The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2
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Sitamarhi<br />
654<br />
her eyes modestly downcast rather than<br />
look directly at another man. When<br />
Rama’s ally Hanuman discovers where<br />
Sita is hidden, she refuses to let him<br />
carry her away, since this will have<br />
meant touching another man, as well as<br />
depriving her husband <strong>of</strong> the opportunity<br />
to rescue her.<br />
Her devotion is severely tested after<br />
her rescue, when Rama insists that she<br />
must have been unfaithful to him during<br />
her long captivity. This accusation<br />
reflects the Indian cultural assumption<br />
that women have much higher sex drives<br />
than men, and much less ability to<br />
control these drives. Stung by this accusation,<br />
she asks Rama to have a funeral<br />
pyre built for her and enters it with the<br />
wish that, if she is innocent, the fire will<br />
not harm her. When the blaze dies down<br />
she emerges unscathed, with the god<br />
Agni (fire personified) as a witness to<br />
her chastity. Despite this pro<strong>of</strong>, Rama<br />
banishes her from Ayodhya after their<br />
return. When Rama later demands a<br />
second ordeal, Sita calls on the earth<br />
to swallow her up as a witness to her<br />
purity, and disappears forever.<br />
Sita’s ability to withstand both<br />
ordeals reflects the widespread Indian<br />
belief that women gain power through<br />
their devotion to their husbands, power<br />
that can be so great that they can even<br />
curse the gods themselves. Encoded in<br />
this notion are cultural messages about<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> women and the importance<br />
<strong>of</strong> their relationships with others. Sita<br />
represents the model Indian woman,<br />
whose primary loyalty is to her husband<br />
and his family. This reflects the northern<br />
Indian marriage pattern in which brides<br />
are brought into the groom’s home and<br />
become part <strong>of</strong> their marital families,<br />
severing their connection with their<br />
birth family. Wives are expected to place<br />
other people’s welfare before their own,<br />
so that they may live a happily married<br />
life. In return for such self-sacrifice, a<br />
wife becomes a model for all to respect<br />
and honor.<br />
For more information on Sita and all<br />
the goddesses <strong>of</strong> Hinduism, see John<br />
Stratton Hawley and Donna Wulff (eds.),<br />
<strong>The</strong> Divine Consort, 1986; David R.<br />
Kinsley, Hindu Goddesses, 1986; and<br />
Sara Mitter, Dharma’s Daughters, 1991.<br />
Sitamarhi<br />
City in the northern part <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong><br />
Bihar, about ten miles from the border<br />
with Nepal. It is in the Panchala region<br />
traditionally reckoned as the kingdom <strong>of</strong><br />
King Janaka, and Sitamarhi is believed<br />
to be the place where the goddess Sita<br />
was found in a furrow <strong>of</strong> the earth while<br />
King Janaka was plowing.<br />
Six Schools<br />
Collective name for the six developed<br />
schools <strong>of</strong> traditional Hindu philosophy.<br />
All six schools consider the religious<br />
texts known as the Vedas to be the<br />
most authoritative pramana, the means<br />
by which human beings can gain true<br />
and accurate knowledge. All six schools<br />
also assume that philosophical reflection<br />
must ultimately serve religious<br />
goals, to release the embodied soul<br />
(atman) from an otherwise unending<br />
cycle <strong>of</strong> transmigration. Aside from<br />
these basic similarities, each <strong>of</strong> these<br />
schools developed distinctive and characteristic<br />
perspectives. Despite their differences,<br />
by the early centuries <strong>of</strong> the<br />
common era the schools had become<br />
associated in pairs: Nyaya-Vaisheshika,<br />
Samkhya-Yoga, and Purva Mimamsa-<br />
Uttara Mimamsa, with the final school<br />
more commonly known as Vedanta.<br />
Of these, the Nyaya school focused<br />
on examining and cataloguing the pramanas,<br />
the means by which human<br />
beings can gain true and accurate<br />
knowledge, and their conclusions<br />
became accepted by all six schools. <strong>The</strong><br />
Vaisheshika school was a descriptive<br />
ontology that categorized the world in<br />
atomistic fashion, in which all things<br />
were considered to be constructed from<br />
smaller parts. This school had inherent<br />
philosophical problems that contributed<br />
to its eclipse. Samkhya is an<br />
atheistic dualism based on the distinction<br />
between a conscious but inert