Sītā Vanavāsa Anugamana
Sītā’s wish to follow Rāma into the forest is one of the best-known passages of the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. Rāma had accepted Kaikeyī’s demand and was ready to go to the Daṇḍaka forest. Sītā said plainly that she would go with him. Rāma tried hard to turn her back and described the hardships of forest life. Sītā met each warning with her understanding of pativratā-dharma, the rule that the husband is the wife’s highest dharma and that she goes where he goes. Rāma accepted her decision.
Sītā learns of the exile
Rāma had heard the news from Daśaratha and had accepted the exile calmly. He then went to Sītā. He meant to go to the forest alone and leave Sītā in Ayodhyā, safe and comfortable in the palace. He told her gently that he was going to the forest. She must stay, serve his mother Kauśalyā and the other queens, honour Daśaratha, and wait for his return after fourteen years.
Sītā answered at once and without any doubt. She had no wish at all to stay in Ayodhyā while Rāma went to the forest. She would go with him. This is told in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 24 and 25.
Rāma’s warnings
Rāma made a sincere and long effort to turn Sītā from her wish. He described the hardships of forest life in detail.
- The forest is full of danger: wild animals, serpents, thorns, and rough ground.
- The nights in the forest are cold and are spent on bare ground, with no soft bed.
- Food is uncertain. There are only roots and berries, not the fine food of the palace.
- The rains come with no shelter, and the sun burns with no shade.
- She had always lived in comfort, and the forest would be a trial of suffering for her.
- He could not bear to see her suffer, and he could protect her better if he knew she was safe in Ayodhyā.
He urged her to stay, to serve the queens and Daśaratha, and to wait for his return. The forest, he said, was no place for a woman raised as she had been. This is told in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 25.
Sītā’s reply
Sītā answered with her whole understanding of the ideal of the pativratā (the faithful wife). She spoke with a force and fullness that left no room for further objection.
On the husband. The husband is the wife’s highest dharma. He is her deva (the one she honours above all), her svarga, and her first duty. Where the husband goes, the wife must go. This is not a choice or a liking. It is the basic rule of a dharmic marriage. A woman who stays in comfort in the palace while her husband suffers in the forest has failed in her own first dharma.
On hardship. What hardship can a wife have in any state, so long as her husband is with her? The cold ground with Rāma would be softer than the finest bed in Ayodhyā without him. The roots and berries of the forest would feed her better than the best palace food eaten while Rāma was away. When the husband is present, every difficulty turns into joy.
On the examples of the tradition. Sītā named the wisdom of the ṛshis and the examples of virtuous women through the tradition. These were women who had followed their husbands into exile, poverty, and hardship, and who had found dharma and moksha through that very following.
On Rāma’s power to protect her. If Rāma could protect others in the forest, the ṛshis and the tāpasas (those who practise tapas), he could protect his own wife. She had no fear as long as he was beside her.
Her last appeal was simple and sharp. She had been trained all her life for dharma. If she gave up her dharma at the very moment it asked something of her, what was that training worth? This is told in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 25 to 27.
Rāma agrees
Rāma could not answer arguments that were both fully dharmic and born of true love. He accepted Sītā’s decision. He asked her to give away the rest of her palace ornaments and wealth as gifts before leaving, and to make her preparations. Sītā did so gladly. She gave away her possessions with the joy of one who puts down a burden. This is told in the Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapter 27.
Sources
- Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Chapters 24 to 27