Ramayana of valmiki and Kamban-yuddhakanda

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16. Seetha enters the fire.

 

Hanuman

saw Seetha and conveyed the news of the end of the war and the message from

Rama as follows:

 

priyam aakhyaami the dhevi thvaam

thu bhooyaH sabhaajaye

dhishtyaa jeevasi dharmajne jayo me

prathigrhayathaam

 

"

I send you my love Devi, and I appreciate

you. You are fortunately alive and know my victory. "

 

sambhramaScha na ganthavyaH

varthanthyaa raavaNaalaye

vibheeshaNa viDheyam hi lankaiSvaryam

idham krtham

 

ayam cha abhyethi samhrshtaH

thvaddharSana samuthsukaH

 

"

You need not be anxious in remaining still in the palace

of Ravana because the kingdom of Lanka

belongs to Vibheeshana now, who will come with joy to see you."

 

Seeing

that Seetha was silent Hanuman asked her the reason and she said that she could

not speak overwhelmed with happiness. She told Hanuman that she could not think

of any means of returning the help of Hanuman as there is nothing good enough to give him in the whole world.

Then she praised him thus:

 

Slaaghaneeyo anilasya thvam puthraH parama DhaarmikaH

 

balam veeryam Srutham sathvam vikramo

dhaakshyam

utthamam

 

thejaH ksjamaa DhrthiH Dhairyam vineethathvam

na samSayaH

 

ethe cha anye cha bahavo guNaaH

thvayyeva SobhanaaH

 

"

You, the son of Vayu is praiseworthy, is a great follower of dharma, and

strength, valour, vedic knowledge, vigour, prowess, great skill in action,

fortitude, firmness and stability with humility of course , all these and other

good qualities are in you alone, without any doubt.

 

Then

Hanuman asked the permission of Seetha to kill all the rakshasis who tormented

her earlier. Seetha said that it is not right to get angry with the servants

who simply carried out the orders of their master. Then she narrated a tale

about a bear and tiger. A hunter who was pursued by a tiger climbed a tree and

saw a bear on the top and sought asylum with it. The tiger told the bear to

push him down as he is the enemy of animals. But the bear said that it could

not forsake one who surrendered. Then the bear slept after some time and the

tiger asked the man to push the bear down so that it can eat the bear and go.

The man did so and the bear woke up. The tiger told the bear that since the man

was ungrateful there is nothing wrong in pushing him down But the bear refused

saying,

 

na

paraH paapam aadhatthe pareshaam paapakarmaNaam

samayo rakshithavyasthu

santashchaarithrabhooshaNaaH

 

The code of conduct of virtuous

persons is that they do not commit sin even to those who are sinners.

 

After narrating this

episode Seetha said,

 

paapaanaaM vaa Subhaanaam vaa vadhaarhaaNaam

plavangama

 

 

kaaryam kaaruNyam aaryeNa na kashchinnaaparaaDhyathi

 

 

"Whether

they are sinners or good people or even if they deserve death kindness should

be shown to all because where is the one who does no wrong?"

 

These words of Seetha highlight the quality of

mercy of the divine mother whose feet are sought by the devotees to acquire the

favour of the Lord because she stands as an epitome of mercy towards her

children. This is known as the

purushakara of the divine mother who pleads with the Lord to show mercy.

Seetha is thus shown to be even kinder than Rama since she forgave even those

who made her suffer and Valmiki was justified in calling the Ramayana as SeethaayaaH

charitham mahath.

 

Then Hanuman admired her saying that she was indeed

the fitting wife of Rama and asked her the message he could take to Rama. She

simply said that she was eager to see Rama, that is all.

 

Hanuman came and told Rama about his visit to

Seetha and Rama told Vibheeshan to bring her having bathed and applied inguents and decked with

jewels. Vibheeshana went to Seetha and conveyed to her the wish of Rama to

which she replied that she wanted to go to Rama as she was but Vibheeshana told

her that it was Rama's orders and she obeyed. Vibheeshana took her in a

palanquin and brought her to Rama. When the vanaras crowded the palanquin to see her and the

vanara leaders and Vibheeshana with his followers pushed them away to make way for

the palanquin. Then Rama expressed his disapproval and said that the vanaras

who helped him to win the war have every right to see Seetha and told

Vibheeshana that she may walk on foot so that everyone could see her. Lakshman Sugriva and Hanuman were troubled

to see a transformation in Rama which showed his displeasure instead of being

eager to see Seetha.

 

Seetha got down from the palanquin and walked

towards Rama and seeing him just said `aaryaputhra,' the term usually used by

woman of noble birth to address her husband and then started sobbing. Then Rama

spoke harsh words to her. He said that he waged the war only in order to remedy

the wrong done by Ravana and to save his honour and not to win her back. He

said that he could not accept her and she could go anywhere or with anyone she

wished. The actual words of Rama as reported by Valmiki are too cruel to

repeat. If the words of Ravana to her in sundarakanda makes one of good heart recoil with pain the

words of Rama now cause even a deeper wound to the heart of all who have a

heart.

 

Seetha was known for her forceful character and

retorted to Rama's words saying that he

was speaking like a common man and not as one of noble birth. She asked him why

she was not abandoned when Ravana took her and why did Rama took so much pains

to retrieve her by sending Hanuman and waging a great war if he did not want

her back. She reminded him of her

lineage as that of the great sage king Janaka and told him that in reality she

was not born to anyone but came from the earth and said that it was a wonder that he could not know

her fully even after living together for so many years and asked him whether it

was her fault that Ravana carried her by force. Then she said that knowing the

mind of Rama which had made her heart break, there is only one way out and she

asked Lakshmana to light a fire.

 

Lakshmana got angry at first and turned to Rama but

knowing the intention of Rama hinted by the expression on his face Lakshmana

obeyed the order of Seetha and she entered the fire after going round Rama,

with these words, similar to those she uttered at the time of praying to the god

of fire to protect Hanuman. She said that if she was faithful to Rama always by

word , thought and deed and if all the gods knew that she was faultless may the fire protect her. All

were shouting `alas, alas' and the eyes of Rama were filled with tears. All the

devas congregated at the scene and said that Rama was acting like an ordinary

man forgetting that He was the creator of the whole world. Then Rama said to

the devas with folded hands that he thought he was the son of Dasaratha. Then

the devas reminded him that He was the Lord Narayana Himself and Brahma

extolled him with hymn in praise of the Lord Naryana, singing His glory in all

His previous incarnations saying that Seetha was none else than Lakshmi His

divine consort. Whoever recites with devotion this hymn sung by Brahma will

never be a victim of humiliation.

 

Then the fire god came out of the fire with Seetha

unaffected by the flames and told Rama that she was purity itself and no

blemish had adhered to her by livin gin the palace of Ravana

all those days. Rama, filled with joy, admitted that she was pure always but the fire ordeal had to be staged to convince the world of her

purity lest people may say that Rama was

blind with love for Seetha and took her back even though she was in the city of

Ravana for so

long.In Kamban Rama speaks even more harshly.

 

The firegod in Kambaramayana says that that he

brought her back because he could not bear the heat of her chastity.

 

angi yaan, ennai ivannai kaRpu enum

ponguventhee sudapoRukkilaamaiyaal

 

Saying that even after hearing the account of Hanuman,

who never tells a falsehood, about her chastity how can Rama suspect otherwise,

he further says that the world will be

destroyed if Seetha gets angry and even Brahma will meet his end.