Ramayana of Valmiki and Kamban 16.Abduction of Seetha

February 18, 2009

16. Abduction of Seetha

We shall rivert to Valmiki and see how Ravana revealed his identity and disclosed his intention to Seetha. When She asked him who he was he started bragging about his powers saying that all the three worlds and devas , asuras and nagas feared him and respected him. He also told her that after seeing her he could not have any desire towards his wives and asked her to become his queen. Seeetha was angry to hear him speak like that and praised Rama who was , she said, immutable like the mount Meru and unfa thomable like the deep ocean, possessed infinite auspicious qualities, a refuge to all who surrender to him like a banyan tree, having a gait and strength like a lion, with a moon-like beautiful face, one who had controlled his senses and of far reaching fame. Then she denounced Ravana sayin that he was like a fox with mean intellect and strength while she was like lioness and hence he could not even touch her as one could not touch the brilliance of the Sun. She told him that he was perhaps nearing his end to have thought of her as other women whom he has met and what he wished to do was like extracting the tongue of a lion from its mouth or the fangs of a poisonous serpent. She further described his intention by citing many analogies like taking the manthara mountain by hand, wishing to live after swallowing haalahala poison, entering the ocean with a stone around his neck, walking on spears or licking the blade of a knife, picking fire by hand and plucking the sun and the moon.

Seetha compared Ravana to Rama and said that the difference between Rama and him is like that of lion and a jackal, of sea and gutter water, of nectar and vinegar, of gold and lead, ,of sandal paste and mire, of an elephant and a cat, of a Kite and a crow etc. Thus speaking Seetha nevertheless became scared and shook like a plantain tree in a storm.

Ravana then started narrating his glory that he vanquished Kubera and all devas and even the elements and the nature were afraid of him and described Lanka and told her to forget Rama who was banished by his father and who was not fit to stand in front of him. Seetha chided him saying that he could not hope to live if he abducted her. But Ravana gave up his disguise and again tried to persuade4 Seetha to accept him. Then he grabbed her with his left hand on her hair and his right hand around her thighs. Then he placed her on his chariot which appeared miraculously and sped along the sky.

Seetha cried calling Rama and Lakshmana to come and save her. DShe entreae the trees , animals and the river Godavari to inform Rama about her abduction. Then she saw the old Jatayu who was sleeping on a tree and called out to him and aid that he would not be able to save her from the fierce Rakshasa but asked him to inform Rama about her being abducted.

There is a view that Ravana did not carry her bodily but since he was skilled in cchaayagraahithva, catching one by shadow and hence he took her by grasping the shadow of her hair and thighs. Seetha was not a weekling and he could not have carried her so easily. She could have destroyed him in a minute, about which she herself informed Hanuman later, but did not do so because he was fit to be killed by Rama only as he had promised the rshis of Dandaka forest. It was the secret of devakarya and she acted a an instrument to fulfil the same.

Another version is that she placed her real self in the fire and assumed a illusory form for the purpose of the abduction and the resultant destruction of Ravana, regaining her real form by entering the fire after the battle, which was why Rama acted as though he suspected her purity. Both Rama and Settha were acting their part and hence the sorrow of Seetha in Lanka and the lamentation of Rama on his separation from her.

Kamban never entered into any controversy and wrote that Rvana took Seetha along with the ground she was standing on. This is the differenc4 between Valmiki and Kamban regarding the episode of the abduction of Seetha. Perhaps Kamban though that it is against the Tamil culture to say that Ravana grabbed her by hair and thighs.