Reading Notes: Narayan's The Ramayana part D

These notes come from R. K. Narayan's The Ramayana, of which I have acquired a physical copy 

I'm not often fond of changing integral parts of a well written story like the Ramayana; I prefer to take what is there and elaborate or simply write what isn't there. That being said, I was very disappointed with how Rama treated Sita after fighting a war for her. If I were to do a writing over part D, I would rewrite the scene where Rama finds Sita.

Once Ravana is dead, Rama sent Hanuman to find Sita. Once he finds her, she is overjoyed, and rushes to see Rama in her current state. Hanuman stops her and tells her that Rama wished for her to dress herself and decorate herself before she came to see him. But when she arrives, he seems "moody and cold." Afterwards, Rama says that he killed the demons not for his or Sita's sake, but for the good of humanity. Then he says "it is not customary to admit back to the normal married fold a woman who has spent time alone in a stranger's household. There can be no question of our living together again."

Upon hearing this, Sita decides to kill herself. She commands Lakshmana to build a fire. Lakshmana looks to Rama, who literally doesn't care. Thus, he builds the fire, and Sita willingly jumps into it. The god of fire came forth and scooped her out of the flames and presented her to Rama, who then felt her integrity was established.

Image Information

(Sita's Trial by Fire - wikimedia)