Sītā’s Exile (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa)

The Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa tells this. Rāma hears from a spy what a washerman has said about Sītā. He thinks it over all night. In the morning, with great sorrow, he tells Lakshmaṇa to take Sītā to the forest and leave her there. Two things run side by side. Outwardly Rāma keeps loka-maryādā (respect for what the people think), whatever it costs him. Inwardly, the real Sītā has already withdrawn her divine presence and only a chāyā (shadow form) remains. Vālmīki receives her in the forest, and Kuśa and Lava are born in his āśrama.

The washerman’s words

Rāma sent spies (cārāḥ) through the kingdom to learn what the people really thought. One evening, when his court duties were done, he called his spies to give their reports in private. The spy Bhadra came last, with a hesitant, downcast face. At last he told what he had seen. In a washerman’s colony, a man had driven his wife out of the house in a quarrel. He had said plainly that he was not like Rāma, who had taken back a woman who had lived in Rāvaṇa’s palace in Laṅkā.

The words struck Rāma’s ears like sharp weapons. He sat in silence and took in the report. He sent Bhadra away kindly and went to his private chamber. He did not sleep that night. He stayed alone and thought about what had been said. He did not doubt Sītā’s purity, which he knew beyond any doubt. But a king who keeps dharma must set a standard that the people can follow, and a king’s household must be free of every shadow of blame.

Sītā’s inner departure

In the Tulasī Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, an inner event comes before Rāma’s spoken command. That same night, after he had made up his mind, Rāma went quietly to Sītā’s chamber. He told her simply: “Sītā, now is the time for you to return to your true abode.” Sītā understood at once. The real Sītā, Ādi Lakshmī, saw that her part in the purpose of the avatāra was complete, and she withdrew her divine presence upward. What stayed in the chamber was her chāyā-rūpa (shadow form).

Rāma then took up his calm manner again. In the morning he spoke to Sītā’s chāyā-rūpa: “Rāṇī, you are with child. Is there any wish I may fulfil for you?” The chāyā-Sītā was pleased. She said she wished to visit the banks of the sacred river and the āśramas of the tapasvis. Rāma agreed and arranged for Lakshmaṇa to take her the next day. Among all the people in the account, only Rāma knows that the real Sītā has withdrawn and that the chāyā remains.

Rāma’s command and the brothers’ pain

The next morning Rāma called his brothers to his private chamber. His face was full of grief and his voice was firm. He told them plainly that Sītā must be taken to the forest and left there. The brothers were struck as if by lightning.

Bharata joined his palms, trembling, and argued at length. He said that Sītā is jagajjananī (mother of the world), that she is supremely pure, that the whole world knows it, and that Agni himself had vouched for her virtue. Śatrughna was so overcome that he could not speak.

Rāma stayed calm and firm. He said that a king who keeps dharma must rule in line with what the people understand, and that the honour of the Raghu line could not bear the shadow of public doubt. He turned to Lakshmaṇa: “Saumitrī, take her to the forest tomorrow morning.” Bharata kept on arguing. Then Rāma grew stern and said that if his word were not honoured, he would not live. After that there was no room for any more objection.

Lakshmaṇa took the command with a shattered heart. He spent the night in sleepless pain. He did not know how he could do this task, and he could not imagine looking Sītā in the face.

Sītā left in the forest

The next morning Lakshmaṇa made ready a chariot. Sītā came happily. She believed she was going on the promised visit to the tapasvis’ āśramas, and she carried gifts for the munipatnīs (wives of the munis). All through the journey Lakshmaṇa sat in the chariot in painful silence. Sītā saw his stricken face but did not know the cause.

The chariot went deep into the forest and stopped on the bank of the Gaṅgā, in a lonely and frightening wilderness. Sītā looked around, and a fear she could not name rose in her. She asked Lakshmaṇa why he had brought her to this trackless forest where no āśrama could be seen. Lakshmaṇa could not speak. His tongue dried up, his sight blurred and his body swayed. He slid down from the chariot and nearly fell. Catching himself, he said only, “I am very thirsty.” He could say nothing more.

Then an unseen voice (aśarīra-vāṇī) spoke from the sky: “O Lakshmaṇa, Sītā is blessed with all that is auspicious. She will be protected. Be brave, leave her, and go back.” Sītā heard the hidden voice too. In a flash she understood the meaning of everything she had seen: Lakshmaṇa’s grief, this empty place, the voice from the sky. She cried out and fell unconscious.

Lakshmaṇa joined his palms, bowed at Sītā’s feet in tears and walked around her in reverence. Then, making his heart like stone, he left her there and went back to Ayodhyā in the chariot. His sorrow on the way back cannot be described.

Sītā’s grief and Vālmīki’s coming

When Sītā woke, she was alone in the dense forest. There was no chariot, no Lakshmaṇa, no escort. She wept deeply, remembering all the sorrows of her life, past and present. The forest itself seemed to mourn with her.

Just then Vālmīki Maharshi was walking in the forest, and he heard her cries. He came quickly to where she sat. He spoke gently and asked who she was and what had brought her there. Sītā said she was Janaka’s daughter and Rāma’s wife. She said it seemed her husband had given her up, though she could not understand why, since Lakshmaṇa had not been able to tell her the reason.

Vālmīki knew her at once by his yogic sight. He spoke to her with a father’s warmth. Her father Janaka was his dear disciple, Rāma was very dear to him, she was like a daughter to him, and his āśrama was her own home. He said: “Child, the king has given you up to uphold what the people say and the honour of the Raghu line. I know everything through yoga-drishti (yogic sight). Do not grieve.” Then he gently led her back to his āśrama.

Life in Vālmīki’s āśrama and the birth of Kuśa and Lava

In the āśrama the munipatnīs received Sītā with love and tenderness. She bathed in the Gaṅgā and ate the plain, sāttvic food of the āśrama. She offered pūjā to Rāma, and little by little she found peace in the quiet of the sacred forest. She listened to purāṇa-kathās (Purāṇa accounts) from the ṛshis. She spent her time with the munipatnīs and with the animals and birds of the forest, and she lived in the simple beauty of the tapovana (forest of tapas).

In time Sītā gave birth to twin sons. Vālmīki performed the nāmakaraṇa (naming ceremony) and named them Kuśa and Lava. The two boys grew up in the āśrama as children of the forest, brought up as muni-kumāras (muni’s boys). The Maharshi himself taught them the Vedas, the śāstras and all the arts of war. They carried the shining glory of both their parents, and they blazed with the tejas of Sūrya.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lava Kuśa Kāṇḍa, Chapters 4–6 (Pauruḷa Nindalu, Avadheśuni Ādeśamu, Saumitrī Vaidehini Vanamulalo Vadali Vacuṭa, Sīta Vālmīki Āśramamu Cerukonuṭa)