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Continued
from yesterday’s instalment
 Right Hon'ble Srinivasa Sastriyar interprets Sloka 2 and 3 of Canto 30 in Ayodhya Kanda as follows: "I think of my father. He sought all the world for a bridegroom and at last he got you. If he thought he got hold of the best man for me, he was a fool. What he had got was a woman, a cowardly woman, dressed like a man."
Shocking? Yes. Many critics have felt that way. Sastriyar observes, "These words are usually brought against Sita as a tremendous transgression of duty on her part, as a violation of the limits that a woman should observe even in her expression of her most profound grief. I do not agree at all."
Even I do not. Sastriyar stands tall and majestic on the highest pedestal in my esteem when he says that. Just think of the day on which he uttered these words in the grounds of the Madras Sanskrit College, in the presence of many an orthodox scholar of the Ramayana, and the kind of shock waves that he would have sent around when he discussed this! It needs courage and conviction to make that statement.
'If you leave me behind,' Sita continues, 'do you think the people of Ayodhya would praise your chivalry for that! You will be scoffed at by them. "Know me you to be as obedient to your will as Savitri (of historical fame) was devoted to the valiant Satyavan, son of King Dyumatsena. I will not cast my eyes even in thought on anyone else than you as any other woman bringing disgrace to her family would, O sinless one! I must accompany you O scion of Raghu!" (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda, Canto XXX, Sloka 6 and 7)
'I will not stay back here under the custody of anyone. No. It is not possible for me to live under the protection of Bharata or anyone else.' "How do you, like a man who lives by his wife, intend to deliver to others of your own will me, your chaste wife,
who was married to you before puberty and has lived with you for a long time, O Rama? (Ibid, Sloka 8)
 Rama had told her that she would have to live back in the palace under the care of Bharata and that she should take sufficient care not to displease him and even desist from praising him (Rama) in the presence of Bharata. Janaki refers to that portion of Rama's advice and taunts him, holding it under another shade altogether! Listen to what Sastriyar says on these Slokas. "She puts a severe, harsh, interpretation on Rama's words. When Rama said, 'You dwell with Bharata', instead of understanding him in the proper sense to which it ought to be limited, she twists the words slightly. 'Having brought me up from the time that I was a little creature, and having drawn me to yourself in so many ways, why do you hand me to other people like a
sailusha, like a man who lives upon the earnings of a woman?'"
She does sound harsh. But remember what lies under these words is nothing but love. It has to be seen that the anxiety to accompany him and the distress caused by his repeated denials make her utter unpleasant words. It is not part of wisdom either, to overlook what she has been arguing this long. As beautifully summed up by Sastriyar, "Upon the remonstrances of Sita, the Poet has shown his utmost skill; threat, entreaty, preaching of duty, exposition of the sanctity of marriage, all these things are brought together in one
sarga and put into the mouth of Sita."
Sastriyar declares, "It passes my understanding how any but an arrogant male could take objection to
this." Why? Let us go into that. One more word. The words of Sita might sound unpleasant to us, ordinary folks. What is more important is to see how Rama looked at them.
More follows...
Published on 15th
January 2003
Hari Krishnan
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