Sita's Sins, Big and Small

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

Sita's Sins, Big and Small

 

 

We endeavour our best to tread the path of virtue and righteousness. We

consciously shun all wrong-doing and strive hard to tread the narrow and

straight path of Dharma. We prompt ourselves to perform meritorious deeds at

every available opportunity. In short, we make every effort to espouse good

conduct and eschew all others.

 

 

 

However, the faculties we are endowed with often pull us in directions in

which we may not be willing to travel. The Five Indriyas every person is

bestowed with form both friend and foe. When they lead us in the right

direction, there can be no better friends than they. However, many a time, the

eye insists on seeing forbidden sights, the ears revel in hearing gossip, the

mind fills itself with the most unwanted of thoughts and last, but not the

least, the tongue gets us most into trouble, saying unwanted things which, true

or false, better remain unsaid. While the reasons for such indiscretions with

the indiriyas are manifold, the principal ones are KAma, KrOdha, MOha,

LObha,Mata and MAtsarya, the six eternal enemies which push us into wrong-doing,

willy-nilly. And almost everybody, with rare exceptions, appear to fall into the

treacherous trap laid by these faulty faculties. If it is any consolation for

us, even Sita Piratti, acclaimed to be the epitome of womanly virtue ( " nAreeNAm

utttamA vadhoo " ) appears to have fallen prey to this failing and given play to

Her tongue in a hurting manner, which later brought on grievous consequences.

She appears to have indulged in speech more cruel than the biting winter wind

and caused hurt more grievous than any weapon of war. Though such conduct is

totally out of character for the Divine Consort, it is perhaps intended to teach

us lessons (as every event in Srimad Ramayana does) in continence and tolerance.

The beauty of the great Epic lies in its portraying right conduct not only

through the positive actions of its divine characters, but also through

underlining the disastrous effects of their minor misdeeds, intended or

otherwise.

 

 

 

It must be said, to the defence of Piratti, that anyone in Her place and

circumstances would have reacted perhaps with greater vehemence in word and

deed, even if he or she had been an absolute paragon of temperance and

restraint. Her conduct was thus very excusable and was occasioned by great

provocation: yet, by Her own admission and by Her lofty standards, it was

unforgivable conduct for which She duly reaped the bitter fruit. And retribution

for the wrongs was swift and prompt, making Her suffer what no other woman

would. The torment that Sri Mythily underwent in the Asoka vanam, surrounded by

terrifying rAkshasIs who pulled no punches in trying to browbeat Her into being

Ravana's mistress, the asurA's own frequent appearances and words steeped in

venom, the prolonged separation from Her beloved Raghava whom She had vowed not

to be apart from even for a second, the killing suspense as to what had happened

to the brothers Rama after they went one after the other in pursuit of the

golden deer, the remorse that was eating Her away, for having succumbed to the

charms of the impossibly beautiful animal and desired its acquisition at any

cost, the apparent absence of any light or an end to the long and dark tunnel of

suffering that seemingly stretched away interminably, the slim possibility and

prospects of escaping from the asurA's fortress to liberty and reunion with Her

beloved, the great dilemma as to whether it was better to end Her life rather

than undergo the insufferable ordeal or to live on in the hope of Sri Rama

mounting a rescue effort (however improbable it sounded)- these and a hundred

other agonies distressed the Divine Consort, prompting Her to rue time and again

having uttered those words of insult, which were obviously the root cause of all

that was happening now.

 

 

 

When we are in the grip of terrible torment, it is usual for us to blame others

for our problems. We tend to look for a convenient scapegoat, on whom could be

nailed the cross for our distress. We are so very sure our own guiltlessness

that we invariably dismiss possibilities of the troubles being self-inflicted.

We never wonder as to what could be behind the suffering and sorrow, what we

might have possibly said or done, which could have led to the present

predicament. It is a hallmark of Piratt's humility and honesty that She indulges

not in the blame game, but in self-analysis, trying to fathom the reasons for

the cruel blow dealt by fate on Her unsuspecting self.

