CONTROVERSIAL EPISODES IN RAMAYANA: SITA’S AGNIPARIKSHA.

 

Sita's Agniparikhsha ©Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir (Blog)

Hindus from different regions of the world hail Lord Ram as the ‘PERFECT MAN’ on this planet. His virtuous deed has made him a popular figure among the contemporary Hindu population. Lord Ram’s temperament to deal with difficult situations and his strict adherence to the principles of Dharma had made him a divine figure among Hindus. We Hindus consider him as a holy figure that represents the verity and sincerity a person should have within himself.

Albeit, all his greatness and unimpeachable deeds critics and atheist society find a way to demoralize and demean the character of Lord Ram in the most brutal way.

In this blog, I will give a detailed analysis of one of the important controversial episodes of Ramayana that had always been a source of constant debates and arguments.

  SITA’S AGNIPARIKHSHA:The Feminist society loves to shower light on this topic while slandering the character of Lord Ram on various platforms. One of the first questions they put forth is ‘How can someone think of Lord Ram to be an ideal husband whilst he cajoled his wife to perform the fire test? How can someone justify this act?

Before getting into the question it should be remembered that there are two possible theories behind this fire test (Agnipariksha) event in Ramayana.

Sita's Agnipariksha © amit bandre

a)VALMIKI’S VERSION: If someone goes through Valmiki’s version of Ramayana he/she cann found out the reason behind the Sita Agniparikhsha. It tells that Lord Ram said harsh words to Sita after she returned from Lanka. This unanticipated act of Shri Ram had appalled Sita to an extent that she decided to perform a fire test so that she can showcase her chastity to all those people present in that area. 

Later lord Ram himself revealed that he ignored Sita while she was entering the pit of fire because he wanted to show the three worlds the purity and chastity of Sita.

Now comes the main question ‘Why Lord Ram wanted to showcase Sita’s chastity to the three worlds?’

It’s because Shri Ram didn’t want Sita’s character to be questioned for her prolonged stay in Lanka. During that period the Indian society was engulfed by conservative and infelicitous thoughts. Sita was highly vulnerable to get unworthily accused based on her chastity if she didn’t perform the fire test. To protect her from those unrighteous blame lord Ram persuaded her to perform the fire test.

But why Lord Ram didn’t perform the Agnipariksha along with Devi Sita?

The answer is simple, back in those days women were unrightfully doubted and questioned for petty issues even though they were innocent. So there was a high chance for Devi Sita to get blamed and questioned on her character for her extended hold up in Lanka so by performing the Agnipariksha Lord Ram thought that he might protect Sita Indirectly from baseless allegations but it didn’t go as he planned.

Sita's Agnipariksha (maya Sita) ©wikipedia.

2)THE MAYA SITA: As Per Devi Bhagavata Purana, Agni Dev (fire god) informed lord Rama about the future events, which includes the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the great Lanka war, and the downfall of Ravana. After revealing the information associated with the future Agni Dev further requested Lord Ram to handover Devi Sita to him for safekeeping. So Agni Dev substituted Original Devi Sita with a duplicate one (Maya Sita). This event was kept a secret from Lakshman because Agni Dev promised lord Ram to not reveal the truth of Sita’s replacement with Maya Sita.

From here we can conclude that the demon king (Ravana) abducted an illusionary version of Devi Sita so that Lord Ram can fulfil his Paramount goal of annihilating the demon king Ravana. 

What’s the role of Sita Agnipariksha in this version story?

 In this version of the story the Agnipariksha had a major role to play. As Agni Dev revealed that when Sita would be persuaded to prove her chastity Maya Sita will be replaced by the Original one hereby resulting in the reunion of both Lord Ram and Sita.

Though this version of the story can eradicate all the controversies associated with this specific episode many scholars and intellectuals don’t agree with this version. In other words, this version of the story is not that popular among contemporary Hindus.

Finally, I would like to say that besmirching a holy figure in the 21^st century is quite common among the masses. The atheists love to convert believers to non-believers by propagating erroneous information which they heard from someone else. So stop believing in their words and understand the words of the supreme divinity by going through the holy texts.

JAI SHREE RAM