I am taking part in the Write Tribe Festival of Words – 1st to 7th September 2013.
This post is the fifth of a series of trying to correlate the Seven Sins to characters and incidents referred to in the Ramayana.
Read Post 1 – Kumbhakarna’s sloth
Read Post 2 – Surpanakha’s lust for Rama
Read Post 3 – Vali’s greed
Read Post 4 – Kumbhakarna’s gluttony
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Please note that there are various versions of this great epic and therefore my post might contradict with what you have heard or read of this particular incident in the Ramayana. This is only an attempt to map the seven deadly sins to incidents or behavior of particular characters in the Ramayana in a given situation and I have taken liberties with my own interpretations of the same. No offense is meant to any version of this wonderful epic.
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To enable Ravana to kidnap Sita, Maricha, Ravana’s uncle disguised himself as a golden deer and started grazing near the hut where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were staying. Upon seeing the beautiful deer with the golden hued fur, Sita immediately asked Rama to capture the deer and bring it back to the hut so that they could keep it as a pet.
Rama immediately took his bow and arrow and started running after the deer which by now had bolted through the woods. Pursuing the deer, which by now was taking him further and further away from his hut, Rama realized that this was no ordinary deer and there was something mysterious about it. Finally when he struck it with an arrow, Maricha died crying out loudly “He Lakshmana, He Sita” in Rama’s voice.
Sita who was already worried at the time it was taking Rama to come back to the hut with the deer, panicked when she heard Rama’s voice screaming out from deep within the woods. She immediately requested Lakshmana to go and find out what had happened to Rama. Lakshmana was under strict orders from Rama not to leave Sita alone under any circumstances and he therefore refused to obey Sita.
Sita who was already anguished now got really angry and in her wrath accused Lakshmana of not being loyal to his elder brother who was in trouble. Lakshmana could not tolerate these harsh words of Sita and reluctantly left the hut to go look for Rama in the woods.
Thus, the wrath of Sita enabled Ravana to approach her in a situation where she was all alone in the hut without anybody to protect her. This one fatal sin of hers set in chain a motion of events which led to her kidnapping by Ravana.
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Image courtesy: Google Image search
Mahabore's Mumblings 
That’s a nice insight. Of course, but did Sita really have another way out? She was bound to be concerned so she sent Lakshmana away.
I love coming here, it takes me to a wonderland 🙂
@Rainbow Hues, thanks, if I am able to transport you to the actual setting of the story itself, then my job is more than done.
Regarding Sita, although she didn’t quite have a way out, this post was written to highlight the consequences of her wrath, that’s all.
Another known episode in Ramayana, but the way you tell it is simply superb. I become a small child when I read it, nodding my head for every known fact and smiling when appreciating the way you have told it.
@Paddy, that’s the tricky part, taking something everybody knows and managing to make it interesting and engaging enough for them to read through it…
Yes I know. You do a wonderful job of it.
Beautifully written.This portion from Ramayan is very painful. Your narration is is superb.
@Usha, this portion is where all the ‘action’ begins in all earnest, isn’t it…
Lakshmana too did not leave her all alone to be kidnapped by Ravana. He did do his part by drawing the Lakshman Rekha. But alas, what’s bound to happen is bound to happen. I believe you could include Sita’s stepping out of the Lakshman Rekha as part of this sin. But, if I look at it from her point of view, she wasn’t wrong at all. She feared the curse of the sadhu (the disguised Ravana), that might harm her husband and hence stepped out. That’s the version that I know of my favourite character Sita. 🙂
@Rekha, yes, I was stuck in a quandry as to whether to write about the Lakshman Rekha or not, but then decided against it as the post would have been too long…
I’ve always wondered as to what Ramayana would have been, if this particular episode hadn’t happened 🙂
Nice Post, again!
@Seriocomiker, yes, this is one of the critical points of the epic and sets the mood for the rest of the story to follow, doesn’t it…
Interesting observation!! This indeed led to the whole turn of events…great retelling!
@Aditi, thanks
that’s a new view…i never looked at Sita’s action as anger…
to me anger in mythology is Draupadi’s wrath….at being insulted by the Kauravas..
