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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



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




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