This was it.
After months and months of separation, Sita was finally going to see her
beloved husband again.
She had
spent that time a prisoner. A cruel king had kidnapped her and tried to coax
her away from her husband to join him. He was a terrible man. He had ten heads
with large fangs and blood-hungry eyes on each of them. He went to her each day
of her captivity and tried to scare her into loving him.
The
beautiful Sita was ever faithful to her husband, though. She thought of no one
else. For all the months that she was prisoner, she refused to eat, dressed in
poor clothes, and gave up all beautifying practices. Her days were spent in meditation
under a large tree. All she wanted to think about was her dear husband. Why did
he take so long to come for her? She still loved him. Surely he still loved
her.
One day when
Sita was growing weary from waiting so long, a new character, someone other
than the demons who guarded and tormented her, came and greeted her. She came
out of her meditation to speak to this new person. He said that her husband was
on his way! He would soon be there to destroy the king who had kidnapped his
beloved! Oh, Sita was so excited!
Sita gained
confidence in her husband. He did love her! He’d never forgotten her! She dove
even deeper into her meditation, praying for her husband’s safety and speed.
She
meditated so hard that she did not hear the war just outside the city walls. It
lasted four days and nights and she heard none of it except the last war cry,
the cry of her husband as he slayed the terrible king.
“My Lord
will be calling for me soon,” she thought as she opened her eyes. “I must
prepare myself.”
 |
| Hanuman's Visit |
So she
quickly bathed and dressed in the robes of a queen. She put a ribbon in her
braid. Fragrant oils kissed her skin for the first time in many months. She
decorated her eyes and cheeks for her love. Sita was the most beautiful
creature in the world that day; she had the glow of a bride on her wedding day.
“Oh, it has
been way too long! What if he has grown cold? What if he doesn’t trust that I was
faithful to him? Oh, my love, only the thought of you has kept me alive these
past months! How can I go back to living if you do not love me still?”
As Sita
began to fear that her triumphant husband would never come and get her, the
same messenger that had appeared to her earlier approached. “Beautiful Sita,”
he said with a bow, “your husband calls for you.” He led her out to the camp of
the army who had helped to defeat her captor.
As they
walked, Sita was all emotion. She was joyous, for she was about to see her love
for the first time in months. She was nervous, for she had spent those months
in the house of another man, an act inexcusable for any respectable woman. She
was full of compassion, for she knew her husband must have been upset and worried
for her. She was relieved, for she no longer had to face the terrible king or
his demon guards. But most of all, she was excited, for her love was waiting
for her only yards away.
There was a
large gathering in the camp and, as Sita and the messenger approached, the
crowd parted, making a path to her husband. Sita saw her love and ran to him.
She held him tight in a warm embrace and planted kisses all over his face and
hands. Something wasn’t right, though. He wasn’t holding her or kissing her
like a lover at the end of a long separation should.
The god of
fire was aware of their worries about her reputation and came down to the camp.
He said, “These many months I have watched you. I listened to your hearts.
Sita, I know how faithful and devoted you have been to your husband. May you
walk through my fire and be protected from its’ heat if I speak the truth.” So Sita
walked through the fire and came out unsinged.
“Now he
cannot have doubts about my love for him!” she thought. This time he ran and
embraced her and planted a thousand kisses on her face and hands. They were so
infatuated that they didn’t let go of each other for ten thousand years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Author’s
Note: this is based on William Buck's 1976 Ramayana. I changed the
story quite a bit, leaving out several big scenes such as when Ravana brings what
appears to be Rama’s severed to Sita. In this version, Vibhishana doesn’t bring
Sita to Rama, Hanuman does. I did that because I felt that two different
messengers would complicate this story too much. I didn’t have enough time to
properly introduce both of them. I also left out all of the names except Sita’s.
This story isn’t about the others. It’s about Sita. One other thing I did
differently was that I emphasized Sita’s meditation; I wanted to show how
devoted to Rama and pure she was.
Image: Hanuman's Visit, in bazaar art with Marathi caption, early 1900s Source
