Box 5.7 Sita as Role Model?
“Be like Sita,” is a formula urged on young women across India for countless gen-
erations. In Bengal, girls are taught to practice a ritual fast involving an early morning
bath, an offering of leaves and flowers, and a chant: “May I have a husband like
Rama, may I have a father-in-law like Dasharatha, may I have a mother-in-law like
Kaushalya, may I have a brother-in-law like Lakshmana, may I be a wife like Sita”
(Divakaruni 2000).
But who is Sita and what did she do that women should emulate?
Sita is a goddess, the heroine of the Ramayana, the wife of Lord Rama who won
her in a contest by pulling the bow of Shiva. She loyally follows her husband-lord into
exile for 14 years, cheerfully enduring the hardship of jungle life to be with her beloved.
Fate turns against her when she is kidnapped, carried to Sri Lanka and imprisoned,
and has to be rescued by Rama together with an army of monkeys, events that take
up the main portion of the text. Sita is thrilled finally to be reunited with her husband,
only to find Rama cruelly suspicious: Did she remain chaste while imprisoned? He
doubts it and intends to send her away. To prove her innocence and devotion, she
asks for the agnipariksha: the fire ordeal. A pyre is built and Sita enters the flames,
where—as many paintings hauntingly portray—she endures the fire and is not burned.
Sita undergoes a trial by fire to prove her fidelity during her captivity while being observed by
Rama, Lakshman, and Hanuman.
(continued)