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

Ravana, the emperor of Lanka and the rakshasa race found Vedavati sitting in meditation and is captivated by her incredible beauty. After mocking her dedication to Vishnu and her penance, he attacks her, viciously, by pulling her hair.

Her chastity and reputation destroyed, Vedavati immolates herself by building a pyre, while Ravana is watching.

Prophesy

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)