Sita

Sita, also called Siya, Jānaki, or Maithili, is a central female figure in the Hindu epic Ramayana and is worshipped as a goddess. She is the wife of Rama, who is an avatar of Vishnu, and is herself considered an incarnation of Lakshmi. Within the Ramanandi Sampradaya, she holds the position of chief goddess, and she embodies beauty and devotion. Her birth is celebrated annually on Sita Navami.

She is described as the daughter of Bhūmi, the earth, and was raised as the adopted child of King Janaka of Videha. As a young woman, Sita selected Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, as her husband during a svayamvara ceremony. After marrying, she went with him to his kingdom but later chose to join him and her brother-in-law Lakshmana during his exile. While living in the Dandaka forest, the rakshasa king Ravana abducted her. She was held captive in the Ashoka Vatika garden in Lanka until Rama killed Ravana and rescued her.

Following the war, some versions of the epic describe Rama asking Sita to undergo Agni Pariksha, a fire ordeal, to prove her chastity before he accepted her. In other versions, an illusion called Maya Sita, created by the fire god Agni, replaced Sita and was the one abducted and imprisoned, while the real Sita remained hidden in the flames. Certain scriptures also mention a previous birth for Sita as Vedavati, a woman whom Ravana attempted to molest.

After she proved her purity, Rama and Sita returned to Ayodhya and were crowned king and queen. Later, a subject questioned Sita’s fidelity; to defend her innocence and preserve his own honor and the kingdom’s, Rama sent the pregnant Sita into the forest. She found refuge at the ashram of the sage Valmiki. There she gave birth to twin sons, Kusha and Lava. Years afterward, Sita reunited her sons with their father, Rama, and then returned to the womb of her mother, the earth, as final proof of her purity.

The name "Sita" comes from the Sanskrit word *sīta*, meaning "furrow." According to the Ramayana, King Janaka discovered her while ploughing the ground during a yajna and adopted her. The term *Sīta* was a poetic word for fertility and the benefits of settled agriculture. The Ramayana’s Sita may have been named after an older Vedic goddess, Sita, mentioned once in the Rigveda as an earth goddess who grants good crops.