Rāvaṇa Sītā Sambhāshaṇam

During her captivity in the Aśoka Vaṭikā of Laṅkā, Sītā Devī was visited again and again by Rāvaṇa. He came as one who begs, as one who boasts, and as one who threatens, and each time he tried to make her accept him as her husband. He spoke of his conquests, his wealth and his power over the three worlds. He said it was foolish to wait for a king who had been sent away from his kingdom. Sītā was not moved at all. She held a blade of grass before her, to put something between herself and Rāvaṇa as a mark of what is proper. She refused him each time. She spoke plainly of dharma and of the sure end of one who wrongs the wife of a great man. These meetings show Sītā’s courage and her steadfastness. The account is in the Sundara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Chapters 16–22.

Rāvaṇa’s first approach

Before dawn Rāvaṇa came to the Aśoka Vaṭikā with the royal women around him. He wore all his crowns and ornaments. He was the ten-headed king at the height of his power. He stood before Sītā and began with flattery. He said she was the most beautiful woman in the three worlds. He said her beauty was wasted in this garden. He said she should accept him and become the first of his queens, ruling Laṅkā with him in complete comfort. He offered her jewels, wealth, and power over all the women of his house. He spoke of the size of his rule: the island city of gold, his rule over the devas and asuras, and the treasure that poured in to him from every corner of the earth.

Sītā answered by placing a blade of grass between herself and Rāvaṇa. This was both a sign and a practical act. It kept the sacred distance that was proper when she spoke with a man who was not her husband. She said without fear: “You speak of your power and wealth, but Rāma is my husband. One who touches the wife of a powerful man invites his own destruction. The wives of Brahmā, Indra, Varuṇa, Yama and Kubera are his by conquest if he wished, yet their lords live. But no woman of virtue will turn toward you, and no such woman gives happiness.” This is in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 16–17.

Rāvaṇa speaks of himself

On later visits Rāvaṇa changed his way. He spoke at length about his own deeds. He told how he had conquered Svarga and how Indra had run from him. He said that no deva, no asura and no human king could stand against him. He described his victories in every part of the universe. He asked why Sītā still longed for a mortal king who lived in a forest, had lost his kingdom, and had only a few vānaras for company. Surely she could see that Rāma could never reach her. The ocean lay between them, the walls of Laṅkā could not be broken, and no force on earth could face Rāvaṇa in battle. In his words, her love for Rāma was only stubbornness against what was plain to see. This is in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 18–19.

Sītā’s answers

Sītā listened to each boast and each plea with the same calm. To his praise of himself she replied that he spoke of power, but power used against dharma is the surest road to ruin. A man who steals another man’s wife carries the pāpa (sin) of the world on his head. She reminded him of the old examples of kings who were destroyed by this very wrong. She told him plainly: “In carrying me away you have set your foot on the sharp edge of destruction. You carry a burning coal and think it a flower. You carry poison and think it nectar.” This is in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 20.

The threat of death

When his sweet words kept failing, Rāvaṇa lost patience. He set a deadline. He gave Sītā one year, of which two months had already passed, to accept him. If she did not give way in that time, his cooks would prepare her as his morning meal. He left in anger. At once the rākshasīs who guarded Sītā made things worse for her. They stood round her with threats, ground their teeth, waved their weapons, and described the different ways in which she would be eaten. Sītā bore all of it. She wept only when alone, and never in front of Rāvaṇa or the rākshasīs, so that they would not have the pleasure of her tears. This is in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapter 22.

Sītā’s steadfast mind

Even at the lowest moments of her trial, Sītā’s mind never turned toward Rāvaṇa. Her love for Rāma filled her inner life so fully that all of Rāvaṇa’s pressure and temptation found nothing to hold on to. She held the blade of grass as a statement of principle: something, even the smallest thing, stands between her and this wrong, and she will not cross it. This is in Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 16–22.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Sundara Kāṇḍa, Chapters 16–22 (Chapters 16–17, 18–19, 20 and 22 for the speeches above)