Sītā’s Abandonment (Padma Purāṇa)

After ruling Ayodhyā righteously for over a thousand years, Rāma heard a washerman speak against Sītā. Placing his spotless fame above every personal bond, he told Lakshmaṇa to leave Sītā in the forest. The ṛshi Vālmīki sheltered her, and in his āśrama (hermitage) she gave birth to the twins Kuśa and Lava.

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa gives its own account of this turning point in Rāma’s life. It also traces the washerman’s words back to an earlier birth.

The washerman’s censure and where it began

The Pātāla Khaṇḍa tells how the washerman came to speak. Before Rāma was born, the young Sītā was playing in the garden of Janaka’s palace in Mithilā. She met a charming pair of parrots. They were singing of Rāma’s future greatness, which they had learned by hearing Vālmīki’s disciples sing Rāma’s coming deeds. Sītā was delighted and had her friends catch the pair.

She let the male parrot go, but she held back the female parrot, who was expecting young. The female parrot begged to be freed. She said she would die of grief if she were parted from her husband. The male parrot pleaded as well: “I shall not live without my wife. Release her.” Sītā would not give way.

Overcome with misery, the female parrot spoke a śāpa (a curse) on Sītā: “As you are separating me from my husband, in the same way you will be separated from Rāma when you are with child.” Then she died of grief, parted from her husband.

The male parrot burned with grief, love and anger together. He plunged into the Gaṅgā and said: “In Rāma’s city I will be born as a Śūdra, so that through my words she will be separated from her husband.” Because of his anger and grief at the moment of death, he was born as a Śūdra washerman in Ayodhyā. In time he spoke the words of censure that led straight to Sītā’s abandonment.

The śāpa of the parrot’s wife and the vow of the male parrot to be reborn together made the chain that brought about this separation. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 57)

Rāma’s decision

Rāma heard the washerman’s words about Sītā’s purity. He felt that his fame, the spotless name of the Raghu line, was at stake. He called his brothers Bharata, Śatrughna and Lakshmaṇa one by one. Each of them fell unconscious on hearing the news, so painful was it.

Rāma said: “Though I know her to be without pāpa, I am abandoning her because of what the people say. For the sake of my fame I shall give up everything, even Sītā. My brother, my wife and my kinsmen are not so dear to me as my beloved, spotless fame, known in the world.”

Lakshmaṇa argued with great feeling: “Is Gaṅgā not honoured because men who have pāpa also touch her? Does the sun not rise because owls do not like it? Accept this wife, whom only a Śūdra has spoken against.”

Rāma did not change his mind. At last he said to Lakshmaṇa: “Tonight, on the pretext of fulfilling Sītā’s dear wish to see the female ascetics, put her in a chariot and leave her in the great forest.”

Lakshmaṇa compared himself to Jamadagni’s son, who killed his own mother at his father’s order. He accepted this as the command of an elder that cannot be avoided, and he agreed. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 58)

The abandonment

Lakshmaṇa went to Sītā’s rooms and said: “Rāma has sent me to take you to see the female ascetics in the forest, as you have long wished.”

Sītā was glad at the news. She gathered garments, ornaments, gems, pearls, camphor and sandalwood as gifts for the ascetic women and climbed into the chariot. As she stepped over the threshold she stumbled. It was an ill omen, and she did not take notice of it.

Lakshmaṇa took her across the Gaṅgā by boat and led her into a fearful deep forest, where wild fire burned and fierce animals roamed. Sītā sensed the truth. She asked Lakshmaṇa why she saw no āśramas and why his eyes were full of tears. His throat was choked and he kept repenting. At last he told her the reason.

She fell down like a creeper whose roots are cut. She said: “How does Raghunātha, who held back the ocean for my sake with the monkeys, abandon me because of the words of a washerman?”

She fainted again and again and woke again. Her last message to Lakshmaṇa was this: “Tell Rāma: ‘Even knowing me to be without pāpa, you abandoned me. O lord of the earth, may you alone be my husband in every birth.’ Tell my mothers-in-law: ‘I am abandoned, though innocent, in this fierce forest.’ Now I shall keep Rāma’s seed safe in my womb and live in the forest.”

Lakshmaṇa saluted her and turned back sorrowfully, crossing the Gaṅgā. Sītā watched him go out of sight. She fell unconscious again and again, calling “Rāma, Rāma.” (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59)

Vālmīki’s shelter

At that moment Vālmīki had come to the forest, and he heard piteous weeping. He sent his disciples, and they found Sītā. He went to her himself and greeted her with a blessing: “Live long with your husband. May you have two bright sons.”

Sītā told him who she was: the servant of Raghunātha, abandoned though she had done no wrong. Vālmīki said that he was her father’s teacher. He led her gently to his āśrama and said: “Think of this as your father’s house in another place. Let me be the one who is angry with the king, not you.”

The sons of the ṛshis built a lovely leaf hut for Sītā in the āśrama. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 59)

The birth of Kuśa and Lava

In Vālmīki’s āśrama Sītā gave birth to twin sons, who lit up the ten directions. Vālmīki named them Kuśa and Lava. They grew strong and bright, as the moon grows in the bright fortnight.

Vālmīki performed all the saṃskāras (rites of passage) for them, including the sacred thread ceremony. He taught them the four Vedas with their aṅgas, the Upanishads, Āyurveda, archery, the science of weapons, the lore of magic and the art of music.

The two boys were skilled in every art. They sang on the banks of the Gaṅgā, in bowers of creepers and in forest groves. Their music held both wild animals and celestial beings spellbound.

Vālmīki gave them all the divine missiles. He composed the holy Rāmāyaṇa and taught it to Kuśa and Lava.

One night Varuṇa took both boys to his realm under the water to hear their music. He was so delighted that he delayed their return. Vālmīki himself went to Varuṇa’s realm to bring them back. Varuṇa praised the glory of Sītā and urged Vālmīki to ask Rāma to take her back. (Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 59 and 66)

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 56–59
• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapter 66