Sita: Epic Characters of Ramayana

By Smt. T. N. Saraswati

Sita, Kushadhwaja's daughter was Vedavathi who did severe tapas to win Vishnu as her husband. As Ravana tried to take her forcibly by her hair, she swore that he had defiled her and that she would be born as a woman just to destroy him. Thus, King Janaka found her as a baby in a box while ploughing the field. She was called Sita and came to be known as Maithili, Janaki and Vaidehi. When she grew up, King Janaka announced that he would get her married to the one who would string Shiva's bow. It was thus that Rama won her hand. Sita remained  an ideal wife  to him, following him to the forest and renouncing everything in the palace. If Anasuya blessed her by giving her a divine string of beads, sages in Agastya's ashram placed her among the greatest pathivrathas. He troubles started with the arrival of Shoorpanakha. Ravana then abducted her. All through her stay at the Asokavana in Lanka, she refused Ravana's offer to become his queen and in fact, did not succumb to his threats either. She was thrilled on meeting Hanuman and knowing that Rama and Lakshmana had left no stone unturned in their search for her. After Ravana was killed by Rama in a mighty battle and she was released, Rama wanted her to prove her fidelity. She prayed to Agnideva and entered the lit pyre. The Fire God then emerged with her and handed her over to Rama. In spite of this test, she had to prove her fidelity once more after Rama was crowned king and some people started suspecting her. Rama asked Lakshmana to leave a pregnant Sita in the forest near Sage Valmiki's hermitage. Sage Valmiki took care of her until she gave birth to twin boys. He then initiated them into education  and when they were grown up, he came to Ayodhya along with Sita, Lava and Kusha. Again when Sita was asked to prove her purity to the people of Ayodhya, she prayed to Mother Earth to vouchsafe for her. In no time, Mother Earth appeared seated on a divine throne. She beckoned to Sita to sit on her lap and simply disappeared. Sita led a life of suffering, yet she never complained even once. She remained a faithful and loving wife and truly a queen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana
• Release date: May 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9789389020755

Book preview

EPIC CHARACTERS OF RAMAYANA

Sita

Written by

Smt. T. N. Saraswati

Translated by

Prof. G. S. Mudambadithaya

© Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, Bengaluru. All rights reserved.

Published by:

Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana

C/o. Bharatha Darshana,

163, Manjunatha Road, 2nd Block,

Thyagarajanagar, Bangalure 560 028,

Ph: [phone], [phone]

bharathasamskruthi.com

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FOREWORD

Sri Srirangasadgurave Namah

Bharatha Samskruthi Prakashana, the intellectual and spiritual offspring of Bharatha Darshana, a premier publishing house of Bangalore, has been rendering yeoman services to the cause of literature, culture and its blossom, ‘The Epic Characters of the Mahabharatha,’ has bloomed in all splendor in the world of children’s literature and we have welcomed and blessed it. Now the second bud has blossomed in the form of ‘The Epic Characters of Ramayana’ and has already begun spreading its fragrance around. It is a set of books based on Ramayana. We welcome it and bless it.

There is a difference between the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha in style and treatment. There is no second opinion about differences regarding form, magnitude, delineation of characters and the time of composition of these two great epics. Srimad Ramayana is a pure epic in seven cantos. There are twenty four thousand stanzas. It is an epic par excellence dealing with a theme and characters who lived in tretayuga, composed by a contemporary poet. The Mahabharatha is essentially history. It is in eighteen parvas having hundred thousand stanzas. It deals with a theme and characters who lived in dwaparayuga, again composed by a contemporary poet. (There is a view that these two great epics depict the culture of different regions of this holy land and are composed by many poets and they portray the various events and circumstances which took place during the Aryan invasion of India. We do not agree with such views).

All the same these two epics provide us with the images of the Vedas. These are the essence of vedas, national epics of Bharatha and sources for thousands of books on our culture which followed them from the natural stream of poetical composition and enjoyment of literature. At the same time they are never drying sources of Purusharthas namely dharma, artha, kama and moksha. In the background of the struggle among human beings, they paint the struggle between the good and the evil very beautifully and announce to the world the message of victory of the good over the evil. These eloquent and learned creations, have a few universal and sovereign truths to give to the world and as a result they have occupied the pride of place among great literary works in the world.

Let the new series which is written in the same style and rhythm of the first, become popular among readers and become succour to our youth whose shelves are invaded by dirty and harmful literature. Let this series supply a charming stuff to our young readers. Let these attractive volumes provide them