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1. Who was Seetaa?
2. Seetaa in Exile
3. Seetaa as Queen and in Exile Again
4. Stories About Seetaa

How Seetaa is A-Yonijaa
by Sundarusha

In Vaalmiki Raamaayan, King Janak says that Seetaa was found in his Yagya Bhoomi when it was being ploughed and she is A-Yonijaa (not born from Garbhavaas as the usual people are born).

Aanand Raamaayan gives an exciting story about the appearance of Seetaa from the ground. The demon King Padmaakshan, desirous to have Lakshmee as his daughter observed a severe penance. Lakshmee, pleased with his penance appeared before him and Padmaakshan asked Her that his desire be fulfilled.

Lakshmee advised him - "I am in the service of Lord Vishnu. If you pray to Him, your desire will be fulfilled". Padmaakshan did penance for Vishnu and Vishnu appeared before him and offered him a fruit (a Pomegranate). The demon King broke it into two halves - and found fruit seeds on one half and on the other side he found a beautiful baby girl. Padmaakshan named her Padmaa and took good care of her as his daughter.

When Padmaa grew into a beautiful maiden, the demon King Padmaakshan arranged for a Swayamvar for her to select an appropriate groom. Devtaa, Asur (including Raavan), Yaksh, Kinnar, Gandharv and many other kings came to her Swayamvar. The King declared that whoever took the blue color of the sky and wore it on his body shall marry his daughter.

The Kings felt humiliated thinking that it would be impossible to take the color of the sky and wear it around one's body, so they started to wage a fight with Padmaakshan. As the fight got tougher, the Devtaa ran away from the scene, but the Asur tried to capture her, so Padmaaa entered the Agni Kund and disappeared. The whole city was destroyed in despair especially by those who were looking for Padmaa. Padmaakshan died in the fight. Padmaa lived in the Agni Kund for many days, then She came out one day out of the Agni Kund and sat by it.

Raavan who was traveling on his Pushpak Vimaan, saw her and came down to capture her. Seeing a Raakshas coming towards her, Padmaa again vanished into the Agni Kund. Raavan poured water over the Kund and searched for Padmaa in the ashes. He could not find that beautiful girl, but found five beautiful Nava Ratn there. He picked them and took them to Lankaa and placed them in a sandalwood box in his Poojaa room and told Mandodaree that she could have them.

Mandodaree tried to carry the box and felt that it was quite heavy. Raavan also tried to move it with his twenty hands but he also failed to move it. Frustrated, Raavan opened the box at the same place. A radiant Padmaa emerged out of the box . Raavan briefed Mandodaree on the whole story about Padmaa. A worried Mandodaree put forth her thought to Raavan - "O Beloved, This girl has destroyed her race even when she was young. Why did you bring her here? I am worried about your well-being. Please throw this box with her in a forest."

So Raavan ordered his servants to carry that box and throw it in a forest. Mandodaree interjected and told them - "This girl is capable of destroying the life of whoever sees her, so do not throw the box on the Earth - bury the box under the earth." As the servants were about to leave in the Pushpak Vimaan, a voice was heard from the box - "I will come back to Lankaa to cause the destruction of Raavan and the other Asur. I will come back to kill Nikumbh's son Paundrak, Raavan, Moolakaasur and Kumbhakarn's son Suran". Raavan tried to kill the girl, but Mandodaree pleaded not to kill her and let her go. Raavan agreed and ordered the servants to take the box away. They buried the box in a land near Mithilaa.

King Janak, the King of Mithilaa, had donated some land to a Braahman. The Braahman had employed a farmer to plough his land to start farming. The farmer found the box and gave it to the Braahman, who in turn brought it to King Janak. King Janak said to him - "I do not want to own the box because I have already given away the land in donation to you." The Braahman insisted that it belonged to him as Janak was not aware of the treasure when he donated the land. The courtiers advised Janak to decide ownership after finding out what was inside the box.

King Janak opened the box and was extremely happy to find a beautiful girl Padmaa inside. He took her out gently from the box and carried her to his palace. At this auspicious time, Devtaa played on their musical instruments and showered flowers on them; Gandharv sang and Apsaraa danced. The King took care of her as if she were his own daughter. She was called by various names - Madulangee (since she originally came from the Madulaa fruit), Agni-garbhaa (born from Agni), Ratnavatee (appeared as Ratna or gem), Bhoo-putree (daughter of the Mother Earth), Jaanakee (Janak's daughter), Seetaa (Sprung from a Seet or furrow / Plough). Thus Seetaa came to be known as "A-Yonijaa".

Raam, who has the blue color of the sky, married Seetaa, just like Her father Padmaakshan wanted to marry her to a man like that.

Seetaa Curses Agni at Gayaa
Agni was said to be selective in burning things. He used to burn only good things. Once Raam was advised to do Shraaddh of His father Dasharath, so when Raam, Lakshman and Seetaa were in exile, they came to Gayaa and decided to do Dasharath's Shraaddh. Raam and Lakshman went to procure things for the Shraaddh. The time was passing, and Seetaa found that the Muhoort for performing Shraaddh was passing, so the priest asked Seetaa to perform Shraaddh. Seetaa did so and Dasharath came there in human from to accept the offerings. He asked Seetaa to give offering since he was hungry, he could not wait for Raam to bring the Shraaddh materials.

