Ordeal by Fire--1

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

Ordeal by Fire--1

 

 

When we hold someone very dear to us, we lavish all our love, affection and care

on the loved one and spare no effort to ensure his or her comfort and well

being.

 

What would happen if we were to be separated from the beloved person, due to

circumstances beyond our control? We would be beside ourselves with worry and

sorrow and would make every possible effort to ascertain the whereabouts and

bring back the dear one at all cost, moving heaven and earth in the process. For

instance, we find that parents are prepared to pay any sum within (and often

beyond) their means, to regain a kidnapped son or daughter. The amount of

ransoms that have been paid to abductors the world over for the release of near

and dear relatives would easily amount to astronomical sums beyond anyone's

imagination.

 

 

 

Well, after monumental effort and sacrifice, when we regain the lost person,

what would we do with him or her? (for convenience's sake, let us treat the

person as a " him " ). We would lock him in a bear hug, unwilling to let go of the

precious person lest he be lost again. We would look at him for long as if for

the first time, smother him with endearments and take all possible measures to

ensure his inseparable presence thenceforth. We would thus treat him with

greater love and care than before and would not even let him out of our sight.

 

 

 

Contrary to such accepted norms of behaviour towards a lost and regained person,

would we ever throw him into the fire, immediately after his return? Would we

deliberately heap insults on the poor person, who too has undergone quite a lot

of trials and tribulations during the period of separation from us? Would we

disappoint him by turning to him a cold and unsmiling face, making him anything

but welcome? No right-thinking person would answer, " Yes " to the aforesaid

questions, nor would anyone even think of adopting such conduct.

 

 

 

However, someone did conduct himself in such a fashion towards a long-lost and

dear relative. And this someone was not just anyone, but someone whom we hold in

high esteem and regard, someone we have put on a very high pedestal and consider

worthy of unending adulation. And it is this conduct that has raised irreverent

and perhaps unwarranted questions in our minds from time immemorial, making us

wonder whether there indeed was a minor, cruel streak in this someone, which

remained hidden and reared its ugly head when the occasion arose.

 

 

 

The hard-fought battle of Lanka has just concluded. The entire exercise,

involving considerable blood-letting and loss of innumerable lives, has been

directed towards securing the release of Sri Janaki, abducted and kept prisoner

by Ravana. Ravana is now dead, all his ten heads cut off by the Rama bANam. Sri

VibhishaNa has been anointed the King of Lanka. Then, and only then, after all

these have happened, does Sri Rama remember the very objective for which He and

the entire vAnara sEnA have been toiling for months together and shed blood and

sweat for. Even then, He does not go in person to Ashoka Vanika, where His

beloved Sita has been languishing for long, to fold Her in a tight embrace, as

would any husband-He just sends a message through Sri Hanuman, about Ravana's

demise and Her own freedom. It is left for Hanuman to remind his Master to have

a look at His ladylove, pining away for Him, for whose sake the entire

monumental endeavour had been undertaken-

 

 

 

" yannimita: ayam Arambha: karmaNAm cha phalOchaya:

 

tAm dEvIm shOka santaptAm MaithilIm drashtum arhasi " .

 

 

 

It is indeed ironic that Sri Rama needs to be reminded to see His beloved Sita,

after months of separation.

 

 

 

So reminded, Sri Raghava tells Vibhishana to bring Sri Sita to Him, duly bathed

and bedecked in all finery. Sri Janaki, however, refuses initially to decorate

Herself and prefers Her Lord to see Her as She is, clothed in dirty and torn

apparel, Her face and body unwashed and long hair unkempt. However, when

Vibhishana insists, quoting Sri Raghava, She complies, and comes to Sri Rama in

all Her original splendour, borne in a palanquin.

 

 

 

What do we expect Sri Rama to do, at least belatedly? Even if He were not to

embrace Her in public, (since display of intimacy in public was out of the

question), we expect Him to have looked at Her with eyes brimming over with

love, conveying the thousand endearments which could not be said in words in

public. We expect Him to console Her over the torrid times She had undergone and

to assure Her that all that was past and the future would definitely be a bed of

roses. We expect Him to give Her a detailed account of the suffering that He

Himself underwent due to Her separation and to tell Her how badly She was

missed.

 

 

 

Sri Rama does not do any of the things normally expected of Him. When Sri

Mythily comes near and stands opposite Him, looking at His face with eyes

radiating love and relief and bursts into tears, what is the Prince's reaction?

He looks at Her with a heart and eyes full of anger and fury- " hridaya antargata

krOdhO vyAhartum upachakramE " . He doesn't even look Her in the face, but looks

out of the corner of His eyes, with His brows knit in anger- " sa baddhvA

bhrukutIm vaktrE tiryak prOkshita lOchana: " . He follows up this forbidding

glance with words apparently dipped in venom. He tells Her that whatever He has

done to vanquish the foe and rescue Her from his clutches was done to prove His

valour and to discharge a duty. He had thus fully performed what was required of

a husband, whose wife had been abducted, by destroying the abductor and setting

Her free. He had lived up to the standards of conduct prescribed for a scion of

the IkshvAku dynasty. He makes it clear that the entire exercise of Ravana

vadham etc. was not done for Her at all, but only to protect His own name from

the ignominy that attaches itself to a husband who is incapable of protecting

His wife or avenging an insult to Her- " na tvat arttham mayA krita: " . In venting

His fury, Sri Rama doesn't even wait for privacy, but hurts His ladylove with

whiplash-like words, in full hearing of the assembled crowd of vAnarAs and

rAkshasAs- " abraveet parusham SItAm madhyE vAnara rakshasAm " .

