Vol. 20 No. 1 (2011)

Who is Sita (from the Sanskrit, literally meaning “furrow,” i.e., a long, narrow trench, usually made in the ground by a plow)? This is a question that is asked with more and more frequency, as numerous academic volumes emerge dedicated to understanding who she is and what the story that surrounds her, the Ramayana, really means. As her name suggests, she is intimately related to the earth—a goddess who arises from the ground, from the stuff of our planet, and, as her narrative unfolds, returns to it as well. Is she thus some form of material nature personified—a goddess who predominates over matter, like Durga or Gaia? To some extent, yes. But her theology and ontology go far beyond that. She is the wife of Rama, the seventh avatara of Vishnu, and thus, according to Vaishnava tradition, transcends the material world altogether. Her activity in this world is all lila.
According to the Ramayana, she is found when King Janaka happens to be ploughing a field, glistening like the diamond she is, and so he and his wife, Sunayana, adopt her. He is king of Mithila, the capital of a region known as Videha in the time of Rama, which believers trace to the Treta-yuga, millions of years ago. The area is today identified with modern-day Janakpur (Dhanusa district, Nepal).