 

And, after much rumination, She comes up with the offences for which She was

probably being penalised now. She feels sure that it must be those misdemenours

which must have occasioned all the suffering-

 

 

 

" mama Eva dushkritam kinchit mahat asti na samsaya:

 

samartthou api yat mAm na avEkshEtE parantapou "

 

 

 

Piratti feels that it is impossible for Sri Raghava not to know of Her anguish

and agony. And once He decides to destroy Ravana and rescue Her, none can indeed

stand in His way. He is capable, as is Lakshmana, of destroying enemies like

mere flies. Given all this, Her continued suffering must indeed be due to Her

own fate, Her own intransigences and transgressions, big and small, which had

resulted in Her being apparently ignored by the brothers Rama. There was

absolutely no doubt about this, for it was otherwise inexplicable. When the man

was willing, capable and had adopted as His life's mission the protection of the

oppressed, what else could be the reason behind such indifference to Her

travails?

 

 

 

Sri Mythily speaks of sins (dushkritam), small (kinchit) and big (mahat), which

She must have committed, to merit such misery. Though She doesn't indicate what

could these offences be, our Poorvacharyas have delved deep into the Epic and

brought out with difficulty two possible occasions of inappropriate speech on

the part of Piratti.

 

 

 

While leaving for His fourteen-year exile in the woods, Sri Rama categorically

declines to take Sita along, pointing out the innumerable terrors and travails

the jungle holds for the delicate Princess, who had known nothing but luxury

since birth. He argues convincingly (but not convincingly enough for His wife),

that Her place is at Ayodhya, looking after the aged in-laws. Driven by Her

boundless love for the Prince of Ayodhya and by the desire to be with Him

always, in pleasure or in pain, in comfort or in distress, in regal splendour or

in a penniless state, motivated solely by Her repugnance for an existence,

however luxurious, apart from Her caring Consort, Sri Mythily argues vehemently

with Sri Rama, repudiating each and every one of His seasoned arguments in

favour of Her staying back at Ayodhya. When even the ultimate arsenal of women,

copious tears, fails to move the Prince, in Her anxiety to avoid separation from

Her beloved, Piratti uses a few words which constiute the ultimate insult to any

man, that of doubting His masculinity and prowess. When Rama refuses steadfastly

to take Her along, Sita tells Him in anger and despair that it was indeed a pity

that Her father should have married Her off to a woman in a man's garb, for, the

reluctance to have Her accompany Him to the jungle and to protect Her from all

that might happen en route, signified the existence of an yellow streak in Rama,

which was the hallmark not of the scion of the famed IkshvAku dynasty, but that

of a cowardly woman. Here are the hurting words of Mythily, uttered in anger and

haste and repented at distressful leisure-

 

 

 

" kim tvA manyata VaidEha: pita mE MithilAdhipa:

 

Rama jAmAtaram prApya striyam purusha vigraham "

 

 

 

Some may feel, how could Sita have uttered such words to Rama, who was the

personification of bravery, virility and matchless prowess, as demonstrated at

the very first encounter with Sita, through the masterful handling of the Shiva

dhanus? And are these not words behoving a much lesser mortal than Piratti,

acclaimed as the embodiment of all possible virtue? The Pativrata that She was,

how was it possible for Her to have spoken such harsh words as would be deeply

hurtful to even the most ordinary of mortals and more so to Raghunandana?

 

 

 

Sri Valmiki justifies Sita's conduct by trotting out the excuse that it was

prompted not by a desire to insult or to get the better of the spouse in a

verbal skirmish, or even as a matter of egoistic eccentricity. " praNayAt Eva

samkruddhA " says the Maharshi, confirming that Sita's speech of anger and

anguish was born solely from overwhelming love and boundless affection, making

it impossible for Janakanandini to think of an existence bereft of Rama.

Shastras permit the usage of four strategies for achievement of any goal-SAmam,

bhEdam, dAnam and dandam-the last one, force or coercive action, to be

undertaken when all else fails. It was this strategy that Sita adopted in

calling Him a woman, having failed to impress Raghava with all Her forceful,

impassioned and well-reasoned out arguments.

 

 

 

Acharyas aver that it is these barbs of hurt hurled at Her spouse that Sri

Mythily means, when She talks of " dushkritam kinchit " -some minor misdemeanour.

One is surprised-if uttering the ultimate unsult, that of casting aspersions on

the husband's masculinity, that too of no less a person than the Paramapurusha,

is to be termed a minor misdemeanour, what indeed could be the major one?

 

 

 

-to be continued-

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan