Rama and Sita

Rama and Sita

Title	Rama and Sita
Artist
Date	1980
Size	64 cm
Material	Sandal wood
Remarks
Signature
Published
Collection	Private Collection

The story of Rama and Sita

The story of Rama and Sita is recorded in the Ramayana, the “travel story” of Rama. A Hindu story of Rama, the god with many faces. “The ten-headed demon Ravana was king of the island of Sri Lanka. One day, when his strict asceticism (the pursuit or practice of clean living) and penance had filled him with the glow of tapas (flame of love), he asked Brahma to make him so strong that no god or demon could defeat him, and Brahma had to grant him that favor. But, like so many demons before him, Ravana struck as soon as he realized that nothing could harm him – he desecrated the sacrifices of priests and even captured the wind god Vayu and the god of sacrificial fire Agni.

When Indra and other gods begged Brahma for help, he brought them to Vishnu. When the lesser gods told him of the cause of their worries, the Great Protector reassured them and said that Brahma's favor would not save Ravana from the power of men or monkeys. So the gods had to come to earth like monkeys, he said. He himself would be born as four princes.

Meanwhile, in northern India, King Dasaratha of Kosala, out of desire for a son, performed a horse sacrifice to appease the gods. He let a beautiful black stallion roam the land with a priest for a year, as required by the ritual, after which his first wife, Kausalya, killed the horse with a sacred sword, guided by sacred mantras. Later, Dasaratha's three wives bore him all three sons, and all the sons were an incarnation of Vishnu. Kausalya's child, Rama, was born first and had half of Vishnu's being. Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi, Dasaratha's second wife, possessed one-fourth of the spirit of the great god Vishnu. His third wife Sumitra had twin brothers Lakshmana and Satrughna, each possessing one-eighth of Vishnu's nature.

As the boys grew up, they acquired great knowledge and wisdom and became skilled in the arts of war. Rama, the handsomest of the four boys, was inseparable from his half-brother Lakshmana, with whom he often learned and played together. At the age of sixteen, Rama helped the great sage Vishwamitra deal with a group of demons who were disrupting the sacrificial rites. As a reward, Rama was given heavenly weapons and the sage took him and Lakshmana to the kingdom of Mithila to attend a sacrificial ritual of King Janaka, the prince of that kingdom. Janaka had a beautiful, sweet daughter who was bombarded with marriage proposals by princes from all over the world. She was an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's consort, and was given the name Sita because she was born from the earth of a plowed field.

After his daughter, the king was most fond of a bow that had once belonged to the god Shiva. This arch was so large that it could not be lifted by an ordinary mortal and could only be transported on an iron cart with eight wheels. Rama and Lakshmana were warmly received at Janaka's court. They asked to see the bow, and when the weapon was brought before Janaka declared that he would grant the hand of Sita to the man who could bend Shiva's bow. Rama picked up the bow, drew it, and with his mighty strength bent it so far that it broke in half. There was a sound like thunder and the mountains and fields seemed to shake.

Janaka declared that undoubtedly no one could equal Rama and that he was more than worthy of the hand of the lovely Sita. The marriage was solemnized and soon afterwards Dasaratha announced that he would hand over his throne to Rama, a decision that cheered everyone. But on the day before the coronation, one of Queen Kaikeyi's servants spoiled the festive mood by inciting Kaikeyi. She asked her why Rama actually became king and not Bharata, the son of Kaikeyi. Years earlier, Kaikeyi had healed Dasaratha of a fatal disease after a demon had injured him, and he had then promised her two boons. Now Kaikeyi decided to remind Dasaratha of that promise.

The king had not forgotten his promise and once again said that she could ask anything, whereupon Kaikeyi requested him to send Rama away as an exile for fourteen years and let Bharatha ascend the throne in his place. Kaikeyi's trick shocked the king. He lifted his eyes to heaven and heaved a deep sigh, for he must keep his word and fulfill her wish. Rama was not excited when Dasaratha brought the news to him; his father's will was law. But Dasaratha wept, and when the news came out, the whole country mourned. Sita insisted on leaving with Rama no matter what he tried to change her mind, and Lakshmana was also determined not to let his beloved brother go alone. That same day, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana set out for the forest.

The loss of his eldest son broke Dasaratha's heart and he died a few days later. When Bharatha returned to Ayodhya and heard what had happened, he cursed his mother. He did not want a crown if it came at the expense of his brother. He would have loved to have put Kaikeyi down, but then he realized that no matter what she had done, she was still his mother and therefore deserved his respect. Bharatha went to the forest to ask Rama to take his rightful place, but Rama would not go against his father's wishes. When Bharata gave him sandals decorated with gold, Rama declined the gift. He intended to live as a simple hermit, he declared, with the wild head of hair of one philosopher and a rug of rough tree bark. Bharata returned to Ayodhya in sorrow and placed the sandals on his throne, signifying that the kingdom actually belonged to his elder brother. The exiles traveled further south. Along the way they freed some sages from the demons that plagued them and finally settled in a hut by the Godavari River. Lakshmana and Sita were a great comfort to Rama, and the years passed until only six months of their fourteen years of exile remained.

