| There were speakers
including women, who said that so long as the status of woman was not improved, polygamy
allowed, and early marriage was not prevented, woman should not be punished for the
dereliction of the Dharma of chastity. Indian thinkers like Valmiki and Mann are accused
of partiality when they proclaim the glorious ideal of chastity and devotions, to the
husband, even though the husband is vicious and wicked or affected by disease, Sita is an
inspiring example of the Indian ideal of chastity. Swami Vivekananda has portrayed this ideal in inimitable language thus:
"There is no story that has permeated this whole nation, so entered into its very
life and has so tingled in every drop of blood of the race, as this ideal of Sita. Sita is
the name in India for everything that is good, pure and holy, everything that In woman we
call womanly," Let us think of the terrible injustice of her exile to the forest, her
long suffering in separation, the harsh and cruel words of Rama to her and her agnipravesa
to vouch for her chastity in Ravana's abode and her cruel abandonment again in her
pregnancy by her husband for the sakes of a scandalous word uttered by somebody; all these
terrible and cruel wrongs she suffered, and yet remained the ever-faithful and devoted
wife. She knew no bitterness. |
