February 7 - Sarga 116 of Yuddha Kanda.
Sita gives a spirited reply to Sri Rama and wishes to enter the pyre to end the ignominy heaped on her. She prays to the Fire-god to spare her if she is chaste and pure and wrongly accused. As she enters the blazing fire, everyone utters a loud cry of utter dismay.
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Sri Rama's words were so harsh and hair-raising. Sita stood with bowed head and shrank into herself on being addressed with words of a kind she had never heard before from anyone. The words were like sharp arrows that rent her. She shed copious tears.
ततो बाष्पपरिक्लिन्नं परिमार्जन्ती स्वाननम् ।
शनैर्गद्गदया वाचा भर्तारमिदमब्रवीत् ॥
'Then Sita wiped her face clear of her tears with the end of her garment and began to speak in a soft and choked voice, addressing her husband. "
किं माम् असदृशं वाक्यमीदृशं श्रोत्रदारुणम् ।
रूक्षं श्रावयसे वीर प्राकृतः प्राकृतामिव ॥
"Oh, brave one, why do you subject me to these unbecoming words that are hurtful to my ears!? Your painful and acidic words would befit only an uncultured man speaking to an uncultured woman."
न तथास्मि महाबाहो यथा त्वमवगच्छसि ।
प्रत्ययं गच्छ मे येन चारित्रेणैव ते शपे ॥
"Oh, mighty-armed one! I am not like what you think. Have trust in my assertion about my character that I make, swearing on yourself!"
"Oh, Rama, by your insinuation towards a woman (whom you consider immoral), you have accused the entire womankind! You know me very well, so abandon this unholy doubt. Let me explain to you what I have been through."
यद्यहं गात्रसंस्पर्शं गतास्मि विवशा प्रभो ।
कामकारो न मे तत्र दैवं तत्रापराध्यति ॥
" If I have been touched by another man by force when I was helpless, my lord, know that it was not occasioned by any amoral desire in me. Only Fate has to be accused of wrong-doing here."
मदधीनं तु यत्तन्मे हृदयं त्वयि वर्तते ।
पराधीनेषु गात्रेषु किं करिष्याम्यनीश्वरा ॥
"My mind and heart, which were in my control, were always fully dedicated and immersed in you. I was vulnerable without a protector, so what could I have done when my body was captured by another man!?"
सह संवृद्धभावाच्च संसर्गेण च मानद ।
यद्यहं ते न विज्ञाता हता तेनास्मि शाश्वतम् ॥
"Oh, Lord, you have always accorded respect to others by your generous disposition. So if I am singled out like this and doubted regarding my character, after living with me and knowing me very well, I am decidedly ruined and killed forever!"
"Oh, brave one! When you sent the great Hanuman to go to Lanka and find out my whereabouts, why did you not convey your doubt regarding my character, and reject me? Hearing of your rejection, I would have given up my life there and then in front of Hanuman! That would at least have saved a lot of trouble for you and avoided these unwanted exertions by your wellwishers of building the bridge and fighting this deadly war!!!"
'Oh noble sir, by succumbing to anger and accusing me like a lowly person would some fallen woman, you have done grave injustice. Don't you know I was not born as an offspring of King Janaka but was gifted by Mother Earth as an infant to him? How can you then doubt my character (given my divine antecedents)?
You held my hand in the solemn vow of marriage rites. Now you have relegated all my reputation and good character by your words!"
चितां मे कुरु सौमित्रे व्यसनस्यास्य भेषजम् ।
मिथ्यापवादोपहता नाहं जीवितुमुत्सहे ॥
Sita now addressed Lakshmana: 'Oh, Saumitri! Please prepare my funeral pyre. There is no remedy for my ignominy and distress except self-immolation. After this false accusation about my character, I do not wish to live any longer."
Lakshmana was seething like a volcano seeing Sri Rama's treatment of Sita. He looked now at Sri Rama, who was looking down and clearly displaying his rage. It was clear that he approved of Sita's proposed action.
Lakshmana set about preparing the funeral pyre. Sri Rama was looking like the god of death himself. No one dared to look at Sri Rama, let alone speak and counsel him.
The pyre was ready. Sita went and circumambulated Sri Rama and went to the blazing fire.
Sita offered her obeisances to the gods and Brahmanas (holy sages). Folding her hands, bending low, she spoke beseechingly to the god of fire oblation (Fire is the symbol of truth, sacrifice, purity, and commitment in our tradition.)
यथा मे हृदयं नित्यं नापसर्पति राघवात् ।
तथा लोकस्य साक्षी मां सर्वतः पातु पावकः ॥
यथा मां शुद्धचारित्रां दुष्टां जानाति राघवः ।
तथा लोकस्य साक्षी मां सर्वतः पातु पावकः ॥
कर्मणा मनसा वाचा यथा नातिचराम्यहम् ।
राघवं सर्वधर्मज्ञं तथा मां पातु पावकः ॥
"If indeed I have never strayed in my heart from my fidelity to Sri Rama, with the whole world as my witness, I submit to the Fire-god to protect me.
"If Sri Rama has falsely accused me when I am of impeccable character, with the whole world as my witness, I submit to the Fire-god to protect me.
"If in my deed, thought, or word, I have not transgressed my devotion and fidelity towards Sri Rama, Raghava, the knower of all Dharma, I submit to the Fire-god to protect me.
"If the Sun, the Moon, the deities of the quarters, the deities of Day, Night and Twilight, this Mother Earth, and any other gods, know me to be chaste and pure and devoted to Sri Rama, let the Fire-god protect me."
After uttering these solemn words, Devi Sita went around the fire in prayer and entered the blazing fire without any qualm or hesitation within herself.
All the people assembled there by now, including children, women, and aged people, witnessed this sombre act of Sita entering the fire.
Sita appeared to be of pure gold and adorned with gold ornaments as she entered the fire in the full presence of the whole world. It was as if she was a golden altar of the sacrifice surrounded by the blaze. The gods and rishis who were witnessing this appeared to be there for the final oblation (Purnahuti) ceremony of a fire sacrifice. It was as if the oblation of ghee was being poured into the holy fire to the accompaniments of Vedic chants. The gods, gandharvas, rishis, and everyone else in the three worlds witnessed Sita's entering the fire like an accursed goddess falling from heaven to hell.
There was a huge uproar of a most anguished cry from all the rakshasas and vanaras who were present.
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॥ श्रीरामजयम् ॥
