LEADERSHIP In the Ayodhya Kanda when Rama goes to Sita and tells, ìI am now going to the forest for fourteen years at the behest of my fatherî she at once says, ìI am going too.î He prevents her and indeed frightens her describing the horrors of the forest. He is equally in love with her but could not entertain the idea of such a delicate lady putting up with all the trials and tribulations of jungle life. Hence, he repeats the warning umpteen times and even imparts to her a great deal of worldly wisdom ñ how to behave towards his father, mother and towards his brother Bharata in his absence. But Sita, knowing what matters most to her, has no ear for all this. Instead she questions him: ìWherefore do you tender me this advice, which makes me look indeed so small, O Rama, ...A wife alone actually shares the fortune of her husband, O jewel among men! For this very reason I too stand enjoined (by my parents-in-law) that I should as well take up my abode in the forest. In the case of women neither father nor son nor their own body nor mother nor their female companions serve as an asylum here or hereafter. <strong>The</strong> husband alone is their refuge at all times.î That is the meaning she has about her life. Hence, she says: ìIf you depart this very day for the forest... , O scion of Raghu, I shall walk ahead of you crushing blades of Kusa grass and thorns (that lie in the way). Casting away envy (at my courage in voluntarily offering to accompany you to the forest) and wrath (at my insolence in flouting your command to stay in Ayodhya), confidently take me... O valiant prince! No sin (that may deter you from taking me with you) abides in me. Protection under the feet of oneís husband under all circumstances is preferable (for a woman) to residence at the top of a palace, or living in aerial cars or coursing through the heavens. I have been taught in many ways by my mother and father how I should conduct myself (in relation to you). (As such) I need not be instructed (in this behalf) at this juncture. ...(Nay) caring not for the sovereignty of the three worlds and concentrating my thought on the vow of serving my husband (yourself), I shall live happily in the forest as I would in my paternal home. Serving you everyday with self-reliance and practicing sacred vows, I shall sport with you in woodlands fragrant with (stores of) honey, O valiant prince!î Her steadfast commitment to the meaning that she ascribed to her life inspires her to confidentlyóof course, with a face wet with tearsósay: ì<strong>The</strong> disadvantages that have been enumerated by you as accruing from an abode in the forest, know them to be (so many) blessings (in disguise) in view of the fact that I am foremost in your affections. Antelopes, lions and even so elephants, tigers and Sarabhas, It is Sita’s knowledge of what matters to her most that obviously inspires her to boldly express her sentiments that are an amalgamation of threat, persuasion, entreaty, preaching of duty, and exposition of the sanctity of marriage yaks ...that roam about in the forest are all sure to run away on seeing your countenance since they have never seen your face before and because all are afraid of you. ...(Nay) life in this world must be cast away by me in the event of separation from you, O Rama! In fact not even Indra, the ruler of gods, is capable of overpowering me by his might so long as I am by your side. Driven by a strong passion for remaining by the side of her husband come what may, Sita even taunts Sri Rama: ìI think of my father. He sought all the world for a bridegroom, and at last he got you. If he thought he got hold of the best man for me, he was a fool. What he had got was a woman, a cowardly woman, dressed like a man.î Traditionally, these words can be construed as a transgression in the conduct of a wife, but here they only show her profound grief ñ grief at Sri Ramaís refusal to let her go to forest with him, at the very thought of separation from her beloved. But being a brave, and true kshatriya woman, in the same vein she even challenges him: ìWhat are you afraid of? What are the things which you dread that you should reject me who have no other person to rely on earth? I am yours entirely, utterly, and yet you discard me. Where is your moral courage gone?î She continues to argue: ìO Rama, that a (devoted) wife who stands disunited from her husband should not be able to survive. Moreover, in the days gone by while living at my fatherís, ...the prophecy was heard by me from the mouth of Brahmanas that I must dwell in the forest. ...I certainly know there are sufferings only of various kinds in the forest. <strong>The</strong>y are (however) invariably experienced by men of unsubdued mind (alone), O heroic prince!... Following my husband (to the forest) with loving devotion I shall surely be absolved from all guilt, O pure-minded prince; for the husband is the supreme deity (for a wife). ...If you do not feel inclined at all to take me, afflicted as I am as shown above, to the forest, I shall resort to poison, fire or water to hasten my endî. In this way Sita entreats himóat times even in a harsh toneóin many ways to let her accompany him. It is her knowledge of what matters to her most that obviously inspires her to boldly express her sentiments that are an amalgamation of threat, persuasion, entreaty, preaching of duty, and exposition of the sanctity of marriage, which compels Rama to gracefully take her with him to the forest saying, ìbe with me my partner in all that I have to do in the forest.î Sita, the daughter of Janaka and the wife of Rama, happily then strips herself as bare as possible of all pomp and the burden of pomp and makes herself ready to go to forest with Rama cheerfully, and indeed lives happily in the forest sans palatial comforts that a princess of her status is used to haveó all because of her ability to discover SEPTEMBER 2009 76 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE
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