Vedavati

In Hindu mythology, Vedavati is speculated to have been the spirit of Sita Devi, the wife of Rama in the epic Ramayana. She was another avatar of Devi Laxmi.

Early life

Vedavati is the daughter of Brahmarishi Kusadhvaja, who is the son of Brihaspati, Lord-Guru of the Devas, the Gods. Having spent his life chanting and studying the sacred Vedas, he names his daughter Vedavati, or Embodiment of the Vedas, born as the fruit of his bhakti and tapasya.

Dedication to Vishnu

Her father wants his child to have Lord Vishnu for a husband. He thus rejects many powerful kings and celestial beings who sought his daughter's hand. Outraged by his rejection, a powerful Daitya king Sambhu murders her parents in the middle of a moonless night.

Vedavati continues to live in the ashram of her parents, meditating night and day and performing a great tapasya to win Vishnu for her husband.

The Ramayana describes her as wearing the hide of a black antelope, her hair matted in a jata, like a rishi. She is inexpressibly beautiful, in the bloom of her youth, enhanced by her tapasya.

Immolation and death

File:Vedavati.jpg

Carving showing Vedavati immolating herself, while Ravana(left) looks on. The two-headed fire god Agni is shown to right of Vedavati

Ravana, the emperor of Lanka and the rakshasa race found Vedavati sitting in meditation and is captivated by her incredible beauty. He propositions her and is rejected. Ravana mocks her austerities and her devotion to Vishnu; finding himself firmly rejected at every turn, he tries to molest Vedavati, pulling her hair.. This greatly incensed her, and she forthwith cut off her hair, and said she would enter into the fire before his eyes, adding, "Since I have been insulted in the forest by thee who art wicked-hearted, I shall be born again for thy destruction." So she entered the blazing fire, and celestial flowers fell all around. It was she who was born again as Sita, and was the moving cause of Ravana's death, though Rama was the agent.

Prophecy

Vedavati refuses to curse Ravana as it would exhaust her tapasya, but pledges to return in another age and be the cause of his destruction.

The Rishi Agastya tells Rama that Vedavati was re-born as Sita, his wife, and became the cause of Ravana's destruction at his hands. She also thus obtained Vishnu, whose Avatara Rama is, as her husband.

References

• Ramesh Menon, The Ramayana (2001)