EPILOGUE

On this theory, Raama's treatment of Seeta after the battle and in the Uttarakaanda can be explained simply as the behaviour of a king in accordance with the customs of the times.

But, how can we comment on a work composed thousands of years ago and coming down to us in palm-leaf manuscripts subject to corruption? If, even after the fire-ordeal in the Yuddhakaanda, it is said in the Uttarakaanda that Seeta was sent to the forest, we may take it that it mirrors the voiceless and endless suffering of our women folk.

Sorrow and joy are both alike the play of God. God himself took with him his divine spouse, the embodiment of his own supreme compassion, into the world of men and women, and enacted with her a great drama of joy and sorrow in the Raamaayana.

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