This is an excerpt from the Ramayana I retold in 2014 on my Facebook notes page, and hence I thought of resharing here with you all, an excerpt close to my heart!
Ram was known for following the rules. Sita, for questioning the age-old traditions. Ram followed Dharma above all, and Sita followed her Heart. They were different. Yet, they were two parts of one soul, destined to be together and apart, like a sea and its shores. It was an age-old tradition to practice polygamy in the Royal Families. Ayodhya was no different. Raja Dasaratha himself had three main queens. Most Kings had many. No one ever questioned it. It was never believed to be wrong for a man to have many wives if he could take responsibility. But Rajkumari Sita was not just anybody. She had questioned him.
The Valmiki Ramayana describes a scene where one morning, when they were sitting in the aangan of the Ranimahal of Ayodhya, feeding her favourite pigeons, Sita, the newly arrived teenage bride, Rama was discovering layer by layer, deeper into her soul, was filled with a lot of questions she sought the answer to as soon as she had entered Ayodhya. She had seen the younger queen Maata Kaikeyi's preferences in the King's life, both inside and outside the inner mahals, even in the political views of the state. She couldn't help but wonder why, while Maata Kausalya cooked and cared for the King, waited for him, and did all that a wife did, he had always preferred the younger one's advice on politics or praised her beauty. Sita, in her innocence, just before the news of his coronation arrived, asks Ram, “Why is Rani Kaikeyi your father’s favourite when Rani Kausalya is his first queen?” She saw him stop feeding the birds and be silent for a moment. Had she hurt him?
“ Maata Kausalya is his wife and Maata Kaikeyi his queen.” Sita stared cluelessly at her husband's answer. He smiled a faint smile, waiting for his wife's eager questions.
“What is the difference between a Wife and a Queen?”
“ A wife is one the King shares his life with, respects her, and gives her every right of an Ardhangini. She who shares the right to sit with him on every puja, be a part of every charity or Punya he does, be a part of his decisions for his personal life, and she who is dedicated to him from the soul. He, in turn, as a husband, may not shower her with materialistic importance but with spiritual and mental equality. A King has only one wife; he can have many Queens. Queens are his consorts who rule with him. They are mothers to his people. The wife is his home. She is the mother of his children. The Queen thinks of the country and a wife for peace at home. A queen can win battles with him, but a wife will always nurse his wounds. Pray for his success and be with him in his toughest decisions.”
Sita smiled, satisfied. “How many queens would you prefer, Dashrath Nandan?” She asked in an innocent folly.
“I am waiting for the day this tradition of Polygamy will end forever.” Ram was calm, holding a white pigeon in his hand.
“That is not the answer I seek, Dasharath Nandan.” She smiled at him. "I am asking what YOU will do as a King?"
“I would never support marriage alliances as a king. Marriage is a sacred bond and not an agreement of politics.” He was clear on his views. Sita smiled happily. He had dared to speak his mind. Was it because of her effects on him? He couldn't help but wonder the same.
“ You will always be my only wife and queen. Remember that,” he had made the young bride stare at him like he was a dream, unearthly, just like she thought.
Years later, dates untraced, India follows what they preached and dreamt. Ram and Sita are worshipped for their ideals, hardship and sacrifice, always together, never alone. Because she was his only wife. They were gods by their immortal sacrifices as human beings, all for the sake of their Dharma as the King and Queen to people they considered children. India, and the world now, follows what was once the dream of a young Prince Rama and his teen bride, Sita, who had for the first time raised a question no one bothered to ask.
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