The whole Ramayana seemed to have been revving up to the final battle between Rama and Ravana in Lanka. There was a great battle and then the gods sided with Rama to help him destroy Ravana. After Rama claimed victory, he was able to take back Sita. This is where I was completely blown away. Rama denies Sita because she had been living in Lanka with Ravana for a long time! He completely rejects her and doesn't listen to her pleas of innocence. This forces Sita to go through drastic measures to prove her innocence (she decides to have a funeral in fire for herself). Sita is unharmed by the flames, thus proving her innocence. It was later said that Rama knew Sita had done nothing wrong while in Lanka, and that the flames would do nothing to her. He only allowed his love to do this because it was the social norm to do this to your wife if she was suspected of being unfaithful. I was on the edge of my seat just wondering what in the hell was happening and why Rama would act this way if he knew Sita was innocent.
Image Source: Sita being protected from the flames.
I grew up watching and reading about many stories related to Greek and Roman mythology so its hard to not make comparisons sometimes. The whole idea of Ravana having many heads that can regenerate is similar to the Hydra that battles Hercules and has many heads that grow back after being removed. I have noticed that Rama's actions towards Sita has come as a surprise to many of the readers in our class. It does seems bizarre to me that after all of her devotion she is cast out for what appears to me to be such flimsy reasoning. Although I suppose that we have to consider that epics such as these are born from the culture of the writer's era and is influenced by the values in that time.
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