February 6 - Sarga 115 of Yuddha Kanda.
Perhaps this is Sri Rama's lowest of the lows moment, and his words drive Sita to total, irreconcilable grief.
***
Sri Rama began to speak to Sita as if she was some lady other than his dearest wife from the past. Sita was a picture of beauty, decorum, hesitation, and shyness in that very public situation, close to her dear lord whom she was seeing after several months of forced separation under dire duress. What lay in store for her was inconceivable.
एषासि निर्जिता भद्रे शत्रुं जित्वा रणाजिरे।
पौरुषाद्यदनुष्ठेयं मयैतदुपपादितम् ॥
अपमानश्च शत्रुश्च युगपन्निहतौ मया ॥
"Oh, noble lady! You stand here, freed by me after conquering the enemy in battle. Whatever was to be accomplished by valour has been done by me. Both the indignity heaped on me (by Ravana's despicable offence of your abduction), and the perpetrator of the offence himself, have been erased in one stroke by me."
Sri Rama continued in this vein, to the consternation of every reader, listener, and narrator of this episode.
"Today I have regained my honour, upheld my word, and I am back, fully prepossessed, in composure."
या त्वं विरहिता नीता चलचित्तेन रक्षसा ।
दैवसम्पादितो दोषो मानुषेण मया जितः ॥
"The way you were forcibly abducted by an impetuous and wanton rakshasa when you were all alone and helpless shows that it was an act of fate. That has been avenged now by me, a mere mortal.
"I must also commend the laudable act of Hanuman in leaping across the ocean to find you and vanquishing the rakshasas in Lanka; the astute and ready guidance and successful exertions of the king of vanaras, Sugriva; also the fruitful help rendered by King Vibhishana who abandoned his evil brother and came into my camp."
The narrative and its tone filled Sita with uncontrollable tears.
पश्यतस्तां तु रामस्य समीपे हृदयप्रियाम् ।
जनवादभयाद्राज्ञो बभूव हृदयं द्विधा ॥
Valmiki adds, "the heart of King Sri Rama, then, while seeing his beloved wife Sita close by after being restored to him, appeared to be torn by a dilemma from the fear of public disapproval."
"Sri Rama continued to speak to Sita, the lotus-eyed one with beautiful cascades of dark hair, while being surrounded by vanaras and rakshasas."
Sri Rama said, "a task impossible for a human, of crossing the ocean and killing the king of rakshasas with his powerful army, has been accomplished by me, thereby redeeming my honour. This accomplishment compares to the way the great sage Agastya freed the southern regions after getting rid of the evil rakshasa brothers, Vatapi and Ilvala."
Now Sri Rama drops a bombshell.
विदितश्चास्तु भद्रं ते योऽयं रणपरिश्रमः ।
सुतीर्णः सुहृदां वीर्यान्न त्वदर्थं मया कृतः॥
रक्षिता तु मया वृत्तमपवादं च सर्वतः ।
प्रख्यातस्यात्मवंशस्य न्यङ्गं च परिमार्जिता॥
"Oh lady, you should know this. This war, won with great effort, resulting in a victory accomplished by the exertions of my dear allies with their prowess, has not been undertaken on your account.
" I was only protecting my reputation and cleansing the bad name and low abuse I would be the victim of, as well as protecting the haloed name of my lineage, tarnished by Ravana's despicable act."
He now drops another bombshell.
प्राप्तचारित्रसन्देहा मम प्रतिमुखे स्थिता ।
दीपो नेत्रातुरस्येव प्रतिकूलाऽसि मे दृढा ॥
तद्गच्छ त्वानुजानेऽद्य यथेष्टं जनकात्मजे ।
एता दश दिशो भद्रे कार्यमस्ति न मे त्वया ॥
कः पुमान्स्तु कुले जातः स्त्रियं परगृहोषिताम् ।
तेजस्वी पुनरादद्यात् सुहृल्लोभेन चेतसा ॥
रावणाङ्कपरिक्लिष्टां दृष्टां दुष्टेन चक्षुषा ।
कथम त्वां पुनरादद्यां कुलं व्यपदिशन्महत् ॥
"Your reputation has been tarnished and is in doubt, and yet you are standing in front of me. Your sight is like a bright light intolerable for sore eyes.
"Therefore, O Janaka's daughter, I am telling you that you are free to go where you please, in any of the ten directions, today itself. Oh, good lady, I have nothing to do with you.
"Who indeed ever, born in a reputed lineage, and possessing some radiant reputation himself, will take back a woman who has gone and lived in another man's house? That too, merely out of his emotional attraction to the lady?
"You were physically clasped and so you clung to Ravana's body, and you were seen with lustful eyes by him. How can I then take you back and sacrifice my family's great name?"
These words are like a dagger repeatedly thrust into our bosom by someone whom we adore and pray to as the paragon of righteousness. These words are very discordant in the voice of Sri Rama who, as we saw before, lamented Sita's loss constantly, inconsolably, from Dandaka to Prasravana to the shore of the ocean to Lanka's outskirts, even right through the battle. He even told Ravana that he was avenging the great suffering imposed on Sita by that man. He sent his mudrika ring with Hanuman to establish to Sita his love for her and that he would soon come and rescue her. He even threatened the ocean with the Brahmastra when he could not find a way to cross over to rescue Sita. Where is that Sri Rama's voice?
One cannot defend these words. My own surmise is that this was a divine play and Sri Rama, covered by maya in the form of a mere human, was enacting a role to prepare the ground for Devi Sita's incredible response that would cleanse her reputation and prove her purity.
Anyway, the sordid story of what Sri Rama told Sita is not yet complete.
Sri Rama then said, " These words state my resolute position. You may now choose to be with Lakshmana, or Bharata, or Shatrughna, or even Sugriva, or the rakshasa Vibhishana. Do as you please, Oh Sita! With your ravishing appearance and divine beauty, Ravana would have found it impossible to stay away from you when you were very much in his own house!"
Valmiki concludes the sarga by saying that Devi Sita, accustomed to kind and affectionate and respectful words always, was shattered by what she heard, like a creeper struck by the trunk of a tusker elephant, and shed copious tears.
***
॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
