It is impossible not to respond to the dominant feelings of pathos and poignancy running as the undercurrent in the Ramayana, evoking a sense of pity that is celebrated as ‘karuna rasa.’ It reaches a peak when Rama steels Himself to send Sita to the forest in her pregnant state, on the ground of suspicion. The delicate situation rends the hearts of all, and even Valmiki, Narayana Bhattatiri and others are overtaken by grief and falter in continuing with the narrative. Valmiki exclaims that though Brahma has granted him the necessary vision and poetic abilities to fulfil this enormous task of composing the Ramayana, he is at a loss to fathom the hearts of the divine couple in their human role as Rama and Sita, pointed out Sri B. Damodhara Dikshitar in a discourse. To him they remain inseparable and omniscient, cherishing each other in the secret depths of their hearts.
Sita never accepts that Rama suspects her, though he has sent her away. Such is the nobility of her virtue and pativrata dharma, and the oneness in thought, word and deed that binds the divine couple playing the roles Sita and Rama. Sekkizhar, in his account of the life of Tiruneelakanta Nayanar, praises the outstanding chastity that this Nayanar and his devout wife exemplify while serving the Lord with tremendous love and devotion. Owing to an incident involving the saint’s lust, his wife asks him to refrain from approaching her. Moved by his faith in Siva, he then and there renounces any relationship with women with great determination and remains so throughout. The Lord wishes to make known the vow of chastity that this couple observes for forty years and comes in the guise of a Siva yogi. He leads them through trials and tests and finally rewards their resoluteness by taking them to His abode in their youthful forms.
