Page 17 - GALIET LOVE AND DUTY´S LOTUS: Rama and Sita IV

Galiet & Galiet
In time of crisis, both dutiful Rama and beautiful Sita feel anger and frustration and give vent to their feelings. However, Sita self-possession is heroic considering her vulnerability. When pregnant Sita is abandoned in the forest, despite her helplessness at her sorrowful fate35, she remains self-possessed36 and devoted to King Rama in word and deed. She sends an outstanding message of genuine understanding and goodwill to Rama. She asks Lakshmana to convey to her beloved King Rama that “she is thoroughly devoted to him and that her character remains pure.”37 She also says that, “she still respects him because she understands that the reason why she has been abandoned is because Rama fears public opinion.”38 As if it wasn’t enough, her goodwill message also serves to remind Rama of his duties: “he should be affectionate towards his people as he does his own brothers and act in manner by which he may be free from all calumny.” Again, and again, we are brought to admire Sita’s complete loving devotion and her dharma when she reiterates to King Rama that, “the husband to a woman is her higher lord, friend and preceptor. A woman should even sacrifice her insignificant life for the good of her husband.”39 Sita’s complete devotion and empathy with her husband’s dilemma under her precarious circumstances becomes divine: she comes to represent “that which expands and is expanded:” the foremost ideal of selflessness, of sacrifice and of love 3⁄4 undifferentiated into oneness.
Although Rama and Sita’s devotion is subjected to great trials, they meet these trials and tribulations with determination and courage emerging as hero and heroine and ideal role models for men and women under a classical and patriarchal society. Indeed, to face double exile from her beloved Ayodhya, double rejection from her beloved husband and to be pregnant with two boys, symbols perhaps of his double neglect and her double devotion, shows her forbearance and strength of character within her cultural context. However, Sita’s composure and values would seem utterly unnatural in our age and cultural milieu. She would be
35 She attributes her state to past karma.
36 Sita is a remarkable character. The only time she losses her composure is when she hysterically yells at Lakshmana so that he may go rescue Rama from impeding peril.
37 Nagaiah, Samudralala. An Appreciation of Valmiki’s Ramayana. Tirupati: Nagaiah, 1981
38 Nagaiah, Samudralala. An Appreciation of Valmiki’s Ramayana. Tirupati: Nagaiah, 1981.
39 Nagaiah, Samudralala. An Appreciation of Valmiki’s Ramayana. Tirupati: Nagaiah, 1981. (VII-48-17,18) 291
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