SITA

((Sanskrit: Furrow), ) also called Janaki, in Hindu mythology, the consort of Rama and the embodiment of wifely devotion and self-surrender. Her abduction by the demon king Ravana and subsequent rescue are the central incidents in the great Hindu epic Ramayana (Romance of Rama). Sita was raised by King Janaka; she was not his natural daughter but sprang from a furrow when he was ploughing his field. Rama won her as his bride by bending Siva's bow, and she accompanied her husband when he went into exile. Though carried away to Lanka by Ravana, she kept herself chaste by concentrating her heart on Rama throughout her long imprisonment. On her return she asserted her purity and also proved it by voluntarily undergoing an ordeal by fire. Rama, however, banished her to the forest in deference to public opinion. There she gave birth to their two children, Kusa and Lava. After they reached maturity and were acknowledged by Rama to be his sons, she called upon her mother, Earth, to swallow her up. Sita is worshiped as the incarnation of Laksmi, the consort of Vishnu. She is frequently depicted in Indian miniature paintings of the Ramayana, and her images in bronze are among the finest achievements of South Indian art. These usually form a group, with images of Rama, his brother Laksmana, and his devotee, the monkey Hanuman; the iconographic texts instruct the artist to show Sita looking at her husband with supreme happiness.