Sita Is Sent to the Forest

This is the hardest episode in the Ramayana. Two things should be known before reading it. First, many scholars hold that the Uttara Kanda was added to Valmiki's original poem at a later time, and Goswami Tulsidas did not tell this episode at all in his Ramcharitmanas; his story ends with Ram Rajya. Second, people in India have questioned it for centuries, and rightly. It is told here as the tradition has handed it down.

Good news

Several happy years passed. One day Ram saw in Sita the signs that she was with child, and his heart filled with joy. "Vaidehi, tell me if there is anything you wish for." Sita smiled. "I long to see the hermitages on the bank of the Ganga. I should like to spend a night there among the sages." Ram said, "You shall go tomorrow."

The talk of the city

That evening Ram sat among his companions. One of them, Bhadra, brought him the news of the town. Ram asked, "Bhadra, what do the people say about me, about Sita, about my brothers? Tell me the good and the bad."

Bhadra first told the good: the bridge over the sea, the killing of Ravana. "And?" said Ram. Bhadra lowered his head. "King, at the crossroads and in the markets people also say this: Ram has done wonders in everything, but how could he bring home Sita, whom Ravana carried off in his arms and who lived so long in his power in Lanka? Now we too shall have to put up with such things in our wives, for as the king does, so do his subjects."

Ram asked the others. All bowed their heads and said, "He speaks the truth."

The decision

Ram dismissed them and sent for his brothers. When the three came, they saw that Ram's face was like an eclipsed moon and that there were tears in his eyes.

"You three are everything to me, and so I tell you. Lakshmana, you know that in Lanka Sita entered fire before your eyes, and that Fire, Wind, Sun and Moon declared her without sin. My own heart knows she is pure. Even so this slander has spread through the city."

"A man about whom slander spreads keeps falling for as long as it is spoken. A king's life is not his own. If the people's trust in the throne is lost, on whose strength will dharma stand? Out of fear of public reproach I could give up my life, I could give up even you; what then of Sita?"

"Lakshmana, have Sumantra yoke the chariot tomorrow morning. Leave Sita across the Ganga, on the bank of the Tamasa, near the ashram of the sage Valmiki. She herself wished to go there. And hear me: let no one say anything to me about this. Whoever speaks against it will be my enemy."

The three brothers stood like stone. Ram rose and went inside.

The bank of the Ganga

In the morning Lakshmana, his face drained, said, "Lady, the king commands that I take you to the hermitages on the bank of the Ganga." Sita was delighted. She took garments and ornaments with her to give to the wives of the sages.

On the way she said, "Lakshmana, my right eye throbs today and my heart is uneasy. Is your brother well?" Lakshmana turned his face away. "All are well."

When they reached the Ganga, Lakshmana broke down and wept aloud. Sita was astonished. "You are parted from your brother for two days only. I too love him more than life, and I do not weep."

Having crossed by boat, Lakshmana stood with folded hands. "Lady, there is a thorn in my heart. It would have been better had death come to me before this task." And he told her everything.

Sita fell senseless. When she came to herself she said, "Lakshmana, the Creator made this body for sorrow. In some former life I must have parted someone from her husband. I would end my life in the Ganga now, but my husband's line is growing within me. It must not be destroyed."

Then she gave a message for Ram, and there was not one word of anger in it. "Give my respects to my mothers-in-law. And say to the king: you know that Sita is pure and has always wished your good. You have given me up out of fear of public reproach. That such reproach should stay far from you is my concern too. Treat your people as you treat your brothers. That is your dharma, and from it comes your fame. I have no care for my own body."

Lakshmana walked round her in reverence. "I have never looked at your form above your feet. How am I to look at you now, in this forest, without Ram?" Weeping, he climbed into the boat. Sita stood watching until the chariot was out of sight. Then she sat down on the ground and wept.

Valmiki

The sons of the sages, playing nearby, ran to tell Valmiki. "Master, a lady is weeping on the river bank. She looks like Lakshmi."

By the power of his austerity Valmiki knew everything. He came on foot himself. "Daughter, you are the daughter-in-law of Dasharatha, the wife of Ram and the child of Janaka. I know you are without sin. My ashram is close by. Think of it as your father's house." He led her to the ascetic women of the ashram.

In Ayodhya, Ram did not come to the assembly for four days. When Lakshmana returned he found him sitting in an empty room with his head bowed and tears running. Ram never married again.