Page Text
________________
HISTORY
AS SHE ENTERS
THE FIRE, IT MAGICALLY TRANSFORMS
INTO A BEAUTIFUL
POND IN WHICH SITA himself kills the doppelganger and reinstates APPEARS ON A Sugriva. To fulfil his end of the agreement,
LOTUS Sugriva sends troops in every direction to look
for Sita. The troop going south encounters a man who has witnessed a crying woman, Sita, being flown to Lanka by Ravana. When Rama hears of this, he vows to kill Ravana. The Vanaras send their close ally, Hanuman, to Lanka with a message of reassurance for Sita. After visiting Sita, Hanuman attempts to persuade Ravana to solve the matter peacefully, but to no avail.
Upon hearing Hanuman's account of his visit, Rama prepares for battle. Together with his allies, he sets out for Lanka. The war begins and duels between the Rakshasas and Vanaras are fought, with casualties and imprisonments on both sides. When Lakshmana is mortally wounded, Rama sends Hanuman to Ayodhya to get the magical healing bathwater of Kaikeyi's niece, Vishalya. Vishalya herself accompanies Hanuman to Lanka and heals Lakshmana and several other wounded soldiers.
The war comes to an ultimate duel between Ravana and Lakshmana, in which Lakshmana kills Ravana with his own chakra. Rama and Sita are happily reunited and return to Ayodhya where Bharata renounces the world. When Rama receives news that the citizens of Ayodhya doubt Sita's chastity in Lanka, he feels obliged to conform to the will of his people and banishes her. His charioteer abandons the pregnant Sita in the forest where she is found by a distant relative who takes care of her as a sister. Sita gives birth to two sons. When years later, the boys come to hear of the treatment their mother received from Rama, they attack Ayodhya to avenge her. Rama learns of the identity of the two, embraces them and asks Sita to undergo a fire-ordeal to prove her chastity. Sita reluctantly accepts and as she enters the fire, it magically transforms into a beautiful pond in which Sita appears on a lotus in divine attire. To Rama's dismay. Sita immediately thereupon takes diksha. In due course, the other main characters of the story die or renounce the world. Rama in the end attains the kevala knowledge and moksha..
WW.IXINSPIRIT.COM
Eva De Clercq studied classical Indology and completed her PhD on the Jain Ramayanas at the University of Ghent in Belgium. She is presently working as a postdoctoral researcher on Krishna in the Jain tradition.
illustration
Vasant Chinchwadkar
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| SR No. | 529004 |
| Book Title | Jain Spirit 2005 12 No24 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jain Spirit UK |
| Publisher | UK Young Jains |
| Publication Year | 2005 |
| Total Pages | 102 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Magazine, UK_Jain Spirit, & UK |
| File Size | 21 MB |