Ramayana of Valmiki and Kamban-Ayodhyakanda-(.Sita's resolve

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9. Seetha's resolve

 

Rama went to his palace to see Seetha and he could now conceal his feelings and seeing his face Seeha asked him the reason why he was not dressed as the prince to be crowned and also had lost his luster. Rama told her what happened and said that he will be going to the forest for fourteen years and asked her to be brave and follow austerities after he has gone and to show her respect to the king and to his mother and treat Bharatha and Sathrugna as brothers. Hearing that Seetha was shocked not because Rama was going to the forest but because he told her to stay back. Kamban describes this beautifully.

 

thurandhupOm enacchotRa sol thERumO

uraindha paaRkadal sekkai udan ore

aram thiRambum enRu ayyan ayotthiyil

piRandhapinbum piriyalaL aayinaaL

 

When the Lord left the milky ocean and incarnated as Rama to protect dharma, Lakshmi came along with Him as Seetha to lend Him a hand in all His activities as His inherent power(shakthi). Hence how could she bear the words of Rama who asked her to stay behind?

 

Here we find that Seetha explains the dharma of a wife to Rama. She said that all other relations, father, mother, brother, son etc. follow their own karma and experience its results but the wife alone shares the result of karma of her husband. Hence when Rama was ordered to go to forest it includes her also. As though to ward off any doubt in his mind that how could he follow the dharma of a hermit if she came along, Seethaa says, `SuSrooshamaaNaa the nithyam niyathaa brahmachaariNee,' that she will be a celibate and not disturb his ascetic life.

 

Rama tried to change her mind by enumerating the hardships and dangers of the life in forest but she said that with Rama by her side no one or nothing can harm her in the forest and about the hardships of living in the forest she said no difficulty would be harder that his separation. In Kamban, Seetha says,

 

Parivu igandha mantthodu pattrilaadhu

oruvuginRanai oozi arukkanum

eriyum enbadhu yaanDaiyadhu eendu nin

pirivinum sudumo perunkaadu enRaaL

She chides Rama that he was talking without any love for her and asks him whether the forest or even the Sun at the time of deluge will burn her more that the separation from him.

In Valmiki Ramayana, Seetha is of more forceful character.. After she told Rama that it was the forecast of astrologers that she would have to live in the forest for sometime and the time had come now, seeing him relentless she said what no man wishes to hear from his wife!

kim thvaam amanyatha vaidhehaH pitha me miThilaaDhipaH

raama jaamaatharam praapya sthriyam purushavigraham

" Did my father, the king Janaka thought that he was getting as his son in law a woman in a man's garb?"

Finally she said that she could not bear separation from him even for a moment. Hence how could she be away from him for one , three and ten years. It is significant that she said one plus three plus ten years instead of saying fourteen . Kaikeyi said 9+5 in order to make it sound less harsh, maybe, but Seetha had every reason to make it appear formidable. But she said 1+3+10 because, she was the divine mother who had come to play the part in the incarnation and implied that she was going to live in Lanka for one year, three years in Panchavati and ten years in Dandakaranya. Probably it was to remind Rama his purpose of incarnation because Rama said, 'yath srshtaaasi mayaa saarDham vanavaasaaya maithil, na vihaathum mayaa sakyaa preethih aathmavathaamayaa.,' meaning that shea was created to go to the forest with him and he could not possibly leave her behind her who is dear to him like his own self.