Ode To Sita
I have been ineterested in mythology for a long time now but Ive never realised the importance of Sita till recently. She was the most opressed character in the entire epic and has never got her deserved due throughout history.
The origin of birth for the sceptics of mythology and for those who try to find scientific explanations in these stories(people like me) have always been baffled to the rational explanation of Sita's birth. She was supposedly found from inside mother earth and infact shes considered the daughter of mother earth. This was later taken as the pretext for her death where she was taken back by her mother. A plausible explanation could be that she was buried alive. But this seems unimaginable under the context that she was brought back to Ayodhya under Rams insistance.
Coming from an affluent kings house and proceeding to the forest was the biggest sacrifice that Sita made when she could have very well enjoyed the comforts of palatial Ayodhya or Mithila for that matter. But her greatest power comes from the fact that she was able to withstand the advances of Ravan in his own territory just by the power of her chastity and loyalty. Although there is no formal verification for this can be taken for granted as there would be no reason for war if Sita had infact submitted to Ravans wishes. Sita infact was probably the only reason why the reign of a demon king came to an end.
Even Rams true form, his human nature was brought out by Sita. Though it was not by her virtue but by suspicion of her character. I mean how else could God not know about the chastity of his own wife. This furtheres my belief that Ram was infact a human deity like many of the present day. The only way in which Sita gets her due nowadays is by her virtue of being Rams wife. Infact she rarely has an identity of her own. Its the most grievous offence in Indian history. Thank God for the fact that the couple is addressed as Sita-Ram and not the other way around. Its the only little payback we could have possibly done. Sita is the greatest lady in Indian Mythology cum history and probably will nver get what she deserves....not till we understand that it was she who made Ram and not the other way around.
The origin of birth for the sceptics of mythology and for those who try to find scientific explanations in these stories(people like me) have always been baffled to the rational explanation of Sita's birth. She was supposedly found from inside mother earth and infact shes considered the daughter of mother earth. This was later taken as the pretext for her death where she was taken back by her mother. A plausible explanation could be that she was buried alive. But this seems unimaginable under the context that she was brought back to Ayodhya under Rams insistance.
Coming from an affluent kings house and proceeding to the forest was the biggest sacrifice that Sita made when she could have very well enjoyed the comforts of palatial Ayodhya or Mithila for that matter. But her greatest power comes from the fact that she was able to withstand the advances of Ravan in his own territory just by the power of her chastity and loyalty. Although there is no formal verification for this can be taken for granted as there would be no reason for war if Sita had infact submitted to Ravans wishes. Sita infact was probably the only reason why the reign of a demon king came to an end.
Even Rams true form, his human nature was brought out by Sita. Though it was not by her virtue but by suspicion of her character. I mean how else could God not know about the chastity of his own wife. This furtheres my belief that Ram was infact a human deity like many of the present day. The only way in which Sita gets her due nowadays is by her virtue of being Rams wife. Infact she rarely has an identity of her own. Its the most grievous offence in Indian history. Thank God for the fact that the couple is addressed as Sita-Ram and not the other way around. Its the only little payback we could have possibly done. Sita is the greatest lady in Indian Mythology cum history and probably will nver get what she deserves....not till we understand that it was she who made Ram and not the other way around.
posted by Psychohistorian at 8:45 AM
3 Comments:
:-))...it's just insane...I believe ppl who believe that Sita was a real character are nothing more than just ppl tied to these mythologies which wereso damn bound to their period. You have a very innovative way of looking at things but I hate to say that you are one of them too.
To begin with, the potrayal of a woman in the form of Sita was the biggest evidence of the parochial and stunted vision of the author.
To think that a woman should be respected for her chastity is the biggest absurdity that can ever creep into any society and we, Indians, have been one of the pioneers of such concepts.
To think that a woman should be respected for her sacrifices for anyone is another blooper in the history of humanity.
Can't you just see...it's looking at a woman's image as a man sees it- saturated with an immense amount of insecurity.
Just becoz a man cannot share his wife with someone, he makes chastity a virtue, while no such "virtues" are made for him!!
Just becoz he thinks that if there's no one who can cook, clean, take care of babies and houshold- he makes sacrifice of her personal pleasures to be virtue too.
The problem lies in the defintion of chastity and sacrifice in terms of mens' own perverted vision about things like sex.If only Valmiki had understood and if only u can understand... that while talking about chastity, you are thinking all the time about sex
and that considering sacrifices as the basis of a system of highest moral value is the coldest and the most emotionless to go about forming a social structure.
:-)
I pray you read my post again. At no point of time have I said that chastity is a virtue. Neither have I mentioned sacrifice as one. Infact sacrifice is a vice and its because of this vice that Sita has been punished by history. You will try and recount that in history those who follow their pleasures without interfering into other spheres do ultimately succeed.
Sita was a victim of her owm purity. Chastity is not only physical but also mental. Sita was a puritan by mind and and more so. I believe in Sita to be a real character. Infact I do take her to be part of history which has been altered to the point where humans have been regarded as deities. And believe me an epic like Ramayana and Mahabharata are not tied to the period. They go well beyond. To the study of politics,the study of nuclear science, the study of geographics and the study of a nation. Do disregard these epics is to disregard a time which has unnecessarily been made esoteric to reach other ends of people who wield power through mysticism.
Love it or leave it. Sita lives...in her true pure form....I dont call it a virtue....I just call an ace an ace and nothing else
Reply continued:
Lets consider the word chastity in the contaxt where it was used in the Ramayana. All it meant was incorruptible. As simple as that. That which can not desecrated. It was that part of Sita. It may have been her body,it may have been her mind...it may have been her other posessions like her clothes or her love for Ram. These were sacred. Mind you this may not sound sacred to you, because you possibly could not feel the way she did, but they were those beliefs which held her existence. And she was true to her existence. This is what Valmiki meant by the power of her chastity. This is how he brought out the strength of a woman. It is not the author who is weak. The weakness lies in the mind of the reader who simply refuses to go beyond the literal meaning. Infact this was the purpose of all mythological tales which were meant as historic texts...written in poetic form to bring out the beauty of language and the beauty of a metaphor. Learning to recognize the metaphor or to recognize it as mystic rubbish is left to the reader. The author has no part to play in these conclusions
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