Sita Agni Pariksha

Dadi: "Guddu, tonight I need to tell you one of the most controversial stories in the Ramayana. It's the story of Sita's Agni Pariksha - her test by fire."

Guddu: "I've heard about it. It makes me uncomfortable."

Dadi: "It made many people uncomfortable, even in ancient times. Let me tell you what happened, and then we can talk about what it means."

Guddu: "Okay, Dadi."

Dadi: "After the great war, after Ravana was killed, after everything seemed perfect - victory was won, and Sita was finally rescued. Hanuman rushed to tell her the good news and brought her to Ram."

Guddu: "That should have been a happy reunion!"

Dadi: "It should have been. But when Sita arrived, surrounded by the monkey army and celestial beings watching from heaven, Ram spoke harsh words. He said publicly that her long captivity in Ravana's palace had made her 'extremely disagreeable' to him."

Guddu: "*shocked* Ram said that? After everything she went through?"

Dadi: "He did. He said he fought the war to avenge the insult to his dynasty, not to reclaim a wife whose purity was now questioned."

Guddu: "But... but she was kidnapped! It wasn't her fault!"

Dadi: "Exactly what Sita said. She was devastated but not defeated. She stood tall and scolded Ram. 'You speak to me like a common man speaking to a common woman,' she said. 'I am of noble birth. My abduction happened against my will. I have been faithful to you in thought, word, and deed.'"

Guddu: "Good for her!"

Dadi: "She even challenged him: 'If you doubted me, why didn't you send word through Hanuman? I would have ended my life rather than wait through this war. Why all this wasted effort if you didn't want me?'"

Guddu: "What did Ram say?"

Dadi: "He said nothing. So Sita made a decision. 'Build a fire,' she commanded. 'I will prove my purity not through words but through flames.'"

Guddu: "She walked into fire?!"

Dadi: "She prayed to Agni, the Fire God: 'If I have been faithful to Ram in thought, word, and deed, let the fire protect me.' Then she stepped into the blazing pyre while everyone watched in shock and sorrow."

Guddu: "*holding breath* What happened?"

Dadi: "The flames surrounded her... and then Agni himself emerged, carrying Sita in his arms. He declared before all: 'She has never been unfaithful. Her purity is absolute. Accept her, Ram.'"

Guddu: "She was saved!"

Dadi: "Unharmed, radiant, proven. Ram immediately ran to embrace her. And then he explained something that changes how we see this story."

Guddu: "What did he say?"

Dadi: "He said he had NEVER doubted her. Not for a single moment. He knew she was pure. But the people of Ayodhya - his future subjects - might have doubted. If he simply accepted her without public proof, she would have been whispered about forever. The trial was not for his satisfaction - it was for the world's."

Guddu: "*thinking* So he made her suffer to protect her reputation?"

Dadi: "That's one interpretation, and it bothers many people. Some say a good husband should have stood by her regardless of what people thought. Others say in those times, a queen needed public vindication."

Guddu: "What do you think, Dadi?"

Dadi: "I think... I think Sita was the stronger one in this story. She didn't beg or plead or cry. She took control. SHE chose the fire. SHE demanded the trial. She proved herself not because Ram forced her, but because she refused to live under a cloud of suspicion."

Guddu: "She proved herself for herself."

Dadi: "And when the fire didn't harm her, no one - not Ram, not the gossips, not anyone in any age - could ever question her. The Fire God himself was her witness."

Guddu: "Dadi, there's another version, isn't there? About Maya Sita?"

Dadi: "*nodding* In some traditions, Ram arranged for Agni to protect the real Sita before Ravana even arrived. An illusory Sita - Maya Sita - was kidnapped instead. The Agni Pariksha then was not a trial at all but a reunion - the real Sita emerging from the fire where she had been safely hidden all along."

Guddu: "That version is gentler."

Dadi: "Both versions teach us something. The first teaches that truth can withstand any test. The second teaches that God protects those who are pure. Neither erases the discomfort we feel - and perhaps that discomfort is part of the lesson."

Guddu: "What lesson?"

Dadi: "That society's treatment of women, even in sacred stories, often was and sometimes still is unfair. That we should question these tales, wrestle with them, learn from them. Sita's story isn't just history - it's a mirror for how we treat innocence today."

Guddu: "I don't like that Ram made her prove herself."

Dadi: "Hold onto that feeling, beta. Let it make you the kind of person who stands by those you love, regardless of what others say. Let Sita's strength inspire you, and let the unfairness of her trial remind you to be better."

Guddu: "*yawning* Goodnight, Dadi. May we never put innocent people through fire."

Dadi: "And may we have the strength to walk through whatever fires life sends our way. Goodnight, my thoughtful boy."