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Sita
This is where we left her...
 When we left Sita last about a
year-and-a-half-ago, we saw her transformation from the state of delirium to
which even she, the very embodiment of dhairyalakshmi,
was driven to and that she went to the extent of giving her life up, was
restored to her own self by Hanuman and how she politely but firmly refused his
offer to take her back to Sri Rama, seated on his back citing various reasons.
We also saw how Kamban’s brush adds a touch of Panchali-like fury to this
wonderful woman of immeasurable patience and tolerance.
“What is the purpose of my
survival in this secluded place for such a long time,” she would ask Maruti,
“if I do not remain here, until he comes and kills Ravana?” We heard her
telling him, “en aakkayaik kaNda vaaL arakkan vizhi,
kaagangaL unda pOdhu andri, Unless crows peck at those 20 eyes of
this fellow that cast a lustful glance on my body, and unless I see that happen,
what is the purpose of spending my days this long in excruciating circumstances?”
(See: sollinaal suduvEn…)
 That night saw two different
personalities, two extremes, two unknown facets of Sita. She could not find an
answer to the numberless questions that hovered about in her mind and she almost
foresaw the question that would be posed to her, even if Sri Rama were to come
to her rescue and release her from the clutches of the demon. ‘il
pugath thakkalai ennin,’ if he says that I am not worthy of
acceptance any more, ‘yaanudaik karpinai ep parisu
izhaiththuk kaatuvEn?’ what do I tell him? What can I do at that
moment? What can I do at all, that would establish my purity? What would be the
way in which I can assure him that I remain unviolated? (See: The ‘not to be’
– Part I, II,
III and IV)
And we saw Maruti deftly
bringing about the change in her and she became her own self again; and not only
that Kamban painted her in a shade of fury. So wild that her pent up rage finds
itself a vent through her words, ‘if I do not see the shameless wives of these
evil minded Rakshasas - naaN il arakkiyar -
suffer the shame that Surpanakha went through when her nose was severed; and
just not Hanuman, - mUkkodum atra naaNinar aayina pOdhu
andri - unless they lose their mangala sutra
too, would my sense of shame be of any significance at all? My heart would be at
ease; my sense of shame would find its appeasement only when I see this place
heaped with hillocks of the bones of demons and these shameless women taste a
dose of what I undergo now, and unless they are deprived of their mangala
sutra.
 A parallel to this is found in
Valmiki in an earlier scene, when Sita wails in utter helplessness as she is
tormented by the ogresses by the order of Ravana. “I shall assuredly hear
before long the cry (of distress) of ogre maids stricken with sorrow and weeping
in every dwelling here. Consumed by Sri Rama’s shafts, Lanka, with its
principal ogres slain and its splendour dissipated, will look gloomy, if only
that heroic Sri Rama, the corners of whose eyes are red, comes to know of my
being present in the abode of Ravana (an ogre).” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara
Kanda, Canto 26, Sloka 29 – 31)
 That is a facet of Sita that we
have not witnessed at all thus far in the epic and are not going to witness
again till perhaps the end, excepting a few more remaining scenes in which
Ravana would appear again to torment her. But that takes place when the battle
is already on.
Well, we also heard her - in
Valmiki - requesting Hanuman to “stay over somewhere close by, until it is
dawn”, for his presence meant so much to her troubled soul. That puts at rest
the arguments of pundits against what she requested. Tender feelings are to be
understood in their proper context, as Right Hon’ble Srinivasa Sastriyar
points out. (See: Sense of
security) This portion, in which Janaki makes her
request to Hanuman to remain there that night, does not find a place in Kamban’s
narration.
Now, let’s turn our attention
to the ‘lie’ of Mythili, as that is a matter of debate too.
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