Sita

Sita in exile by Raja Ravi Varma.

Affiliation Avatar of Lakshmi, Devi,Panchakanya

Texts Ramayana

Festivals Sita Navami, Janaki Jayanti, VivahaPanchami, Diwali, Dussehra

Personal information

Born Either present-day Sitamarhidistrict,[1][2][3] Bihar, India orJanakpur,[4][5] present-day Nepal(both the places were part of theMithila Kingdom)

Consort Rama

Children Lava Kusha

Parents Janaka (father)

Sunaina (mother)

Siblings Urmila (sister) Mandavi (cousin) Shrutakirti (cousin)

Dynasty Videha (by birth) Raghuvanshi-Ikshvaku-Suryavanshi(by marriage)

SitaSita (pronounced [ˈsiː ta̪ː] listen , Sanskrit: सीता, IAST: Sītā) or

Seeta, is the consort of Lord Rama (incarnation of Vishnu andKrishna[6]) and an avatar of Sri Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess thatdenotes good character, good fortune, prosperity, success, andhappiness. She is esteemed as the paragon of spousal and femininevirtues for all women.[7]

Sita is the central female character and one of the central figures in theHindu epic, the Ramayana. She is described as the daughter of theearth goddess, Bhūmi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka ofVideha and his wife, Queen Sunaina. She has a younger sister, Urmila,and the female cousins Mandavi and Shrutakirti.[8][9] Sita is known forher dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity.

Sita, in her youth, marries Lord Rama, the prince of Ayodhya. Aftermarriage, she goes to exile with her husband and brother-in-lawLakshmana. While in exile, the trio settle in the Dandaka forest fromwhere she is abducted by Ravana, the Rakshasa king of Lanka. She isimprisoned in Ashoka Vatika in Lanka until she is rescued by Rama,who slays her captor. After the war, Rama asks Sita to undergo AgniPariksha (an ordeal of fire) by which she proves her purity before sheis accepted by Rama, which for the first time makes his brotherLakshmana get angry at him.

In some versions of the epic, the fire-god Agni creates Maya Sita, whotakes Sita's place and is abducted by Ravana and suffers his captivity,while the real Sita hides in the fire. During the Agni Pariksha, MayaSita and the real Sita exchange places again. While some texts say thatMaya Sita is destroyed in the flames of Agni Pariksha, others narratehow she is blessed and reborn as the epic heroine Draupadi or thegoddess Padmavati. Some scriptures also mention her previous birthbeing Vedavati, a woman Ravana tries to molest. After proving herpurity, Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, where they are crowned asking and queen. After few months, Sita becomes pregnant, bringingdoubt to the Kingdom. Rama then sends Sita away on exile.Lakshmana is the one who leaves Sita in the forests nearsage Valmiki's ashrama after Rama banishes her from the kingdom.Years later, Sita returns to the womb of her mother, the Earth, forrelease from a cruel world as a testimony of her purity after shereunites her two sons Kusha and Lava with their father Rama.[10]

Etymology and other names

Contents

LegendBirthMarriageExile and abductionAbandonment and later life

Speeches in the Ramayana

Jain version

Symbolism

Swami Vivekananda on Sita

Portrayal

Temples

See also

Notes

References

External links

The goddess is best known by the name "Sita", derived from the Sanskrit word sīta,furrow.[11]

According to Ramayana, Janaka found her while ploughing as a part of a yagna andadopted her. The word Sīta was a poetic term, its imagery redolent of fecundity andthe many blessings coming from settled agriculture. The Sita of the Ramayana mayhave been named after a more ancient Vedic goddess Sita, who is mentioned once inthe Rigveda as an earth goddess who blesses the land with good crops. In the Vedicperiod, she was one of the goddesses associated with fertility. A Vedic hymn (RigVeda 4:57) recites:

“ Auspicious Sita, come thou near;We venerate and worship thee That thou mayst bless and prosper us And bring us fruits abundantly. ”

In Harivamsa, Sita is invoked as one of the names of the goddess Arya:

“ O goddess, you are the altar's center in thesacrifice, The priest's fee Sita to those who hold the plough And Earth to all living being. ”

The Kausik-sutra and the Paraskara-sutra associate her repeatedly as the wife of Parjanya (a god associated with rains) and Indra.[11]

Sita is known by many epithets. She is called Jānaki as the daughter of Janaka and Maithili as the princess of Mithila.[12] As the wifeof Rama, she is called Ramā. Her father Janaka had earned the sobriquet Videha due to his ability to transcend body consciousness;Sita is therefore also known as Vaidehi.[12]

Etymology and other names

Rama and Sita in the Forest by anIndian painter from 1780

Devi Sita while playing with her sisters in childhood had unknowingly lifted the table over which the bow had been placed; this wassomething that no one in Mithila could do. This incident was however observed by Janaka and he decided to make it a backdrop forSwayamvara because he wanted a son-in-law who was as strong as his daughter. [13]

The birthplace of Sita is disputed.[14] The Sita Kund[1] pilgrimage site which islocated in present-day Sitamarhi district,[2][3]Bihar, India is viewed as the birthplaceof Sita. Apart from Sitamarhi, Janakpur which is located in the present-day ProvinceNo. 2, Nepal,[4][5] is also described as Sita's birthplace.

Valmiki's Ramayana: In Valmiki's Ramayana and Kamban's Tamil epicRamavataram, Sita is said to have been discovered in a furrow in aploughed field, believed to be Sitamarhi in Mithila region of present-dayBihar, and for that reason is regarded as a daughter of Bhūmi Devi[15] (thegoddess earth). She was discovered, adopted and brought up by Janaka,king of Mithila and his wife Sunaina.Ramayana Manjari: In Ramayana Manjari (verses 344–366), North-westernand Bengal recensions of Valmiki Ramayana, it has been described as onhearing a voice from the sky and then seeing Menaka, Janaka expresses hiswish to obtain a child and when he finds the child, he hears the same voiceagain telling him the infant is his spiritual child, born of Menaka.[16]

Janka's real daughter: In Ramopkhyana of the Mahabharata and also inPaumachariya of Vimala Suri, Sita has been depicted as Janaka's realdaughter. According to Rev. Fr. Camille Bulcke, this motif that Sita was thereal daughter of Janaka, as described in Ramopkhyana Mahabharata wasbased on the authentic version of Valmiki Ramayana. Later the story of Sitamiraculously appearing in a furrow was inserted in Valmiki Ramayana.[16]

Reincarnation of Vedavati: Some versions of the Ramayana suggest that Sita was a reincarnation of Vedavati.Ravana tried to molest Vedavati and her chastity was sullied beyond Ravana's redemption when she was performingpenance to become consort of Vishnu. Vedavati immolated herself on a pyre to escape Ravana's lust, vowing toreturn in another age and be the cause of Ravana's destruction. She was duly reborn as Sita.[16]

Reincarnation of Manivati: According to Gunabhadra's Uttara Purana of the ninth century BCE, Ravana disturbs theasceticism of Manivati, daughter of Amitavega of Alkapuri and she pledges to take revenge on Ravana. Manivati islater reborn as the daughter of Ravana and Mandodari. But, astrologers predict ruin of Ravana because of this child.So, Ravana orders to kill the child. Manivati is placed in a casket and buried in the ground of Mithila where she isdiscovered by some of the farmers of the kingdom. Then Janka, king of that state adopts her.[16]

Ravana's daughter: In Sanghadasa's Jaina version of Ramayana and also in Adbhuta Ramayana, Sita, entitledVasudevahindi, is born as daughter of Ravana. According to this version, astrologers predict that first child ofVidyadhara Maya (Ravana's wife) will destroy his lineage. Thus, Ravana abandons her and orders the infant to beburied in a distant land where she is later discovered and adopted by Janaka.[16]

When Sita reaches adulthood, Janaka organizes a Swayamvara in Janakpurdham with the condition that Sita would marry only thatperson who would be able to string Pinaka, the bow of the god Shiva. Janaka knew that the bow of Shiva was not even liftable, letalone stringable for ordinary mortals, and for selfish people it was not even approachable. Thus, Janaka tries to find the best husbandfor Sita.

At this time, Vishvamitra had brought Rama and his brother Lakshmana to the forest for the protection of sacrifice. Hearing aboutthis swayamvara, Vishvamitra asks Rama to participate in it and takes Rama and Lakshmana to the palace of Janaka in Janakpur.Janaka is greatly pleased to learn that Rama and Lakshmana are sons of Dasharatha. Next morning, in the middle of the hall, Ramalifts up the bow of Shiva with his left hand, fastens the string tightly and finally breaks the bow. However, another avatar of Vishnu,Parashurama, became really angry as the bow of Shiva was broken. However, he does not realize that Rama is also an avatar ofVishnu, therefore after being informed of this, he apologizes for getting angry. Thus, Rama fulfills Janaka's condition to marry Sita.

Legend

Birth

Rama, Sita and Lakshmana

Marriage

Later on Vivaha Panchami, a marriage ceremony is conducted under the guidance ofSatananda. Rama marries Sita, Bharata marries Mandavi, Lakshmana marries

Urmila and Shatrughna marries Shrutakirti.[9]

Some time after the wedding, Kaikeyi, Rama's stepmother, compelled Dasharatha tomake Bharata king, prompted by the coaxing of her maid Manthara, and forcedRama to leave Ayodhya and spend a period of exile in the forests of Dandaka andlater Panchavati. Sita and Lakshmana willingly renounced the comforts of the palaceand joined Rama in exile. The Panchavati forest became the scene for Sita'sabduction by Ravana, King of Lanka. Ravana kidnapped Sita, disguising himself asa mendicant, while Rama was away fetching a golden deer to please her. Someversions of the Ramayana describe Sita taking refuge with the fire-god Agni, whileMaya Sita, her illusionary double, is kidnapped by the demon-king. Jatayu, thevulture-king, tried to protect Sita but Ravana chopped off his wings. Jatayu survivedlong enough to inform Rama of what had happened.[17]

Ravana took her back to his kingdom inLanka and Sita was held as a prisoner in oneof his palaces. During her captivity for a yearin Lanka, Ravana expressed his desire forher; however, Sita refused his advances andstruggled to maintain her chastity. Hanumanwas sent by Rama to seek Sita and eventuallysucceeded in discovering Sita's whereabouts.Sita gave Hanuman her jewellery and askedhim to give it to her husband. Hanumanreturned across the sea to Rama.[17]

Sita was finally rescued by Rama, whowaged a war to defeat Ravana. Upon rescue,Rama makes Sita undergo a trial by fire toprove her chastity. In some versions of

Ramayana, during this test the fire-god Agni appears in front of Rama and attests to Sita's purity, or hands over to him the real Sitaand declares it was Maya Sita who was abducted by Ravana.[17] The Thai version of the Ramayana, however, tells of Sita walking onthe fire, of her own accord, to feel clean, as opposed to jumping in it. She is not burnt, and the coals turn to lotuses.

The couple came back to Ayodhya, where Rama was crowned king with Sita by his side.

While Rama's trust and affection for Sita never wavered, it soon became evident that some people in Ayodhya could not accept Sita'slong captivity under Ravana. During Rama's period of rule, an intemperate washerman, while berating his wayward wife, declaredthat he was "no pusillanimous Rama who would take his wife back after she had lived in the house of another man". This statementwas reported back to Rama, who knew that the accusation against Sita was baseless. Nevertheless, he would not let slanderundermine his rule, so he sent Sita away.

Thus Sita was forced into exile a second time. Sita, who was pregnant, was given refuge in the hermitage of Valmiki, where shedelivered twin sons named Kusha and Lava.[9] In the hermitage, Sita raised her sons alone, as a single mother.[18] They grew up to bevaliant and intelligent and were eventually united with their father. Once she had witnessed the acceptance of her children by Rama,

Rama breaks the bow to win Sita aswife.

Exile and abduction

Ravana cuts off Jatayu'swing while abducting SitaHanuman finds Sita in Ashokavana

Abandonment and later life

Sita sought final refuge in the armsof her mother Bhūmi. Hearing herplea for release from an unjustworld and from a life that hadrarely been happy, the Earthdramatically split open; Bhūmiappeared and took Sita away.

Sita's exile during her pregnancywas because of a curse during herchildhood[19]. According to Padma-puran, Sita had caught a pair ofbirds when she was young. Thebirds were talking about story of SriRam heard in Valmiki ashramwhich intrigued Sita. The femalebird was pregnant at that time. Sherequested Sita to let her go but Sitaonly allowed her male companionto fly away. As a result, the birdcursed Sita that she would suffer a similar fate of being separated from her husbandduring pregnancy. The male bird was reborn as washerman.

While the Ramayana mostly concentrates on Rama's actions, Sita also speaksmany times during the exile. The first time is in the town of Chitrakuta whereshe narrates an ancient story to Rama, whereby Rama promises to Sita that hewill never kill anybody without provocation.

The second time Sita is shown talking prominently is when she speaks toRavana. Ravana has come to her in the form of a mendicant and Sita tells himthat he does not look like one.

Some of her most prominent speeches are with Hanuman when he reachesLanka. Hanuman wants an immediate union of Rama and Sita and thus heproposes to Sita to ride on his back. Sita refuses as she does not want to runaway like a thief; instead she wants her husband Rama to come and defeatRavana to save her. [20]

Sita is said to be the daughter of Ravana's queen Mandodari. It was predicted that the first child of Mandodari would bringannihilation to the family. Hence, Ravana deserted the child when she was born. The minister who was responsible for this took herin a pearl-box, placed her near a plough and told King Janaka of Mithila that the girl had been born from the furrow. Janaka's queenSunaina became Sita's foster mother.

There is also a narration about Sita's brother Bhamandala. He did not know that Sita was his sister and wanted to marry her. He evenwanted to abduct her. This story ends when Bhamandala, after learning that Sita is his sister, becomes a Jain ascetic.

sita fire test made by Mughal artistMUKUND and BANWARI, a foliofrom razmnama

Sita returns to her mother, the Earth,as Sri Rama, her sons, and thesages watch in astonishment

Rama and sita from Uttara-kanda

Speeches in the Ramayana

The marriage of the four sons ofDasharatha with the four daughters ofSiradhvaja and Kushadhvaja Janakas.Rama and Sita, Lakshmana and Urmila,Bharata and Mandavi and Shatrughnawith Shrutakirti.

Jain version

Symbolism

A female deity of agricultural fertility by the name Sita was known beforeValmiki's Ramayana, but was overshadowed by better-known goddesses associated with fertility. According to Ramayana, Sita wasdiscovered in a furrow when Janaka was ploughing. Since Janaka was a king, it is likely that ploughing was part of a royal ritual toensure fertility of the land. Sita is considered to be a child of Mother Earth, produced by union between the king and the land. Sita isa personification of Earth's fertility, abundance and well-being.

Swami Vivekananda states that Rama is considered the type of the Absolute and Sitathat of Power. Sita is the ideal of a woman in India and worshiped as Godincarnate.[21]

According to Swami Vivekananda, Sita is typical of India – the idealized India.Swami Vivekananda assured that if world literature of the past and world literatureof the future were thoroughly exhausted, yet, it would not be possible to find anotherSita, because Sita is unique; the character was depicted once for all. SwamiVivekananda felt there may have been several Ramas, perhaps, but never more thanone Sita.

Vivekananda said:

"All our mythology may vanish, even our Vedas may depart and our Sanskrit language may vanish for ever, but so long as there willbe five Hindus living here, even if only seeking the most vulgar patois, there will be the story of Sita present."

Sita was a true Indian by nature, Vivekananda concluded, who never returned injury.[22]

Hindu tradition reveres Sita. She has been portrayed as an ideal daughter, an ideal wife and an ideal mother in various texts, stories,illustrations, movies and modern media. Sita is often worshipped with Rama as his consort. The occasion of her marriage to Rama iscelebrated as Vivaha Panchami.

The actions, reactions and instincts manifested by Sita at every juncture in a long and arduous life are deemed exemplary. Her storyhas been portrayed in the book Sitayanam.[23] The values that she enshrined and adhered to at every point in the course of ademanding life are the values of womanly virtue held sacred by countless generations of Nepalese and Indians.

Her portrayal as an ideal queen is ambiguous. Her sacrifices and actions are most often portrayed in her personal capacity and not asa governance figure. Sita was abducted because she had to step out of the safety line to give alms to Ravana disguised as a Brahmin.The giving of alms to Brahmin in those times was more of a duty to be performed, rather than an optional charitable act. This held

Rama seated with Sita, fanned byLakshmana, while Hanuman pays hisrespects Sita in the hermitage of Valmiki

Swami Vivekananda on Sita

Valmiki training Lava Kusha (sons ofRama & Sita) in Art of Archery

Portrayal

true more so for the royals and they were to lead by example. Also, theincident of Sita's refusal to come back with Hanuman like a common thief, herrenunciation of queenhood and exile from Ayodhya after her return. All herkey aspects are shown in a favourable light, not as a head of state, but as anideal woman. In contrast, Sri Rama is always portrayed as a fair and just kingwho gave highest priority to the good of his people, in addition to beingdepicted as an ideal husband and an ideal son.

Although Sita's statue is alwayskept with Rama's statue in Ramatemples, there are some templesdedicated to Sita:

Janaki Mandir, located atJanakpur, NepalSita Mai Temple, situated inSitamai village in the Karnaldistrict of Haryana, IndiaSita Kund, Punaura Dham,situated in Sitamarhi District in Bihar, IndiaSeetha Devi Temple, Pulpally in the Waynad district, Kerala, India

Seetha Amman Temple, Nähe Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

AmbaSeetha kalyanamSita Sings the Blues

1. "Hot spring hot spot - Fair begins on Magh full moon's day" (https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/bihar/hot-spring-hot-spot-fair-begins-on-magh-full-moon-s-day/cid/1544104). www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 22 December 2018.

2. "Sitamarhi" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546790/Sitamarhi). Britannica. Retrieved 30 January 2015.

3. "History of Sitamarhi" (http://sitamarhi.bih.nic.in/profile/index.htm). Official site of Sitamarhi district. Retrieved30 January 2015.

4. "Narendra Modi Cancells his visit to Sita's birthplace Janakpur, Nepal" (http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Modis-visit-to-Sitas-birthplace-in-Nepal-cancelled/articleshow/45220742.cms).

5. "Birthplace of Sita in Janakpur, Asia Travels" (http://sacredsites.com/asia/nepal/janakpur.html).

6. "Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 9 Chapter 10 Verse 2" (http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/9/10/2). BhaktivedantaVedabase A Treasure of Spiritual Knowledge.

7. "Sita, Hindu Deity and incarnation of Lakshmi" (https://www.msu.edu/~mahereri/rel340/sita.html). Michigan StateUniversity. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

8. Sutherland, Sally J. "Sita and Draupadi, Aggressive Behavior and Female Role-Models in the Sanskrit Epics" (http://sseas.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/faculty/files/sita_and_draupadi.pdf) (PDF). University of California, Berkeley.Retrieved 1 August 2012.

Deities Sita (far right), Rama (center),Lakshmana (far left) and Hanuman (below,seated) at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford,England

Temples

Janaki Mandir of Janakpur, Nepal acenter of pilgrimage where thewedding of Sri Rama and Sita tookplace and is re-enacted yearly asVivaha Panchami

Seetha Amman Kovil, Nähe NuwaraEliya, Sri Lanka

See also

Notes

Jain, Pannalal (2000). Hiralal Jain, A.N. Upadhaye, ed. Ravishenacharya's Padmapurana (in Hindi) (8th ed.). NewDelhi: Bhartiya Jnanpith. ISBN 978-81-263-0508-7.Iyengar, Kodaganallur Ramaswami Srinivasa (2005). Asian Variations In Ramayana. Sahitya Akademi. ISBN 978-81-260-1809-3.Das, Sisir Kumar (2005). A History of Indian Literature, 500-1399: From the Courtly to the Popular. Sahitya Akademi.p. 124. ISBN 978-81-260-2171-0.

Sita Kalyanam in the Valmiki Ramayana "Sītā" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sita&oldid=889807665"

This page was last edited on 28 March 2019, at 02:21 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using thissite, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia

9. Swami Parmeshwaranand (2001-01-01). Encyclopaedic Dictionaries of Puranas (https://books.google.com/books?id=FdIkaccgneAC&pg=PA1210). Sarup & Sons. pp. 1210–1220. ISBN 978-81-7625-226-3. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

10. Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam, ed. India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information andBroadcasting, Government of India. p. 78.

11. Suresh Chandra (1998). Encyclopaedia of Hindu Gods and Goddesses (https://books.google.com/books?id=mfTE6kpz6XEC&pg=PA304). Sarup & Sons. pp. 304–. ISBN 978-81-7625-039-9. Retrieved 1 August 2012.

12. Heidi Rika Maria Pauwels (2007). Indian Literature and Popular Cinema: Recasting Classics (https://books.google.com/books?id=LiXU4ihgMpgC&pg=PA53). Routledge. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-0-415-44741-6. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

13. "https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/wittyfeed+india-epaper-witty/12+mythological+facts+about+sita+that+most+of+us+don+t+know-newsid-72197999"

14. "Bihar times" (https://web.archive.org/web/20141019153403/http://www.biharlokmanch.org/indian_festivals_culture_aid_24.html). Archived from the original (http://www.biharlokmanch.org/indian_festivals_culture_aid_24.html) on 19October 2014.

15. "The Story of Mother Sita the consort of Rama" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120530135807/http://salagram.net/parishad131.html). Salagram.net. Archived from the original (http://www.salagram.net/parishad131.html) on 30 May2012. Retrieved 18 March 2012.

16. Singaravelu, S (1982). "Sītā's Birth and Parentage in the Rāma Story". Asian Folklore Studies. University of Malaya,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 41 (2): 235–240. doi:10.2307/1178126 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1178126).JSTOR 1178126 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178126).

17. Mani pp. 720-3; Mani, Vettam (1975). Puranic Encyclopaedia: a Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Referenceto the Epic and Puranic Literature. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8426-0822-0.

18. Bhargava, Anju P. "Contemporary Influence of Sita by" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120713001426/http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITsitaframeset.htm). The Infinity Foundation. Archived from the original (http://www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITsitaframeset.htm) on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.

19. "Padma-puran pdf file" (https://vedpuran.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/padam-puran.pdf) (PDF). 1 October 2018.Retrieved 1 October 2018.

20. Valmiki, Ramayana. "Sundarkanda, sarga 37" (https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=5&language=dv&field_sarga_value=37). www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in. IIT Kanpur.

21. http://cwsv.belurmath.org/volume_9/lectures_and_discourses/the_women_of_india.htm

22. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 4/Lectures and Discourses/The Ramayana

23. "Sitayanam – A Woman's Journey of Strength" by Anju P. Bhargava (http://www.sitayanam.com) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20090101221413/http://www.sitayanam.com/) 1 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine

References

External links

Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

सीता

HindiProper noun

SanskritNounReferences

सीता • (sītā) f

1. (Hinduism) Sita (an avatar of Lakshmi)2. A female given name, equivalent to English Sita3. Seetha River (a river in India)

सीता • (sītā) f

1. (less correctly written शीता; compare सीमन,् सीर) a furrow, the track or line of a ploughshare (also personified, andapparently once worshipped as a kind of goddess resembling Pomona; in RV. iv, 57, 6, िसता is invoked as presidingover agriculture or the fruits of the earth; in VS. xii, 69-72, िसता ‘the Furrow’ is again personified and addressed, fourfurrows being required to be drawn at the ceremony when the above stanzas are recited; in TBr. she is calledसािव�ी, and in PārGṛ. इ��-प�नी, ‘the wife of इ��’; in epic poetry िसता is the wife of रामच�� and daughter of जनक,king of िमिथला, capital of िवदेह, who was otherwise called सीर�वज; she was named िसता because fabled to havesprung from a furrow made by जनक while ploughing the ground to prepare it for a sacrifice instituted by him toobtain progeny, whence her epithet अयोिन-जा, ‘not womb-born’; her other common names, मैिथली and वैदेही, arefrom the place of her birth; according to one legend she was वेदवती, q.v., in the कृत age; according to others, shewas an incarnation of लि�म and of उमा; the story of राम's bending the bow, which was to be the condition of the giftof िसता, is told in R. i, 67; सीता's younger sister उिम�ला was at the same time given to ल�मण, and two nieces ofजनक, daughters of his brother king कुश-�वज, to भरत and श�ु�न) RV. etc. IW. 335 n. 1; 337 etc.

2. name of a form of दा�ायणी.3. name of a poetess.4. name of a river.5. name of the eastern branch of the four mythical branches of the heavenly Ganges (into which it is supposed to divide

after falling on mount मे�; this branch is fabled to flow into the वष� or �ीप, called भ�ा�) L.

6. name of an उपिनषद.्7. spirituous liquor.

Contents

Hindi

Proper noun

Sanskrit

Noun

Monier William's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1899.

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=सीता&oldid=43904952"

This page was last edited on 24 May 2017, at 18:33.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using thissite, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

References