Selfless Sita

After the treacherous and tiring journey Lakshmana, Rama, and Sita embarked on, they finally returned home. However, rumors about Sita's supposed infidelity began spreading as fast as a forest fire, and the people began to grow a deep hatred toward her. Initially, all the gossip and news was just speculation, but then people started believing all the false accusation regarding Sita. They kept wondering why the king would ever take back such a wretched woman that could commit such adultery. As a result, the people grew weary and doubtful of the king himself. Two brothers, Abhay and Chanda, heard about the news and began their own conversation on the topic. They both agreed that the king was quite idiotic for taking back a woman who was so clearly unfaithful to her spouse and began questioning Rama's political and royal ability.

Chanda exclaimed, "If a husband is so ignorant of the actions of his wife, then how will he do with this kingdom? I am afraid that his misjudgment will turn this town and its people into turmoil! I cannot simply stand here and witness an unspoken and abhorrent crime unfold before my very eyes!"

Abhay responded, "We never had to deal with such foolishness under Bharata's rule. He needs to be king again."

"Perhaps we are able to make such a reality come to fruition," Chanda said, to which Abhay asked, "How could we ever do such a thing?"

"We must rally other people, and use political force, and perhaps even violence, to create such a replacement," Chanda strategized.

Word got back to the palace that the people of the kingdom that the people were fashioning a plan to create a public disturbance that could have possibly included the act of violence. Rama was infuriated with the people's lack of judgment and rash thinking and began to devise a plan to oppose the people.

"How could my people think of such a plan? Do they have no faith in my lovely Sita? Do they have even a pinch of faith in me?" Rama angrily questioned.

Sita also caught word of the news and began to do some thinking herself. Finally, she came up to Rama and made a proposition.

"Dear, I understand how frustrated you must be and how much vexation runs through your mind, but perhaps, it may be best that I am exiled."

Rama immediately rejected the idea and responded, "How you could think of such a possibility? We definitely can not do that. That idea is just absurd!"

Sita calmly replied, "This is they only way to make the people happy. If I continue to stay here, then only violence and pain will be brought to this city. Is that what you want?"

Rama grew confused and feared the idea of his wife leaving into the unknown of the jungle. How could he live without the love of his life? But he knew that this was the safest and most peaceful solution, and with that, Sita was exiled.

Author's Note

To be quite honest, I did not like how brushed over this part of the story was. I really thought it was quite an injustice to Sita, considering all that she has been through up until this point. In the original story, there was not much detail on exactly Rama's thought process of exiling Sita. It was presented in a cause and effect manner. In my story, I wanted to give more background and more purpose for banning Sita, which is why I included the people's planned retaliation. I did not think that speculation was a big enough reason for Rama to exile his wife. I also added in the possibility of violence into the story because I wanted to create a more urgent reason to exile Sita, and violence seemed like the right way to go to create a sense of urgency. Also, in the original story, it was ultimately Rama's decision to ban Sita. Throughout the whole story, Sita's love for Rama kept reoccurring, so, in this version, I wanted to expose Sita's love and affection for Rama and the kingdom. That is why I made the exile her own idea. I think this change to the story really exemplifies her selflessness, which gives light to the alliterative title - Selfless Sita.

Also, I named the brothers Abhay, meaning fearless, and Chanda, which means fierce and passionate. In the story, they take on such a strong and opinionated stance, and they even go as far as to wanting to create a retaliation against the king! I wanted their names to reflect their attitudes and actions in the story.

Bibliography

"Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie