Sita and Karma

This blog post will focus specifically on Sita and how her karmic actions, both good and bad, effected her  life.

Throughout the Ramayana, Sita repeatedly acts as the ideal Hindu woman. Her loyalty to Rama and her willingness to go through the multiple tests and challenges posed to her by Rama are just some of the examples in which she is the "idealization as the perfect woman and the perfect wife" (Goldman and Goldman 85). It should come as no surprise then, that Sita's repeated good karmic actions also result in repeated good outcomes. She is rescued from Ravana by Rama, and receives help from multiple gods and goddesses when proving her fidelity to Rama. An example of this is seen in the Ramayana on page 341 when the God of Fire restores Sita from the ordeal of fire, and states, "Here is Vaidehi, O Rama, there is no sin in her! ...She is pure and without taint... it is my command that she should not suffer reproach in any way." 

However, are the many trails and challenges of Sita, such as being captured by Ravana or being banished by her husband, indications of some negative karmic action she may have took? Sita suffers for a significant portion of the epic despite remaining extremely loyal throughout, which may seem odd and not in line with the idea of karma. However, when looking back through the story there do seem to be a couple of instances in which Sita may not act as the "perfect woman". During Rama and Sita's banishment, Marica, a raksasa and assistant to Ravana, transforms into a golden deer with the purpose of luring Rama away. When Sita sees the deer she, "...covets it, and she sends Rama to catch it for her" (Goldman and Goldman, 80). Desire is seen as a negative action in the karmic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism (find source +expand?), and perhaps Sita's display of desire is a kind of cause for her suffering later in the story. 

Another instance of a possible negative action is when Sita refuses to return with Hanuman, asking that Rama save her himself. This action did result in the deaths of many creatures, a fact that Sita herself points out when asking Rama what his motivations were for battling Ravana if not to save her. "...thou wouldst have been spared useless fatigue on mine account and others lives would not have been sacrificed, nor thine friends exhausted to no purpose" (Valmiki, 337). However, this action of waiting for Rama to save her does also demonstrate a kind of loyalty that is typically praised in the Ramayana. In this case, I don't think it would be correct to definitively label Sita's behavior as definitively "good" or "bad", but it still remains interesting, especially from a karmic point of view.