Sita (; ), also known as Siya, Jānaki and Maithili, is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Sita is the consort of Rama, the avatar of god Vishnu, and is regarded as an avatar of goddess Lakshmi. She is the chief goddess of the Ramanandi Sampradaya and is the goddess of beauty and devotion. Sita's birthday is celebrated every year on the occasion of Sita Navami.
Described as the daughter of Bhūmi (the earth), Sita is brought up as the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Videha. Sita, in her youth, chooses Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, as her husband in a svayamvara. After the svayamvara, she accompanies her husband to his kingdom but later chooses to accompany him along with her brother-in-law Lakshmana in his exile. While in exile, the trio settles in the Dandaka forest from where she is abducted by Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka. She is imprisoned in the garden of Ashoka Vatika in Lanka until she is rescued by Rama, who slays her captor.
After the war, in some versions of the epic, Rama asks Sita to undergo Agni Pariksha (an ordeal of fire), by which she proves her chastity, before she is accepted by Rama. Such an episode of trial makes Lakshmana angry at Rama, for the first time. In some other versions of the epic, Maya Sita, an illusion created by Agni, takes Sita's place and is abducted by Ravana and suffers his captivity, while the real Sita hides in the fire. Some scriptures also mention her previous birth as Vedavati, a woman Ravana tries to molest.
After proving her purity, Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, where they are crowned as king and queen. One day, a man questions Sita's fidelity and in order to prove her innocence and maintain both his own dignity and that of the kingdom, Rama sends the pregnant Sita into the forest. She takes shelter at Sage Valmiki's ashram. She gives birth to twin sons there: Kusha and Lava. Years later, Sita reunites her two sons with their father Rama and then returns to the womb of her mother, the earth, as a testimony to her ultimate purity.
Etymology and other names The goddess is best known by the name "Sita", derived from the Sanskrit word sīta, ("furrow".)
According to Ramayana, Janaka found her while ploughing as a part of a yajna and adopted her. The word Sīta was a poetic term which signified fertility and the many blessings coming from settled agriculture. The Sita of the Ramayana may have been named after a more ancient Vedic goddess Sita, who is mentioned once in the Rigveda as an earth goddess who blesses the land with good crops. In the Vedic period, she was one of the goddesses associated with fertility. Rigveda 4.53.6, addressed to Agricultural Divinities, states
In Harivamsa, Sita is invoked as one of the names of the goddess Arya:
The Kausika-sutra and the Paraskara-sutra associate her repeatedly as the wife of Parjanya (a god associated with rains) and Indra.
Sita is known by many epithets. She is called Jānaki as the daughter of Janaka and Maithili as the princess of Mithila. As the wife of Rama, she is called Ramā. Her father Janaka had earned the sobriquet Videha due to his ability to transcend body consciousness; Sita is therefore also known as Vaidehi.
Legends Birth and early life Various places have been claimed to be the birthplace of Sita in local lores. These include the Sita Kund pilgrimage site in present-day Sitamarhi district, Bihar, India. Apart from Sitamarhi, Janakpur, which is located in the present-day Madhesh Province, Nepal, has also been claimed to be her birthplace. Other versions Janaka's biological daughter: In Ramopkhyana of the Mahabharata and also in Paumachariya of Vimala Suri, Sita has been depicted as Janaka's biological daughter. According to Rev. Fr. Camille Bulcke, this motif that Sita was the biological daughter of Janaka, as described in Ramopkhyana Mahabharata was based on the authentic version of Valmiki Ramayana. Later, the story of Sita miraculously appearing in a furrow was inserted in Valmiki Ramayana. Ramayana Manjari: In Ramayana Manjari (verses 344–366), North-western and Bengal recensions of Valmiki Ramayana, it has been described as on hearing a voice from the sky and then seeing Menaka, Janaka expresses his wish to obtain a child, and when he finds the child, he hears the same voice again telling him the infant is his spiritual child, born of Menaka. Reincarnation of Vedavati: Some versions of the Ramayana suggest that Sita was a reincarnation of Vedavati. Ravana tried to molest Vedavati and her chastity was sullied beyond Ravana's redemption when she was performing penance to become the consort of Vishnu. Vedavati immolated herself on a pyre to escape Ravana's lust, vowing to return in another age and be the cause of Ravana's destruction. She was duly reborn as Sita. Reincarnation of Manivati: According to Gunabhadra's Uttara Purana of the ninth century CE, Ravana disturbs the asceticism of Manivati, daughter of Amitavega of Alkapuri, and she pledges to take revenge on Ravana. Manivati is later reborn as the daughter of Ravana and Mandodari. But astrologers predicted the ruin of Ravana because of this child. So, Ravana gives orders to kill the child. Manivati is placed in a casket and buried in the ground of Mithila, where she is discovered by some of the farmers of the kingdom. Then Janaka, king of that state, adopts her. Ravana's daughter: In Sanghadasa's Jaina version of Ramayana, and also in Adbhuta Ramayana, Sita, entitled Vasudevahindi, is born as the daughter of Ravana. According to this version, astrologers predict that the first child of Vidyadhara Maya (Ravana's wife) will destroy his lineage. Thus, Ravana abandons her and orders the infant to be buried in a distant land where she is later discovered and adopted by Janaka.
