Sita as Slayer of Ravana

[Guest guest]

The "Sita" presentation on our homepage has been updated.

 

I hope we'll see a lot of updates and improvements on the homepage in

the coming days and weeks; I have a tremendous backlog of stuff to

add, and perhaps a bit more time at my disposal to add it! The most

startling change, which shoiuld be complete by spring, will be the

addition of the Ten Mahavidyas -- as a group, but also with separate

presentation pages dedicated to each of the Devis.

 

Below is the some of the new text added to the Sita page; you'll also

find a wonderful new picture contributed by AdiShakthi16. The link is

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

 

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 legitimate, and

decidedly Shakta, approaches to Sita do exist; and that even standard

approaches to the Ramayana carry a strong, if rarely recognized

Shakta subtext.

 

Sita-focused manuscripts of the Ramayana tend to come from the

traditional Shakta strongholds in the East and South of India. As

N.N. Bhattacharyya writes in his "History of the Sakta Religion":

 

"It is interesting to note that in the Adbhuta Ramayana, a late work

highly favoured by the Kashmirian Shaktas, Sita is stated to have

killed Ravana [by] assuming the form of Kali. The said work

identifies Sita with the Supreme Being of the Shaktas. The [practice]

of associating Shaktism with Rama-Sita legends may be traced even to

the Sanskrit Ramacarita of Abhinanda, which is a work of the tenth

century. ... [And] in Sarala Dasa's Oriya Ramamyana, the tradition of

the Adbhuta Ramayana is followed, in which Sita herself killed Ravana

in the form of Bhadrakali. The story of the slaying of Ravana by Sita

is also found in the Jaiminibharata and other later Bengali

Ramayanas. According to the popular Rama legends of the Mathura

region, it was Sita who killed Ravana and, having accomplished the

task, went straight to Calcutta instead of Ayodhya and settled there

permanently as Kali Mai."

 

Even in the most standard and popular versions of the epic, many

basic tenets of Shaktism may be found illustrated: 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 old

story might be an enlightening experience for all concerned.