Sita undergoes fire ordeal (Thai Ramayana mural)
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- Unknown
- Location
- Bangkok, Thailand
- License
- This photograph copyright ©2006. Terms of use
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Sita undergoes a fire ordeal, as seen on a Ramayana mural at the Emerald Buddha Temple. In this depiction, Sita appears to float and dance unharmed above a large outdoor bonfire. Figures of human and monkey kings, including Hanuman, stand on both sides of the fire to observe how Sita endures the test unharmed, proving her purity and innocence.
In the Ramayana epic, after Rama and his allies rescue Sita from the demon island of Lanka, Rama is unsure if his wife has remained faithful to him during her long absence. Sita proves her innocence by undergoing this extreme physical test. The gods will not let fire harm the innocent Sita.
Many contemporary fiction stories in Southeast Asia select elements of the Ramayana plot as a framework for writing about life in the present. The story of Rama’s test of Sita is often reworked in modern form to comment upon gender “double standards” where men expect to question the faithfulness of women, but women are not expected to question men about their absences.
This image was photographed in August 1984.
