"Wherever you go,
I will go"
Rama, prince
of a kingdom in Northern India, had a stepmother who
was jealous of him. By playing a trick on his father,
the King, she got him banished to exile in the forest,
hoping that this would make her own son
the Crown Prince. By this time Prince Rama was married
to a fine young woman named Seeta. Rama, virtuous
as he was, could only honor the regretful command of
his father to go into exile for fourteen years. But what
about Seeta? A wife remains with her husband, but
how could she be expected to go through all the
hardships and dangers of life in the forest and
jungles? Rama, therefore, told his wife to remain
in the palace and wait for him to return. He told her
in detail how she should live there in peace.
Seeta was strong-minded.
She would have none of it. "Other relatives,
my dear husband," she said, "may be told things
like that; a true wife always shares her husband's
fate." And she added, "Wherever you go,
I will go. I shall walk before you, over thorns
and prickly grass. I'll be no trouble to you,
living on roots and fruits. I will eat only when you
have finished. There will be pools with wild geese
and bright with lotus flowers, where we may bathe.
I cannot be happy anywhere else; with you
I can bear any fate--for fourteen years or for a hundred
years or a thousand!"
"Seeta,"
said the Prince, "there are many fierce
wild animals in the interior of this land, and poisonous
snakes; we will have to sleep on dry leaves,
go at times without water or food; fear will be
everywhere." But Seeta, with tears in her
eyes answered him patiently: "Do you think, my
dear, that all of that matters to me, if I can
be with you? I will take those dangers as blessings.
I am bound to you as Savitri was to Satyavan.
[See our earlier story of Savitri]. Your company is
heaven to me, and your absence, hell. No one
will blame me if I follow you, because to a true
wife her husband is as a God." Your joy
and your sorrow I want to share; otherwise, who knows
what I may do, being depressed?"
When Seeta had thus
begged him, and shed many tears, Rama at last consented
to let her come with him on the exile journey. "My
fair beloved," he said, "since
you do not fear the life of the forest and since you
long to share in fulfilling my vow, you shall
be with me. Now prepare for this new life by giving
away your wealth and dressing in the clothes we
shall need for the forest." [Mostly made of tree
bark!]
Then Lakshmana,
next younger brother of the Rama, said that because
Rama was the apple of his eye, he too would go with
them and share their fate. This made the Prince very happy,
and the three of them made ready to take leave of their
father, the King, and his assembled court.
But all was not finished
yet: a great sage who had been for all these years
tutor to Rama and a chief adviser to the King, spoke up.
Looking at the jealous stepmother, he rebuked
her, saying "O Queen, this was not in the
bargain, that Princess Seeta should go into exile.
Instead, let her sit on the throne instead of Rama.
A man's wife is his second self! Let Seeta rule the
kingdom in due time, in Rama's place. You know very
well how your son loves and admires Rama; he surely
will refuse to take the throne which rightfully belongs
to Rama so long as Rama lives! Don't you see
there is not a person in the world who is not fond of our
Prince? Even the animals and birds and serpents follow him;
nay, the trees themselves bend down their heads towards
him!
Seeta had firmly made
up her mind, of course, and would give no ear to this.
Finally the sage said, "Then let the King give
her robes and jewels and adorn her like a queen!"
And Seeta put the finery the King bestowed upon her
over her clothes of bark, and shone like a true queen.
Now, Rama's mother, giving her parting advice, told
her to follow the dharma (righteousness) proper
to a king's wife. Seeta gave this famous reply: "The
moon may lose its brightness, before I will give up
my promise to follow Rama; a lute without strings is
silent; a chariot without wheels is motionless; a woman
parted from her husband can know no happiness."
In those
days it was the custom, when taking leave, to walk
three times in a clockwise fashion around one's elders. That
is what the three exiles did. Rama, Seeta and Lakshmana "circum-ambulated"
the King and his Queens, before leaving for the
life of banishment.
This tale reminds us of Ruth, in the Old Testament, and shows us why Seeta has been regarded as the ideal for all Indian womanhood for centuries.
by Sister Nivedita and Ananda Coomaraswamy
Aum | About | Calendar | Articles | Stories | On-line books
Bulletin board | Books & tapes | Links | Search | Contact