Durgā Sītā Revelation

In the twelfth sarga of the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Bhagavān Rāma is parted from his companions during a hunt in the forest. A bhilla woman (a woman of the forest-dwelling tribal people) sends him to a nearby temple of Durgā. A voice from the closed temple tells him that Durgā is Sītā, and that Rāma is Śiva. Durgā then appears to him as Sītā.

Rāma parted from his companions

While hunting in the forest, Bhagavān Rāma became separated from his companions and his retinue. The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa tells this as an arranged event. Through it a bhilla community and a tīrtha (holy place) were to receive his blessing and grace.

The bhilla woman and the temple

A bhilla woman met Rāma in the forest. She directed him to a Durgā temple that stood nearby. Local women brought food for Rāma and welcomed him with the simple kindness of the forest people.

The voice from the closed temple

When Rāma came to the Durgā temple, its doors were closed. A voice spoke from inside the temple:

“I am Sītā. Rāma is Śiva. Therefore, you must first worship Śiva, who is yourself, and then come to me.”

Durgā appears as Sītā

Rāma did the worship that the moment asked for. Then Durgā appeared before him in her sāttvika form. This is the bright and calm one of her three forms. The other two are the rājasika and the tāmasika. In this sāttvika form she was Sītā, with the same face and the same radiance.

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa names Mahāmāyā, Durgā, Bhavānī and Sītā as one and the same primal śakti (power), who is always the consort of Rāma.

The arrow and the spring

Rāma shot an arrow. Where it struck, a spring of water rose from the earth. The spring became a tīrtha connected with this meeting.

The vara of the name Rāmā

The local women had brought food and had been present at this meeting. Rāma gave them a vara (a boon): the name “Rāmā”, the feminine form of his own name. This made Rāmā an auspicious name for women.

The Rāma-mudrā vastra discourse

After this, Rāma spoke to the assembled munis about the Rāma-mudrā vastra. This is a cloth stamped with Rāma’s mudrā (sacred seal). He taught how such a cloth is to be worn, when it may be worn and when it may not, and what protection it gives as a cloth that carries Rāma’s authority. This teaching is kept in the Rāma-mudrā vastra section of the khaṇḍa.

Sources

• Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, chapter 12 (sarga 12)