Week 4 Story: Sita's Heartache

Sita sat amidst the Ashoka trees, her only companions over the last several months. She passed the hours praying to the gods that she would soon be reunited with her love. As day by day crept by, she grew more worried that Rama would never come, that some horrible fate had befallen him in her absence. She often found herself awaking from nightmares drenched in sweat with images of Rama's lifeless body burned into her eyes. The rakshasas mocked her relentlessly, taunting her loyalty to Rama and her every present fear that he was not coming for her.

One night after a particularly ruthless attempt to get Sita to come to bed with him, Ravana stalked off back to his chambers, muttering curses under his breath.

(Ravana trying to woo Sita; Image Source)

The rakshasis mocked Sita, using a high-pitched voice and singsonging "Oh Ravana, most wealthy and powerful Lord, why would I ever give myself to you when my homeless and coward husband is coming for me?" Sita simply bowed her head and tuned out the mocking, praying that Rama would rescue her soon.

One night, a strange man with the shape of a monkey came to Sita and reassured her that Rama was still alive and he was coming for her. Sita finally felt hope that her love had not forgotten her and that he would display his might against all of Lanka to find her and hold her again. Word came later that night that the man had been captured and set ablaze, but he set the whole city on fire in an act of revenge. Sita couldn't help but smile to herself as she thought of Ravana looking out at his burning city and knowing that Rama was coming to save his beloved.

The next time she saw the monkey, he came bearing great tidings, Ravana was dead and Rama sought her presence! She quickly bathed and braided her hair, ready to greet her husband and embrace him for the first time in months.

With every step Sita took closer to Rama, her excitement grew and her heart pounded in her chest until she was certain that the entire region would think a drum was banging through the wilderness. At long last, she saw Rama's glorious face and it felt like she was lifted off the ground as her heart sore at the sight of her love. It took all she had in her to not go running into his arms, but she knew that she must preserve his honor and so she maintained her bashful demeanor, waiting for him to call out to her.

As Sita gazed into Rama's eyes, she noticed a sudden shift into a hard and determined stare rather than the love he had just been looking at her with.

At last, Rama spoke. "Sita, I have slayed the Ravana, Lord of the demons, and spent many months trekking the wilderness and fighting beasts to find you. It is finally complete and I have fulfilled my duty."

His stone cold voice made Sita shiver as she worried what would come next.

"I have accomplished what I must and I will now return to my kingdom to rule. A king is an honorable man and my subjects will be looking to me, so it is with this that I declare that I cannot take you back. No man could resist you, and I cannot have a wife who has dwelled with another man that is not her father."

A tear came to Sita's eye and she whispered, "My Lord, I have lived among the Ashoka-"

"Silence." Rama looked away from Sita's eyes and said, "you may choose where you live, but it can not be with me any longer." With this, Rama turned away and entered conversation with the monkey king.

Sita felt like she had been hit with a boulder as her eyes swelled with tears. Lakshmana met her gaze and sorrow overtook his face as Sita turned and walked slowly away.

Bibliography: 
Sita and Rama from Myths of the Hindus and the Buddhists by Sister Nivedita.

Author's Note:
The first part of my story follows very closely to the original, Sita waiting for Rama to rescue her while preserving her innocence all the while. I added the mocking by the rakshasas to try and show some of the torment she probably endured while rejecting Ravana time and time again. In the original story, Rama slays Ravana and sends for Sita. He lectures her on why he will not take her back, but then she ends up arguing that she did maintain her purity and she enters a funeral pyre to prove her innocence, upon which Rama takes her back. However, he does not take her back for long, as he is quick to exile her again when people start talking about her, rather than defending his wife. I didn't see any reason for Sita to go through this embarrassment twice, so I adapted my story to have her only be exiled once by her husband. While reading the original, I could only think of how unfair this was to Sita and how crushed she must've been, so I decided to write my story in a way where we can see her emotion a little deeper.