Reading Diary B: Rama's Turmoil

Rama shows the first sign of humanity at the end of Buck's Ramayana. When I first heard that he sent Sita away, I jumped to the conclusion that he was just an idiotic man who could not suck up his pride. However, after having read the whole thing, I think I understand where he was coming from. He loved Sita, but Rama's entire destiny was to be a leader. He had worked and abstained and wandered the woods for 14 years and saved his wife and the world from evil. He finally was where he was supposed to be. Everyone respected him, everyone loved him. So, after all that, he hears whispers that he is tainted due to living with a soiled woman. He knows in his heart that this is not true. He has looked Sita in the eyes, heard her plea, seen her in the pure fire of the Fire God. He knows that she never once yielded to Ravana. But to him, it did not really matter what he thought. It was what his subjects thought. He needed to be the best, most pure ruler he could be, and that involved sending Sita away. Rama saw this as a self sacrifice, something required of him to stay on the path of Dharma. It is interesting to see how wrapped up in this Rama got. He gave away the one person he fought a war for. It poses the interesting idea of whether he was wrong or not. I think he was, and I do not think that that is what the gods intended for him. But then Buck harkens back to an old mistake Vishnu made, that caused him and his love to always be separated. It is by far the most frustrating and ironic scene of the whole story.


Sita plays hide and seek with Rama
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