 

 

 

And what are the words of venom that the Prince directs at the helpless Sita,

who is terribly bewildered at Her husband's totally incredible reaction? He lets

Her hear what is probably the most mortal of insults that could ever be hurled

at any woman-that He suspects Her fidelity- " prApta chAritra sandEhA " . He says

He hates Her- " pratikoolOsi mE dridam " . And to crown all other insults He has

heaped on the unprotesting Janaki, He tells Her that She is free to go with any

man of Her choice. Adding insult to injury, Sri Rama, the famed soft-speaker

( " mridu bhAshI " ) tells Sita that She could go with Lakshmana, Bharata or for

that matter, even with Sugreeva or Vibhishana, as She pleased. " I have no use

for you " adds Rama, making His feelings abundantly clear, as if His earlier

words left any room for doubt.

 

 

 

My hand trembles even as I write these words, for, what could be worse for a

paragon of womanly virtue ( " nAreeNAm utttamA vadhoo " ) than to hear such words,

which fall in Her ears as molten lead? Are these words that any husband, leave

alone a model one like Sri Rama, would address to His wife? More so, are these

words to emanate from one who loved His wife verily like His own life

breath- " Ramasya dayitA bhAryA nityam prANa samA satI " ? Did Rama forget for the

nonce the glorious words of Sri Janaka at the time of giving his daughter in

marriage, describing Sita as the greatest of chaste women and as an unerring

adherent to the righteous path- " iyam Sita mama sutA sahadharma charI

tava..PativratA mahAbAgA cchAyEvAnugatA. " ? Are these words to be addressed to

the most virtuous of women, who even doubled as His mother in showering

affection and care, after the demise of Dasaratha? Are these really the words of

a Prince, who had previously hailed Her as being in every way an honour to the

IkshvAku vamsam? Are these indeed sounds out of the mouth of a man who called

Her, not so long back, as dearer to Him than His very life and His faithful

adherent in all DhArmic endeavours- " sa DharmachAriNi mE tvam prAnEbhyOpi

garIyasI " ?

 

 

 

If it is difficult for us, living millennia later, to stomach such pitiless

insults hurled at the hapless Janaki, imagine how Piratti Herself would have

felt! Just imagine what a cruel shock it must have been to the damsel, who had

eagerly anticipated happy reunion with Her beloved after a prolonged spell of

separation, torture and torment, to be told that Her character was suspect and

that She could go and live with anyone of Her choice! How heart-breaking such

venomous words must have been to Her and what a cruel surprise to find that the

apparently unending spring of love in Her husband's heart had dried up all of a

sudden, to be replaced by a spout of pure venom!

 

 

 

Sri Valmiki too cries, as is evident from the slokas describing the episode. The

poet says that Sri Sita suffered a physical withdrawal into Herself, hurt beyond

measure by words, which were worse than poisonous arrows. She was almost dead

with the shame of hearing these insults spoken about Her, of all people, and

that too in front of a huge audience. Her tears were so profuse that they

covered Her entire body. Her body shook as a leaf caught in a hurricane and Her

sorrow became boundless. Before this ignominy, the torture and torment suffered

by Her at the hands of Dasagreeva and his minions paled into insignificance.

 

 

 

Any woman confronting such unjust accusations would react and react forcibly.

Any woman would perhaps hurl back equally hurting barbs at the accuser and vent

her justifiable anger at the unfair insults. Any woman would tell the husband to

go to hell and walk her own way-- any woman, that is, but not Sita. It is a

hallmark of Sri Janaki's exemplary character and virtue that She says not a word

out of place and merely appeals to Rama tearfully not to suspect Her, advancing

emotional but eminently logical arguments therefor.

 

 

 

And when Sri Rama remains as unmoved by Her distress as by Her words of reason,

Sri Janaki offers to enter the fire, to prove Her chastity beyond any doubt. She

performs a pradakshiNam of Sri Rama (who doesn't even look up), instructs

Lakshmana to make a fire. She says, " If it is true that I am totally

unblemished, if it is true that my conduct and character are the best possible

under all circumstances, if I am true to Sri Raghava by thought, word and deed,

then let the Fire God protect me! If not, let me be burnt to ashes!

 

If the ever vigilant witnesses to everybody's actions, comprised of the Sun, the

Wind, the Directions, the Moon, the two confluences of night and day, Mother

Earth and the others-if these witnesses know me to me of impeccable conduct and

as one whose allegiance is only to her husband, then let this fire protect me! " .

 

 

 

And so saying, She respectfully circles the fire and enters it, with absolutely

no concern for Her body, in full sight of the huge crowd that watches with

disbelief that this could be happening to the lOkamAta Herself. There is a huge

commotion emanating from the crowd, which is unable to stomach the incredible

sight and deed. A collective sigh of wonderment, incredulousness and sorrow

rends the air. Women, aghast at the episode, burst out in tears and beat their

breasts, unable to digest the insult meted out to the best of their species.

Even Sri Rama, whose heart has apparently turned to stone, is horrified at

Sita's sudden move and sheds tears at last (and so He ought to!).

 

 

 

---to be continued--

 

 

 

 

 

Srimae Sri LaksmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan