
Authored by Anup Asokan, Avid Mythologist
There is an interesting story about Wendy Doniger, one of the most famous Indologists of our time. In 2003, during one of her lectures in London, a man offended by Doniger’s statement that Sita accused Lakshma of having sexual designs on her, threw an egg at her. The man who had poor aim would have heard the Ramayana from his grandmother’s lap, or an Amar Chitra Katha, or Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana, like most Indians did.
Had he read Valmiki, he would have understood that Doniger was actually right. The scene was Rama’s chase of the golden deer. Sita desired for the deer. Rama, before pursuing the deer, asked his brother Lakshmana to watch over Sita and leave under no circumstance. When Rama, much far away from Sita and Lakshmana shoots the deer, it takes the form of a Rakshasa and screams for aid in Rama’s voice. Sita mistakes the voice for Rama and asks Lakshamana to aid her husband, which he declines. Distressed and angry, Sita does accuse poor Lakshmana of those things, and it worked – Lakshmana goes after Rama.