Sītā Bhūpraveśa (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa)

The Bhūpraveśa of Sītā (her entering the earth) is told in the Uttara Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa. At Rāma’s Aśvamedha yajña, Kuśa and Lava had sung the Rāmāyaṇa and been known as Rāma’s sons. Vālmīki then brought Sītā before the whole assembly. Rāma asked her to affirm her purity in front of everyone. Sītā prayed to Bhūmi Devī, the earth devī and her divine mother, and made one oath on truth. The earth opened, Bhūmi Devī rose on a divine throne and took Sītā into the earth.

The public assembly

All the great ṛshis, kings and devas of that age came to Rāma’s Aśvamedha yajña. It was a gathering on the largest scale, a supreme royal yajña that drew the whole world. Into this assembly came Kuśa and Lava. Their singing of the Rāmāyaṇa had already led people to know them as Rāma’s sons. Now Vālmīki brought Sītā.

She came into the assembly dressed in the bark and hide of a tapasvinī (a woman who does tapas), the clothes of the āśrama where she had lived for years since her banishment. Her hair was matted. Her face showed grief and inner peace together. Years had passed since she left Ayodhyā. She saw her sons, but they stood in the assembly like others, since the public nature of the moment left no room for a private meeting. This is told in chapter 99.

Rāma’s request

Rāma spoke to Sītā in the assembly. His words were neither harsh nor false. They had the weight of a king speaking in public and of a husband speaking to the woman he loved.

He asked her to affirm her purity before the whole gathering: the ṛshis, the kings, the devas and all the people. In this way the loka-apavāda (the public reproach that had led to her banishment) could be answered and laid to rest. He made clear that he himself had never doubted her. The agni-parīkshā (trial by fire) in Laṅkā had been the confirmation given by the devas themselves. But the assembly and the people needed this public declaration. This is told in chapter 99.

Sītā’s declaration

Sītā stood before the assembly, fully calm. Loka-apavāda had parted her from Rāma. She had lived alone in the forest, with child. She had raised her sons for years in Vālmīki’s āśrama. She had borne all of it in perfect faith to her dharma. And now she was asked to prove it in public.

She did not protest the wrong. She spoke her prayer straight to Bhūmi Devī, the earth devī, from whose body she was born. She had come out of the earth in the yajña-kuṇḍa (fire pit) of Janaka, and she was the daughter of Bhūmi Devī as much as of Janaka.

“If in thought, word, and deed I have been faithful to Śrī Rāma and to no one else, if this is the truth of my whole life, then let my mother the earth receive me.”

This was a satya-śapatha, an oath on truth. In the Vedic world, the oath on truth of a true person has the power to move reality itself. This is told in chapter 100.

Bhūmi Devī appears

Bhūmi Devī, the earth devī and mother of Sītā, appeared. The ground in front of Sītā opened with a great sound. From the opening rose a magnificent divine siṃhāsana (lion-throne), richly carved, carried by nāgas and bright with jewels. Bhūmi Devī herself sat on it, in her shining divine form.

Bhūmi Devī reached out and took hold of Sītā. Sītā stepped onto the throne. The throne went down into the earth, and the ground closed over them.

Sītā was gone. This is told in chapter 100.

The assembly’s response

The whole assembly was shocked, and then filled with sorrow. Flowers rained from the sky, and the devas showed that they accepted the truth of Sītā’s oath and the power of her purity. For Rāma it was a loss beyond words. He had just known his sons, and had seen Sītā after years apart. Now she was gone, returned to her divine origin, never to come back.

Rāma’s grief was very great and he could not be held back from it. He could not be comforted for a long time. This is told in chapter 100.

What the Vaishṇava tradition understands

The Vaishṇava tradition understands the Bhūpraveśa of Sītā in this way.

Sītā was not only the daughter of Janaka. She was Mahālakshmī, who took a human form to go with Rāma, the avatāra (incarnation) of Vishṇu. She was also the daughter of Bhūmi Devī (the earth). Her return to Bhūmi Devī at the end of her human life completed the course of her avatāra. Just as Rāma would soon return to his divine form as Vishṇu, at the Sarayū, Sītā returned to Bhūmi Devī and from there to Vaikuṇṭha.

She made this return before the whole assembled world, which was the clearest sign of her purity.

Sources

• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa, chapters 99–100