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Originally Posted by Shivani Devi
Namaste.
The reason I left out that part you mentioned, is because I was not aware of it..however, in regards to your second point, I heard it differently.
It is said that after Sita returned from Lanka, Rama did indeed reject her for all those reasons you mentioned..however, it was more of a "trial by fire" rather than Sita committing Sati and dying.
Rama wanted to test Sita's chastity and spiritual purity by subjecting her to the "fire test"..if she got burned and died, she was impure, but if the fire couldn't touch her and she walked away unscathed, she was beyond accusation and reproach..for even a fire cannot burn the truth.
As it happened, Sita walked into the fire and the fire immediately went out and she walked away...upon which they returned to Ayodhya and lived happily ever after.
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I guess there are different versions… The one I read is obviously not in the original, it was a Hungarian translation (a very good one, I might add), in which the last chapter about Sita's fire sacrifice was left out and just summarised in a few paragraphs, with the explanation that this was not part of the original Ramayana, but was added much later as a supposed justification for Suttee. The translation is from the 1930s though, so it might be somewhat outdated. Anyways, other then this late addition, I really enjoy the Ramayana.