Sītā Kuṇḍa (Gaṅgā)

Sītā Kuṇḍa is a holy tīrtha on the south bank of the Jāhnavī (the Gaṅgā). It rose at the place where Sītā took her oath before the royal assembly of Rāma and began to go down into the earth. It is also called Jānaki Kuṇḍa.

As Sītā went down with the throne of Bhūdevī, her hot sighs passed into pātāla (the lower world). From there they rose again as warm water through the surface of the earth. The spring is warm as fire, and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says it is so to this day.

Origin

Rāma was performing his hundredth Aśvamedha yajña. Kuśa and Lava had been brought to the assembly, and Vālmīki spoke for the pure character of Sītā. Rāma then asked Sītā to take an oath in public, so that all the kings, ṛshis and devas gathered there could see her innocence with their own eyes.

Sītā stood before the assembly in fine silk. She spoke the words of the tri-karaṇa śapatha (the oath of mind, speech and body): “If I have never thought of any other man in my mind, O Dhāraṇī Devī, give me a way into the earth.”

At that moment a divine throne, carried by nāgas, rose out of the earth. Bhūdevī welcomed Sītā with both hands and seated her on the throne with honour. The throne then began to go down into the earth again, carrying Sītā with it.

As Sītā went down, she was pressed by the sorrow of parting. She breathed deep, hot sighs (vēḍi niṭṭūrpulu). These sighs passed down into pātāla. From pātāla they rose upward as heated water and broke through the surface at the place of the oath, on the south bank of the Jāhnavī. This warm spring is Sītā Kuṇḍa. (Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Janma Kāṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Māhātmya

The Janma Kāṇḍa gives this māhātmya (glory) of Sītā Kuṇḍa on the Jāhnavī:

  • The water of the kuṇḍa is always warm as fire and stays so to this day, unlike any ordinary spring.
  • Only to meditate on Jānaki Kuṇḍa makes one’s fears go away.
  • Women who wish for the āyurvṛddhi (long life and flourishing) of their husbands should always turn to Sītā Kuṇḍa.

(Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Janma Kāṇḍa, Chapter 8)

Another Sītā Kuṇḍa

There is also a Sītā Kuṇḍa at the Setu kshetra, in the Rāmeśvaram region. Sītā Devī herself set up that kuṇḍa at the Setu. It freed Indra from brahmahatyā (the guilt of killing a brāhmaṇa), and it gives tṛpti (satisfaction) to the pitṛs and the devas. It is linked with the events of the war against Rāvaṇa and the crossing of the Setu.

The Sītā Kuṇḍa on the Jāhnavī is linked with the oath of Sītā at the Aśvamedha assembly and her going down into the earth. The two are separate tīrthas, each with its own origin and its own māhātmya.

Sources

  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Janma Kāṇḍa, Chapter 8