In plain words
This very Rāma had earlier refused to accept Daśaratha's word in one matter. Even when His father told Him, He said, “I will not be crowned.” Even when His guru Vasiṣṭha told Him, He would not agree. “I am under the vow of keeping my father's word. Following my father's command, I must go to the forest. If I simply carry out all your commands, I shall have dishonoured my father. No dishonour must come to my father. I do not need the kingdom. There is no need of the coronation. To the forest alone I will go,” He said plainly. But in the matter of the marriage He bowed to His father's command.
The vows of the great are supremely sacred
The marriage is taking place. They have put up a curtain. At that time the bride and groom must not look at each other. Only after the curtain is taken away must the girl see the boy, and the boy the girl. In this matter Sītā and Rāma both kept to Dharma! Virtuous ones indeed! Until that curtain was taken away, she too did not look at Rāma. What were the two of them looking at? With their heads bowed, they were looking only at the ground. Then Viśvāmitra: “My son! She is ‘Bhūjātā’. You look only at the earth, but You do not look at Sītā, born of the earth; what is the reason?” he asked Rāma. At that time the two were not yet married. Rāma's vow was that to look at a woman not one's wife before marriage is a great sin. So sacred are the vows of the great. Each thing must have the fitness that befits it. If the husband is very virtuous and the wife is not, there is no use. If the wife is virtuous and the husband is not virtuous, there is no use. Both must be virtuous. Rāma had not yet tied the maṅgalasūtra around Sītā's neck. “Until I tie the maṅgalasūtra, she is not my wife,” He thought. Just then they brought garlands and gave them to the bride and the groom. Sītā did not put the garland around Rāma's neck. Nor did Rāma put the garland around Sītā's neck. She held the garland for a long while. Rāma did not bow His head to have Sītā garland Him.