The Ideal Woman: Sita
Jie Guo
ENGL 270
4 December 2012
The Ideal Woman: Sita Valmiki’s Ramayana, published in 551 BC, is an epic focusing on all of the different elements of dharma. Dharma is defined as divine duty and means literally “that which holds,” as in the way that one should live their life. There are four spheres of dharma, also called goals, with dharma being the first one. The second is artha, meaning worldly profit, possessions, and political power. The third is kama: pleasure and love. The idea behind pursuing dharma is to ultimately achieve the fourth sphere of moksha, which means liberation from worldly existence. While Rama, the main character and epic hero, embodies dharma and represents the ideal man, beside him sits the ideal woman: his wife, Sita. Rama’s portrayal of dharma is best exhibited by the way others react to him. His wife is perhaps the biggest catalyst for Rama’s idealized status as she is consistently faithful. In the first few pages of the epic, Sita is praise by the kingdom as the people state, “Obviously she has done great penance to get him as her husband” (728). This serves as a showcase for her greatness, exemplifying how the men women can secure reflects herself as a citizen. However, women are known to not uphold dharma as well as men, and Sita must constantly prove herself time and time again. Sita is characterized as the ideal woman following her dharma in her insistence to accompany Rama into exile, refusal to marry Ravana in efforts to protect her chastity, and willingness to enter the fire to prove to Rama that she has never waivered in her faithfulness to him. To first understand Sita’s role as the ideal woman, one must comprehend the role of her husband in the kingdom. In a huge way, Sita’s womanly purity is used to further exhibit Rama’s perfection. Rama is an ideal citizen and is set to inherit the throne, loved by all of the people and a model of dharma to many. On the day of his coronation, the people proclaim, “We shall
ENGL 270
4 December 2012
The Ideal Woman: Sita Valmiki’s Ramayana, published in 551 BC, is an epic focusing on all of the different elements of dharma. Dharma is defined as divine duty and means literally “that which holds,” as in the way that one should live their life. There are four spheres of dharma, also called goals, with dharma being the first one. The second is artha, meaning worldly profit, possessions, and political power. The third is kama: pleasure and love. The idea behind pursuing dharma is to ultimately achieve the fourth sphere of moksha, which means liberation from worldly existence. While Rama, the main character and epic hero, embodies dharma and represents the ideal man, beside him sits the ideal woman: his wife, Sita. Rama’s portrayal of dharma is best exhibited by the way others react to him. His wife is perhaps the biggest catalyst for Rama’s idealized status as she is consistently faithful. In the first few pages of the epic, Sita is praise by the kingdom as the people state, “Obviously she has done great penance to get him as her husband” (728). This serves as a showcase for her greatness, exemplifying how the men women can secure reflects herself as a citizen. However, women are known to not uphold dharma as well as men, and Sita must constantly prove herself time and time again. Sita is characterized as the ideal woman following her dharma in her insistence to accompany Rama into exile, refusal to marry Ravana in efforts to protect her chastity, and willingness to enter the fire to prove to Rama that she has never waivered in her faithfulness to him. To first understand Sita’s role as the ideal woman, one must comprehend the role of her husband in the kingdom. In a huge way, Sita’s womanly purity is used to further exhibit Rama’s perfection. Rama is an ideal citizen and is set to inherit the throne, loved by all of the people and a model of dharma to many. On the day of his coronation, the people proclaim, “We shall
Cited: Dimmitt, Cornelia (1982) “Sita: Fertility Goddess and Sakti.” The Divine Consort: Radha and the Goddesses of India. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series: 210- 223. Peltier, Mary Damon (1995) “Sita’s Story: In the Valmiki Ramayana.” Journal of Vaisnava Studies 4 :77-103. Valmiki. "The Ramayana of Valimiki." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. ed. Martin Puchner. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2009. 723-761. Print.