Chapter 4: Wood –Apple episode

Synopsis in prose form :

(SUMMARY: A highlight of the anthology is this Wood-Apple episode in which Sita gets the wisdom from nature in a dramatized fashion. A creeper, the humble green grass, a

wayside rock, the mighty Sun, a mountain, and the Wood- Apple tree give Sita the delicate tenets of ‘naari-jeevan’, that is, a woman’s life. The husband’s duty to his wife is also strongly emphasized in the anthology. Story of this is narrated here.)

Sita is seated in the hermitage of Rishi Valmiki with her Sakhis (lady friends).

One of them asks her:

“What is the duty of a wife?”

Sita replies:

“Husband is everything for a wife. He is her Lord,

Guru (teacher) , Friend, Consort. A wife’s duty is to

do auspicious acts as per her husband’s wish.”

“Then, how should we know, what is his wish?” asks

the sakhi.

This question of the sakhi brings back nostalgic memories of the incident of the Wood-Apple episode to Sita. She narrates this episode to her sakhis.

Sita:

It was within a few days of the banishment of the Lord from Ayodhya to the forests. His brother, Laxman, had accompanied us to the forest. Both the brothers made a hermitage for us to stay. I would clean and maintain it. The brothers would collect forest fruits and roots. I would