How did Ravana carry off Sita? Many narratives say that he took her in the Pushpaka Vimana. This is patently wrong, since the Pushpaka Vimana was a sacred vehicle gifted by Brahma to Kubera, which Ravana usurped. Ravana had his own aerial vehicles as a rakshasa and used one of them. Jatayu destroyed that vehicle, and Ravana then carried off Sita physically, using his magical powers of flying.
The original shlokas in Valmiki read as follows
अभिगम्य सुदुष्टात्मा राक्षसः काममोहितः।
जग्राह रावणः सीतां बुधः खे रोहिणीमिव॥ १६॥
वामेन सीतां पद्माक्षीं मूर्धजेषु करेण सः।
ऊर्वोस्तु दक्षिणेनैव परिजग्राह पाणिना॥ १७॥
Translation: Approaching her, the evil demon Ravana, besotted by lust, grabbed Sita like Budha holding Rohini in the sky. He caught the lotus-eyed Sita by her hair with his left hand and her thighs with his right hand.
Now, I heard a Hindi poet on YouTube tell his audience that Ravana indeed did not take Sita lustfully, but respectfully! Then he quoted, "as Budha would hold his mother, Rohini", quoting the second line of verse 16.
That made me curious. Who does not know Ravana's lustful nature? So I delved deep.
The commentary by Govindaraja on the Valmiki Ramayana is treated with great respect. So here is the page from there:
Indeed, Govindaraja avers that Ravana had incurred a curse from Vedavati (whom he molested and who cursed him before committing self-immolation) that if he ever forced himself on an unwilling woman, his head would splinter into a thousand pieces. So he curtailed his lust, and used his demonic magical powers of catching someone by their very shadows - छायाग्राह - holding by their shadows, Sita's hair and her thighs. Ravana thus honoured Sita like Budha would honour his mother, Rohini.
By the way, Budha was born to Chandra and Tara (a complicated story), and Rohini is Chandra's official queen, so one of Budha's mothers.
I was not convinced. Grabbing Sita and carrying her off to Lanka was a routine act for Ravana, infamous for abducting women. He did not force himself on Sita sexually, as confirmed even by Valmiki, because of the Vedavati curse. But his carrying her off was a physical act.
I then checked with the famous Ranganatha Sharma translation in Kannada of the Valmiki Ramayana. What he writes is here:
Vid. Sharma writes,
Translation: This is called Abhutopama (a simile implying impossibility). Budha's father is Chandra. Chandra's wife is Rohini. Thus, Rohini is like a mother to Budha. The act of tormenting one's mother is generally an impossibility, as it is a most heinous sin - that is the implication here as regards Ravana's carrying off Sita.
So, I aver that Vid. Ranganatha Sharma has the same interpretation as I do - Valmiki is describing Ravana's heinous act without sugar-coating it as an act of filial respect.
