Passage 37

In English

Here is a small story. In Ramayana, Sita, Rama and Lakshmana went to the ashram of Bharadwaja. In that ashram, following the ancient practice, the women, the rishipatnis, were sitting on one side; the men, the rishis, were sitting on the other side. Unlike the manner in which people sit together nowadays, when Sita, Rama and Lakshmana entered the ashram, Sita went and joined the women and Rama and Lakshmana went and joined the rishis. As Rama and Lakshmana lived in the forest, they were wearing clothes suitable to life in a forest; and their shining faces were similar to those of the rishis. The situation was such that they were not able to make out who was Rama and who was Lakshmana. On the other hand, Sita could be recognised easily. Sita was alone and the rishipatnis recognised her and began talking to her. They were asking questions about her life in the forest. The men, on the other hand, went on explaining the Vedas and the discussions centred round the Vedas.