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Continued
from yesterday’s instalment
 As Neelamala described the events that led finally to Rama breaking the bow in the process of stringing it, Sita was looking for clues. She was in a pretty precarious situation. She was deep in love with someone whom she had seen only the previous day. She did not even know his name. There was no means of finding it out without letting others know about it. But her modesty did not permit her to let the secret that she had locked in the innermost recesses of her heart. Even if she had the inclination to seek information, the information that she had was not sufficient.
Her friend, however, in her excitement was re-enacting all that she witnessed. 'He came like this, took the bow like this,
'maaththirai aLavil,' within the fraction of a second,
'thaal maduththu,' he pressed (the front lower edge of) the bow with one foot,
'thaan mun payil sUthiram ena vaanginaan' and lifted it in his hands as though he had practised with that weapon for a very long time.
Sita's mind, which normally should have been absorbed in the excited and enthusiastic description of her friend, was not paying much attention to it. She was looking for clues in her description that would betray the identity of the person who did this super-human feat. And finally Neelamala, quite unknowingly gave out the most vital clue that she needed.
'kO muniyudan varu koNdal endra pin,' He is one of those two boys who accompanied the sage. He is the one who resembles the cloud in hue,
'thaamaraik kaNNinaan endra thanmayaal' and because (Neelamala told that) his eyes resembled the petals of lotus,
'aam avane kol ena ayyam neenginaaL' Sita was relieved. 'Yes. It is he. It is the same one who walked into my heart yesterday,' she rejoiced for a while.
Yes. It was only for a while. She realised what information that she has is only partially dependable. Chances are that her own guess might go wrong. Her mind needed an explicit confirmation of the fact that the boy who broke the bow was the same one that she saw on the previous day. She was happy partially at the thought of the prospects of her guess turning to be correct. And not so happy since she could verify what she guessed to be true. Verification was not possible unless she met him in person again!
 The Sita of Kamban takes shape here. She decides in a split second.
'solliya kuriyin ath thOndralE avan.' From what she describes (it appears to me) that he is the same one. 'allanEl irappen.' If that is not so, I would (not marry him but) give up my life.
Kamban thought far, far ahead of his times. He envisioned a society in which women had their say in their wedding. He very silently seeds his thoughts in the depths of the epics to surface unexpectedly from totally unexpected corners. For example, he speaks of education and property rights of women when speaking of the Kosala Kingdom. The kingdom prospered because,
'perum thadang kaN pirai nudhalaarkku elaam,' all the women (of wide eyes and crescent-moon like foreheads)
'porundhu kalviyum selvamum pUththalaal,' were educated and they enjoyed the right to property.
Apart from the sociological aspects of it, the above words of Sita become very important from another standpoint. It is really surprising that not many have noticed it. The words that she uttered to herself in absolute privacy and could not share with even the most intimate of her friends since her modesty prevented her from doing so, are quoted by Rama when he speaks to Hanuman, as the team leaves for South, by way of identification. 'Remind her,' Rama tells Hanuman in Kishkindha Kanda, ' that she, the ocean of purity, said that she would give her life up, were it not for the fact that I was the one who broke the bow.'
This gains more importance because here lies one of the most important clues that point to the fact that Rama did not - repeat - did not suspect Sita and that other reasons prompted Agni Pravesa.
More follows...
Published on 26th
December 2002
Hari Krishnan
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