Keeping Phaalgunee river, Cow, Fire god and Maalatee flower as witness she offered things kept in having no alternative. When Raam and Lakshman came back they performed the Shraaddh ceremony, but Dasharath did not appear. Raam was surprised to see this. Later He came to know that Seetaa had already performed the Shraaddh. Raam did not believe that Seetaa gave offering and Dasharath had accepted it. To assure Raam that She had offered food to Dasharath Jee, Seetaa called for the witnesses - Agni Dev, Phaalgunee River, the cow and the Maalatee flower. All other testified that Seetaa performed the Shraaddh and Dasharath came in person to accept the offering from Seetaa except Agni Dev. Agni kept quiet, it appeared fearing not to oppose Shree Raam. At this Seetaa cursed Agni - "In future he will eat everything with out discrimination." From that time it is believed Agni consumes all good and bad things!! However his position as witness is still continued, since Seetaa did not curse on this aspect.

Another Version
This version is from Shiv Puraan

Romharshan Jee told the assembled sages, "It is easy to please Shiv. But Shiv must never be worshipped with a Ketakee or a Champak flower." "Why? What is wrong with these flowers?" asked the sages. "Let me tell you about the Ketakee flower first," replied Romharshan Jee.

Raam's father Dasharath asked Raam to spend fourteen years in the forest. So Raam went to the forest with his brother Lakshman and his wife Seetaa. The three of them started to live on the banks of the river Falgu. News reached the forest that Dasharath had died in their absence and a Shraaddh (funeral) ceremony had to performed for the dead King. Raam sent Lakshman to a nearby village to get the necessary ingredients. Time passed and Lakshman did not return. Raam then went to get the ingredients and look for Lakshman. But Raam too did not return. It was almost noon and the ceremony had to be performed before noon. In desperation, Seetaa decided to perform the ceremony herself. She went and bathed in the Falgu river and lit an earthen lamp. She then made the offerings (Pind) to the dead ancestors Herself. Immediately, a voice was heard. "Seetaa, you are blessed. We are satisfied." In utter amazement Seetaa watched some disembodied hands appear in the air to accept the offerings.

"Who are you?" Asked Seetaa. "I am your dead father-in-law," answered the voice. "The funeral ceremony has been successful. I have accepted your offerings." "But are Raam and Lakshman going to believe me?" asked Seetaa. "They will never believe that such disembodied hands appeared out of thin air to accept the offerings." Answered the voice - "They have to. You have four witnesses, the first is the Falgu river, the second is the cow over there, the third will be the fire, and the last one will be this Ketakee bush."

After some time Raam and Lakshman returned and said, "Cook the food quickly. There is very little time left now for the offering. We have to complete the funeral ceremony before noon." Seetaa told them what happened, and naturally, the two brothers did not believe Her. They made fun of Her and suggested that She was lying. Seetaa called upon Her four witnesses, but each denied that it had seen anything. Without arguing any further, Seetaa cooked the food and Raam made offerings to his ancestors. A voice was then heard from the sky - "Why are you calling us again? Seetaa has already satisfied us." Raam said - "I refuse to believe that." The voice said - "Indeed, it is true. Ask the Sun god." The Sun god confirmed that everything had happened just as Seetaa had said it.

Raam and Lakshman were ashamed that they had doubted Seetaa and were also impressed with the power of Her virtue. But Seetaa cursed the four false witnesses. She cursed the Falgu river that it would henceforth only flow underground. She cursed the Ketakee flower (pandanus odoratissimus) that it would never be accepted by Shiv as an offering. She cursed the cow that its mouth would henceforth become impure. It had, after all, lied with its mouth. The hind sections of the cow would however continue to be pure. And finally Seetaa cursed the fire that it would consume everything indiscriminately. That is the reason why a Ketakee flower must never be used to worship Shiv.

Yet Another Verson
When Raam and Seetaa were in the forest, Raam went to the river to do the annual ceremonies for his father King Dasharath. However, the
ghost of King Dasharath appeared before Seetaa and asked her to feed him. She said that she had nothing with Her to feed him and that Ram was on his way to give Pind Daan. However, Dasharath insisted that She should feed him so She took some sand and water and rolled it into a ball and fed him. He was satisfied and left. When Raam came back to make his offerings, Dasharath refused to take any offering offered by Him, saying that he was satisfied (this is part of another legend - curse that said that Dasharath will never get anything from his sons).

Seetaa told Raam that she had already fed Dasharath but Raam refused to believe Her, so Seetaa asked 5 witnesses to back her up: The Phaalgunee River, the Cow, the Tulasee plant, a priest and the banyan tree. All of them, except the banyan tree, lied, saying that they did not see her do any such thing. The banyan tree did confirm her story. Because of this, Seetaa cursed the other four - that the
Phaalgunee River will always run dry,
the cow would lose the power of speech,
the Tulasee would grow in wild and unsavory environments, and
the Priests in Gayaa would never be satisfied with whatever they got.
The banyan tree was blessed with immortality.

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