Sita stands before the fire, closing her eyes and folding her hands in devotion. It is the moment when her chastity will be proved to the entire world. She knew the truth and she hoped that Rama had the same trust in her that she had shown. But for the sake of proving it to the world, she was supposed to go through the Agnipariksha. She knew she would walk out safe through the Agni, for she was as pure as the fire itself. There was nothing for her to be afraid of. But this wasn’t the question. There was something else that was nagging her, taking away her peace of mind.
She opens her eyes and starts walking toward the fire, her stride confident. But her eyes bear an untold pain, which only Rama notices. There is a collective gasp from the crowd as Sita keeps one foot in the Agni. Every pair of eye watches her, unblinkingly, for they are witnessing one of the greatest moments in history. Would their Queen be safe? Would the King and Queen re-unite? Or would she prove unfit for the King? The questions are numerous. The whole town waits expectantly. It is as if time has paused for the moment.
Sita walks through the Agni without flinching. The flames lash at her body but they don’t harm her. She moves gracefully and comes out of the Agni, unscathed. She looks at the people who had pointed accusations at her, as if daring them to speak further. The crowd lets out a collective sigh of relief, unaware of the emotional turmoil going through her mind. Cheers are heard as the citizens rejoice the re-union of their King and Queen. Unaffected by all this, Sita walks ahead, without glancing at Rama. He had hurt her and he knew it. He follows her shortly.
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Sita was sitting by the tree, looking ahead but there was a distant look in her vision. “You know you have hurt me today”, she said as Rama placed his arm gently on her shoulder. “I wish you had faith in me”, she sighed, without looking at him.
“I do Sita”, he replied and sat by her. “But as a king, it was my duty to make sure the citizens didn’t behold any ill feeling towards their Queen. I had to fulfil their request” he said, expressing his helplessness.
“Would you have left me Rama, if that was what your citizens asked for?” asked Sita, her eyes moist. “It is not possible to please everyone. If you had confidently declared your belief in me, they would have eventually accepted the truth. But you have set a bad example to the world today by subjecting the relationship of husband and wife, a relation based on trust, to Agnipariksha, a public display, when there should have been no doubts in the first place”, she said and walked away before Rama could say anything.
He knew that she was right. But what he couldn’t explain to her was that despite his love for her and his complete trust in her, he was a King too; a helpless one this time. He couldn’t fail his citizens. What else could he have done? He looked up at the setting sun and prayed that Sita would understand his helplessness.
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You have summed it up so beautifully, indeed the relation his based just on trust. well said.
Quite Emotional, but during all this we CONVENIENTLY forget that Sita and Ram were incarnation of God who were on earth to establish DHARM ………..
How can a DHARMIC DACORIAN law having Religious sanctity be declared an ADHARM , without Sita getting Physically involved in it…………THINK..>>>>>THINK, then answer .
VALMIKI RAMAYAN contains lot of additions, alterations made subsequently and accepting the fact that Ramayan, Mahabharat, and all Puraans are also coded, the history that they contain, actually has to be culled out.
RAMCHARITMANAS written by Goswami Tulsidas Ji, also followed the same pattern except that it ignored altogether, the incident of disownment of Sita.
When Shri Ram took Avatar, all important events in which he was involved, as Human, would provide a Dharm. Agni Pariksha is one such event which Shri Ram established EITHER as DHARM or ADHARM…I WANT YOUR ANSWER ON THIS ISSUE.
Hindus by and large are afraid to accept Shri Ram as human incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Once we accept Shri Ram as Avatar, who came on this earth for establishing Dharm, we then have to start looking at all important events in which he was involved differently and to find what the Dharm was, which HE tried to establish.
Now the question is Why do you want to look for supernatural powers in history where NONE exists?
NOW the answer: GO and read full post after clicking on the link and you will know how Agnii Pariksha was declared as ADHARM.
Excerpts from the post:
‘King Ram REJECTED the results of Agni Pariksha and held that the only time when Sita was on her own, free to make her own decision, and under no duress, was when she was alone in Panchvati. Her decision to cross the Lakshman Rekha, without the use of any external force, can also be construed as her consent to go with Ravana. He also observed, that after his victory over Ravana, none of the action of Sita can be construed to be her own free decision and without any duress. He further said that it is true that, as a King, it is difficult to reject the result of Agni Pariksha, because it has religious sanctity, but he would like to go with People’s representative in as much that although Agni Pariksha required special skills, but those skills in no way certify the loyalty or chastity of the lady. He DISOWNED SITA AND TOLD HER TO GO WHERE EVER SHE DESIRED TO GO.
‘He also declared that hence forth Agni Pariksha will not be used for certifying or testifying the loyalty or chastity of a female. Use of Agni Pariksha will be deemed to be an act of ADHARM and NOT an act of dharm, he declared. He also declared that if ever he became a Chakravarti Samraat (one whose writ runs all across the globe), he would make sure that such dastardly acts are never performed by humanity in all ages and yugs. ‘
PLEASE READ FULL POST BY CLICKING ON THE LINK below, & THEN COMMENT
AGNI PARIKSHA OF SITA ….FACTS
post URL : http://awara32.blogspot.com/2009/02/agni-pariksha-of-sita-facts.html
HINDI:
सीता का त्याग राम ने क्यूँ करा… सही तथ्य
http://awara32.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_30.html