@the little princess, oh yes, Sita was supposedly infuriated when Lakshman refused to leave her side and go to Rama’s assistance…
I saw this coming 🙂 Btw, there are versions of the Ramayan which claim that Sita had to go through fire because of the false accusations she flung at Lakshman on that day.
@Suresh, I haven’t heard that version, would be great if you could post on that or alternatively point me an online resource where I could read up about that
You spoke my mind. Everytime I heard the story I questioned that Sita was at fault or not…but no one ever understood. I am happy that someone agreed.
@Sugandha, first of all it is not just me who agrees with your viewpoint that Sita was probably at fault for having forced Lakshmana to help Rama and leave her alone. There are lots of versions of the story which credit Ravana kidnapping Sita due to this one thing that she did…
I don’t know if it was her sin or his love & duty towards her husband.But loved reading the parts again.Oh i missed one previous post.I better go n read…Thank you for different perspective.
@Anu, well, I wasn’t implying that it was a sin but it was her wrath and anger that caused this particular episode, that’s all
Looking fwd to some action after this 😉
Great write up 🙂
@Ruchira, to be honest, there is only one action based post and that is going to be published only on 07-Sep 🙂
I like how reading your posts everyday is a learning experience for me 🙂
@Preeti, believe me writing these poots has been a learning experience for me as well…
Certainly, she is to be blamed not for forcing Lakshmana but for trusting the Saadhu in my view point. This is how I see it. But, then I have issues with Ramyana for promoting patrirchy in the sense why Lakshamana need to stay and protect as well as Rama not trusting his wife. But, beautifully narrated.I hope I am not offending anyone’s core belief in the epic.
Cheerz
@Vishal, that’s a good point that you make there, no offense taken, at least by me 🙂
Thanks man. I am quite careful bout Indian mythology since people react with fury.
@Vishal, me too, hence the disclaimer at the top of the posts involving mythology and fiction as well :D, in any case I don’t have too much of a readership anyways 🙂
Now, with writetribe, your blog following will increase ten-fold. Your write up is amazing and I wonder what was eluding me so far. My loss!
@Vishal, very true, with this Write Tribe Festival I am reading so many comments from so many new visitors, the only hope is that they like my style of writing enough to follow me even after the festival is over 🙂
You got rave comments and the write up is awesome. I am sure that by now uve got quite a few followers. It’s only this year that I earned followers..in my sixth year.
@Vishal, to be honest, I just got 6 new followers this week on the blog 🙂 Not that it matters, but I brought it up because we were talking about it. I guess I have a long way to go before it becomes anything substantial 🙂
I had the same till last year and I feel that it’s good to comment on others’ work and get published on the amazing platform of writetribe.com.
Cheerz
@Vishal, that is so true…
[…] Read Post 5 – Sita’s wrath […]
Or perhaps it was Manthara that set up the chain of events. But in Sita’s defence, how could she not have sent Lakshman when her beloved Rama was calling out to her. I always wondered though why Lakshman didn’t take SIta with him … food for thought.
@Suzy, Manthara did set up another chain of events altogether, which is discussed in my next post. Well, by asking Lakshman to leave her side, Sita disobeyed express instructions from Rama not to leave her alone. Maybe the reason he didn’t take her along with him was because he thought it was too dangerous, after all if somebody can get Rama into trouble, then that person is dangerous, right…
When I read the title I thought this would be about Sita’s reaction after the war was over, this one took me a bit by surprise.
@Ayush, you make an interesting observation there, for whatever reason, Sita’s wrath when asked to undergo the Agni Pariksha didn’t strike me at all 🙂
Amazing how this story illustrates that others actions can cause a rapid domino effect of consequences. A person certainly needs to choose their actions and choices wisely.
@Kathy, absolutely spot on, you hit the nail on the head there…
[…] Read Post 5 – Sita’s wrath […]
Damn! I need to remember this tale every time I get angry on someone!
Doesn’t this also show how Sita, in spite of being with Rama for so long did not understand Rama enough to know that neither a single nor a herd of deer could harm even a single hair on Rama’s body.
These stories seem to have deeper levels at which they can be analyzed every time you read them!
@Bhavya, absolutely, and it is precisely these deeper levels of analysis and understanding that prompted me to write these posts in the first place 😀