Sita has a younger sister Urmila, born to Janaka and Sunayna, whom she was the closest among her three sisters. Her father's younger brother, Kushadhvaja's daughters Mandavi and Shrutakirti grew up with them in Mithila.
Marriage to Rama When Sita reached adulthood, Janaka conducted a svayamvara ceremony at his capital with the condition that she would marry only a prince who would possess the strength to string the Pinaka, the bow of the deity Shiva. Many princes attempted and failed to string the bow. During this time, Vishvamitra had brought Rama and his brother Lakshmana to the forest for the protection of a yajna (ritual sacrifice). Hearing of the svayamvara, Vishvamitra asked Rama to participate in the ceremony with the consent of Janaka, who agreed to offer Sita's hand in marriage to the prince if he could fulfil the requisite task. When the bow was brought before him, Rama seized the centre of the weapon, fastened the string taut, and broke it in two in the process. Witnessing his prowess, Janaka agreed to marry his daughter to Rama and invited Dasharatha to his capital.
King Dasharatha arrived in Mithila for his son's wedding and noticed that Lakshmana had feelings for Urmila, but according to tradition, Bharata and Mandavi were to marry first. He then arranged for Bharata to marry Mandavi and Shatrughna to marry Shrutakirti, allowing Lakshmana to marry Urmila. Ultimately, all four sisters married the four brothers, strengthening the alliance between the two kingdoms. A wedding ceremony was conducted under the guidance of Shatananda. During the homeward journey to Ayodhya, another avatar of Vishnu, Parashurama, challenged Rama to combat, on the condition that he was able to string the bow of Vishnu, Sharanga. When Rama obliged him with success, Parashurama acknowledged the former to be a form of Vishnu and departed to perform penance at the mountain Mahendra. The wedding entourage then reached Ayodhya and they entered the city amid great fanfare.
Exile and abduction
Some time after Ram and Sita's wedding, Kaikeyi, the second queen of King Dasharatha, compelled Dashratha to make her son Bharata the king instead of Rama. Kaikeyi was prompted by the coaxing of her maid Manthara. Since Kaikeyi had two boons from Dasharatha granted to her years earlier, she used the two boons to make Bharata the king and forced Rama to leave Ayodhya and spend 14 years in exile in the forest. Sita and Lakshmana willingly renounced the comforts of the palace and joined Rama in exile.
The Panchavati forest (in Nashik, India) became the setting for Sita's abduction by Ravana, King of Lanka. There, Ravana's sister the demoness Shurpanakha expressed her love for Rama. However, when Shurpanakha approached Rama, he refused her stating that he was devoted to Sita. This enraged the demoness and she tried to kill Sita. Lakshmana cut Shurpanakha's nose and sent her back. Ravana, in order to take revenge for his sister decided to kidnap Sita, and made a plan. Maricha, his uncle, disguised himself as a magnificent deer to lure Sita. Sita, attracted to its golden glow asked her husband to make it her pet. When Rama and Lakshmana went far away from the hut, Ravana kidnapped Sita, disguising himself as a mendicant. Some versions of the Ramayana describe Sita taking refuge with the fire-god Agni, while Maya Sita, her illusionary double, is kidnapped by the demon-king. Jatayu, the vulture-king, tried to protect Sita but Ravana chopped off his wings. Jatayu survived long enough to inform Rama of what had happened.Mani pp. 720–3;
Ravana took Sita back to his kingdom in Lanka and she was held as a prisoner in one of his palaces. During her captivity for a year in Lanka, Ravana expressed his desire for her; however, Sita refused his advances. Hanuman was sent by Rama to seek Sita and eventually succeeded in discovering Sita's whereabouts. Sita gave Hanuman her jewelery and asked him to give it to her husband. Hanuman returned across the sea to Rama.
Sita was finally rescued by Rama, who waged a war to defeat Ravana. Upon rescue, Rama makes Sita undergo a trial by fire to prove her chastity. In some versions of the Ramayana, during this test the fire-god Agni appears in front of Rama and attests to Sita's purity, or hands over to him the real Sita and declares it was Maya Sita who was abducted by Ravana. The Thai version of the Ramayana, however, tells of Sita walking on the fire, of her own accord, to feel clean. She is not burnt, and the coals turn to lotuses.
Later years and second exile
In the Uttara Kanda, following their return to Ayodhya, Rama was crowned as the king with Sita by his side. While Rama's trust and affection for Sita never wavered, it soon became evident that some people in Ayodhya could not accept Sita's long captivity under Ravana. They questioned Rama's decision to keep Sita as his queen, believing this example set by their king would inevitably be followed by his subjects. Rama was extremely distraught on hearing the news, but finally told Lakshmana that as a king, he had to make his citizens content and the purity of the queen of Ayodhya had to be above any gossip and rumour. With a heavy heart, he instructed Lakshmana to take Sita to a forest outside Ayodhya and leave her there.
Following her second exile, a pregnant Sita sought refuge in the hermitage of Valmiki, where she gave birth to twin sons, Lava and Kusha. Rama later requested her return to the royal assembly to attest to her purity. He acknowledged the twins as his sons and sought reconciliation. In response, Sita asserted her fidelity by calling upon her mother, the earth goddess Bhumi, to receive her. Bhumi emerged from the earth and descended back with Sita, amid praise from the assembly.