Standing before Sri Ram, Sitaji with tears in her eyes looked at her lord. Sri Ram however remained formal as Valmiki Ramayan states: " How can I accept you, who were squeezed into the arms of Ravan while being borne away by him and who regarded you with a lustful eye? There is no more attachment for you in my heart. You may therefore go wherever you like."

Harsh words indeed, which pierced Sita's tender heart like arrows tipped with poison and shrinking within herself, Sri Sitaji shed profuse tears, saying: "I was helpless when I came into the contact of Ravan and did not act of my own free will on that occasion. My adverse fate alone is to blame on that score. That which is under my control, my heart, eternally does it abide in you O Ram"

The South Indian Ramayana, authored by Kamban, sums up her situation graphically:

Like a deer
on the point of death,
tortured by terrible thirst
in the middle of a desert
who sees a lake
just beyond reach,
she grieved at the barrier
that rose before her.

Agni Pariksha

Sri Sitaji orders Lakshman to prepare the pyre as she could no longer bear the words of Sri Ram, of course this was what the Lord wanted. So the world would know of Sita's qualities and at the same time teach us a lesson on human nature.

Not one in the assembly, had the courage to dare open his/her mouth opposing the grave injustice being perpetrated. The obedient Lakshman set out to prepare the pyre. As a mark of respect, Sita circumambulated Ram, who, according to Valmikiji- stood with his head bent low. As she approached the blazing fires, the world went into a crisis: the immortal gods and living beings, the cosmic elements, the four Vedas and Dharma, all cried out in horror. Then:

As if she were going home
to her place on the lotus
that rises up from the flooding waters,
she jumped in;
and as she entered, that fire was scorched
by her burning faithfulness.

Fire is burnt by the heat Sita holds within herself; generated by a lifetime of chastity, self control, faithfulness, suffering and sacrifice, which are represented here not as abstract ethical virtues but rather as part of the substantial and dynamic reality that suffuses the inner being of a faultless woman like Sita. It was this same heat that had earlier terrified Ravan against coming near her.

Did Rama Really Doubt Her Chastity?

Sri Ram's conduct towrads Sri Sitaji leaves many questions unanswered. The most significant is of course whether he really doubted her fidelity. Even if we disregard the traditional sentiment believing otherwise, there is a strong logical basis supporting the conventional view:

1). Some time after he abandoned her, Sri Ram decided to perform the horse sacrifice (ashvamedha yagya) which is the highest ritual a king can strive to. There was a technical snag however. Of the hundreds of ceremonies a Hindu has to perform, not one can be performed without a wife. Therefore many suggested that he remarry. A suggestion he firmly rejected: "In the heart of Ram there is place for only one woman and that one is Sita." He therefore had a golden image of his wife made and completed the sacrifice. Would anyone thus give his wife a position of such supreme respect if he doubted her chastity?

2). After the vanquish of Ravan, when she was first brought into his presence, Sri Ram compared Sita to a "light," which was hurting his "sore eyes." Thus it is his vision, which finds defect in the bearing of the noble lady, that is at fault, and not the "light" itself, whose natural function is but to illuminate.

3). On the same occasion, before entering the fire, Sita circled Rama clockwise, in respectful homage. What was Rama's reaction during her circulation? Well, he kept his head down. Is this not a gesture of self-indictment and contradiction? The ostracized victim is boldly performing what she has set out to do, while her accuser stands with a hung head.

World's first single parent, Sri Sitaji

Abandoned for the second time, Sita gave birth to twin sons in the wilderness and brought them up all alone, without the protective presence of a father, hence becoming the first single parent in history.

When these worthy sons entered their teens, tales of their valor spread far and wide, and it was not long before Ram realized that they were his own offspring. This knowledge prompted him to immediately call his beloved Sita and the two boys to his court. In front of the assembled subjects, tributary kings, ministers and merchants from all parts of his empire, he asked her to undertake the fire ordeal again for the benefit of these venerable gentlemen, who had missed the earlier spectacle in Lanka.

Sita's reaction however was different from that earlier occasion. The emotional scar had obviously not healed. This time she did not ask her brother-in-law to prepare a funeral pyre for her. Nor did she circumambulate her husband in meek submission. Rather, with folded hands, she merely uttered the following words: "If I have remained true to Ram in mind, speech and action, may the Mother Earth embrace me in her bosom." No sooner had she spoken than the ground beneath her feet split wide open, and before anybody had the time to react, she entered the depths. A dejected and helpless Rama was engulfed in grief. Thus did end the exemplary life of Sita, with fate pursuing her to the bitter end.

Dharti Mata, mother earth embraced Sri Sitaji and says: "Come my child, this world is not worthy of you." Sita does as she is told, leaving behind her, the lamenting assembly.

Sita's appeal to Mother Earth to reclaim her was not the helpless reaction of slighted woman. It was a spirited, self-effacing statement of protest, when things went beyond endurance. For those of us living in this technologically advanced modern age, Sita's message is extremely significant. She is the energy of the earth not to be taken for granted at the same time, we look at her as the silent power of suffering and sacrifice, which indeed is the quality of the earth.

She symbolize the ideal wife and companion, Sri Ram as the ideal as no one could replace Sita in his life. He was a "aik patni vrata" and She was a "aik pati vrata", one for one.

On this occasion of Sita Jayanti, remember her and may she continue to serve as an inspiration, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi: "Progress is to be measured in terms of the suffering undergone by the sufferer. The purer the suffering, the greater is the progress." - Jai Siya Ram !