer, Sita taunts Lakshmana until he, too, leaves Her

alone.

"It is clear that without Her complicity, no kidnap could have

occurred," Dimmitt notes. "It is because of Her own actions that Sita

finds Herself alone, unguarded in the forest, ripe for capture by the

wicked Ravana."

 

4. When the Monkey God, Hanuman, sneaks into Ravana's fortress and

offers to magically whisk Sita away without the need for battle, Sita

refuses.

"Ostensibly [she] disdains to be touched by anyone other than Her

husband, Rama," Dimmitt notes. "Actually She is compelling Rama to be

a hero by insisting that He alone must save Her." As Sita Herself

tells Hanuman, "When you deliver my message to Raghava [Rama], that

brave man will be compelled by law to do his heroic duty" (V.37.11).

 

"Thus does Sita, as Rama's Shakti, or motivating power, actually move

the story forward by Her actions," Dimmitt concludes. "Not the

passive victim She appears to be at first, Sita is rather the subtly

active provovateur whose actions inspire the heroism of Her spouse."

 

And in a tale that seems, on its surface, utterly anathemic to

Shaktism, it is interesting to note that two other female characters

in the story also provide indispensible Shakti movement to the

narrative, energizing their men by providing further motivation

central to the epic: First, there is Kaikeyi, King Dasharatha's wife,

who sets the epic in motion by insisting that Rama be banished so

that her son can claim the throne of Ayodhya for himself. And second,

there is Shurpanakha, Ravana's sister, who makes sexual advances upon

Rama, and is rewarded by having her ears and nose cut off by him

(III.17). Shurpanakha demands that Ravana avenge this mutilation,

thus providing the demon with a primary motivation for kidnapping

Sita.

 

Thus, the observant Shakta should recognize in Sita not merely a

docile consort, but a more importantly, a subtle manifestation of

Shakti's supreme movement, existing deep in the very weave of this

most "un-Shakta" of Hindu scriptures.

 

Indeed, the Ramayana itself refers to Sita at several points by the

epithet, Ardhangini, "the half-body of Her husband" -- recalling the

perfect Yin-Yang equality of Parvati and Shiva in the form of

Ardhanarishwari -- and the overall sense of the text suggests

that "Rama and Sita are to be regarded as one being, Her virtue the

source of His power," Dimmitt observes. Indeed, Rama Himself

declares: "Sita is to me what light is to the sun. ... I can no more

forsake Her than an honorable man can renounce his honor" (VI.106).

 

And so Sita -- Earth Goddess, Fertility Goddess, Upholder of Cosmic

Order, and Shakti -- when joined with Her masculine half, Rama,

contributes Her divine power to His realm as devoted consort. United

with the Hero/God, the Goddess Sita -- like all forms of Devi --

becomes the source and support of the ongoing prosperity of the world

that is symbolized in the Rama's divine, 10,000-year rule.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

[Guest guest]

Many thanks to the members who have so far offered their comments and

suggestions on the homepage presentation on Sita. I have incorporated

the corrections, AND I have added an entirely new closing section

on "Why Modern Hindu Women Love Sita."

 

Thanks again for the help. That is what makes a forum like this so

wonderful; many interested people putting their heads together can

simply produce better material than a single jiva working in

isolation!

 

Here is the updated page: http://www.shaktisadhana.org/sita.html

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe