Sita being brought to Rama’s presence - Chapter 38

In the previous chapter, we saw Hanuman’s conversation with Sita, Now we'll see Sita being brought to Rama’s presence.

Hanuman came to Rama and requested him to see Sita for whom all those efforts had been made. He told Rama about his meeting of Sita. Rama took a long breath and looking at the earth said to Vibheeshana “Ask Sita to take a bath and dress well and bring her here in a palanquin”. Vibheeshana went to Sita and told her about Rama’s desire. But Sita said that she would rather see her husband as she was and as she had been ever since her captivity in Lanka. But then under the insistence of Vibheeshana she had a bath and dressed herself well as instructed by her husband and then was brought to the presence of Rama. All the Vanaras and others crowded to see her and Vibheeshana started clearing the place asking them to go away. But Rama stopped Vibheeshana and said that he needed all of them because they were his friends. Rama said, “A good conduct is what guards a woman and neither the dress nor the house nor the curtain etc. Looking at a woman is not a crime when this happens during war, swaymvara (selection of husband) and along with her husband. So let Sita see me sur- rounded by my friends”. Vibheeshana obeyed Rama’s order and brought Sita to his presence. Lakshmana, Sugreeva and Hanuman were not happy at the tone of Rama as they felt that he was not kindly disposed towards Sita. Sita with her face covered by a cloth came to Rama and after addressing him as ‘Arya Putra’ and started weeping. Sita stared at her dear husband’s face and her face brightened. I may be permitted to digress a little bit here. It is of interest and significance to note here that Sita calls her husband Arya Putra that would simply mean ‘son of high birth or distinguished person’. Arya is not a race. Sita was of the same race as Rama so she need not call him Arya except to give respect. However Max Muller translated Arya as a race and invented ‘Aryan Invasion’, which is a very unfortunate thing. This flawed so many things including the assignment of dates to Harappa civilisation and so on. In his later days Max Muller however did accept his mistake but many western historians did not notice it. This confusion still perpetrates among many. Sita addressing her husband Rama, as Arya Putra is a good example to prove that Aryans are not a race who invaded India from outside.

In the next chapter, We'll see Rama addresses Sita in anger.