One day the hideous demon woman Surpanakha passed through their part of the forest. When she saw Rama's beautiful, lotus-blue body, lust flared within her, and she sought him out in the form of a lovely maiden. She complimented him and promised him a great empire if he would go with her, but Rama replied that nothing could tempt him to leave Sita. He did say that Lakshmana did not have a wife yet, so the demon tried her tricks on Lakshmana. However, he did not take her words seriously, and this made the demon so angry that she attacked Sita. However, Rama roughly pulled her away, and Lakshmana hit her nose and ears with his arrows. Then Surpanakha fled, screaming. Howling for revenge, Surpanakha flew to Khara, one of her brothers. Khara immediately took action and advanced into the forest with an army of 14,000 demons, but Rama only needed one day to kill the army and its commander. Thereupon Surpanakha went to the next brother, Ravana, the king of the island of Sri Lanka. She told him how Rama had dealt with the demons and told the king that he would hit Rama most deeply if he kidnapped his beloved Sita.

With Maricha, also one of the brothers, Ravana immediately flew to the forest in his great chariot drawn by a pack of toiling demons. In the guise of a breathtakingly beautiful deer, Maricha sought out the beautiful Sita, who gathered wildflowers from the dense carpet of flowers that covered the forest floor. Rama wanted nothing more than to see Sita happy, so when she said how much she wanted the soft skin of the deer, he took his bow and chased the animal. The hunt took a long time, but eventually Rama put the deer down. The demon jumped out of the body and with Rama's voice loudly called Lakshmana and Sita for help. The cry reached Rama's friends in the hut and Sita begged Lakshmana to help Rama. Lakshmana hesitated, knowing full well that this could be the work of demons, who could easily take on any form and imitate any voice.

However, when he saw how scared Sita was, he went to investigate. As soon as he left, Ravana went to Sita disguised as a sage. He was greeted politely by her, and Sita told him about her wanderings with Rama. Then Ravana told her who he was and tried to persuade her to leave Rama and come to Sri Lanka as his illustrious queen. The look Sita gave him then spoke volumes; Rama was her lion, she said, and Ravana was a jackal who had better get away at once. After those taunting words, Ravana assumed his true form, grabbed Sita and flew away. Sita cried out in vain for Rama and Lakshmana, but her cries for help woke the vulture king Jatayus, who had fallen asleep in his nest on a mountaintop nearby. Like a thunderbolt from Indra, the bird shot towards Ravana. In the fierce battle, Jatayus smashed Ravana's chariot to pieces and killed his horses. Finally, however, Ravana struck him a killing blow, and he flew with Sita beyond the reach of the vulture. As they came over Monkey Mountain, Sita, still desperately calling for Rama and Lakshmana, threw down her jewelry. The monkeys saw her, heard her cries, and found the sparkling jewels she had dropped.

Jatayus, the king of the vultures, makes a vain attempt to save Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana. Before he died, Jatayus told Rama what had happened to his wife. Rama was inconsolable when he reached the hut and discovered that Sita had disappeared. She was his life, he said with his head bowed, and without her he was lost. All night they wandered through the forest and searched in vain for Sita. When the sun rose, they found the vulture Jatayus at the spot where he had landed after Ravana's fatal blow. The vulture told the brothers that the demon had flown south with Sita and then died in Rama's arms. Rama gave the animal an honorable cremation, after which the vulture's soul ascended to Vishnu's heaven. Then Rama and Lakshmana set out for the south. When a terrifying demon blocked their way, they fought for all they were worth and managed to cut off the monster's arms. The demon fell to the ground writhing and begged the brothers to cremate his body. In gratitude, he would tell them how they could find Sita.

They fulfilled his wish and the demon turned into a celestial being, Kabandha, who told the two that Sita had been kidnapped by Ravana. He advised them to ask for help from Sugriva, the monkey king in the Nilgiri Mountains, southern India. The brothers said goodbye to Kabandha and sought out Sugriva, who received them warmly and showed them the jewelry he had found. Seeing the jewels brought tears to Rama's eyes. Everything within him cried out for revenge, but with the rainy season approaching, Lakshmana and he were forced to wait out the rains as Sugriva's guests. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, Ravana made one attempt after another to seduce Sita, but she was unwavering in her loyalty to her husband. She thought about Rama constantly and nothing around her could ease her sorrow.”

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Source: Bart Laurens - nov-2015

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