Who Is Sita (Seeta)?
The princess born from the earth
Sita is the heroine of the Ramayana and the daughter of King Janaka of Mithila. She is said to have been found in a furrow made by a plow while the king was tilling a field. Her name itself means "furrow," and she is described as a princess born from the earth.
In Episode 1, Sita barely speaks. She appears when she and Rama catch each other's eye from a distance, and at the wedding, when her father gives her hand to Rama. In the original epic, King Janaka had promised his daughter to whoever could draw the great bow of the god Shiva. Rama draws the bow and breaks it, and the two are married.
Later, Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, king of the rakshasas (demons), and she becomes the center of the story's greatest crisis. Revered throughout India, she is honored as a woman whose heart never wavers, no matter how much she suffers.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 1
The Boy Whose Arrow Was Too StrongRamayana: Bala Kanda (The Book of Youth)
A poet's grief over a slain bird becomes a song, and that song becomes the story of a prince. In Episode 1, young Rama leaves his father's side to travel with a stern sage, and learns for the first time how great his own power is, and how frightening.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
Whoever Draws the Bow Wins the BrideSita's Swayamvara (The Bow of Shiva)
No king could even lift the divine bow, yet young Prince Rama bows to his teacher and quietly draws it. A wedding to Sita, daughter of the earth, follows—but on the road home, an axe-bearing sage named Parashurama awaits with a trial of his own.
19 pages