Ravana Woos Sita in the Ashoka Grove
Ravana, burning with desire, approaches Sita in the ashoka grove where she sits sorrowful and guarded by rakshasis. He adorns himself splendidly and offers her his wealth, power, and lineage — only to be rejected so utterly that even he, the rakshasa king, cannot bring himself to take her against her will.
She sat on a slab of stone, surrounded by rakshasis. Her garments were soiled. What remained of her gems and ornaments was pitiful. She was devoted to her husband and she was weeping.
Oppressed by the arrows of love, Ravana came to see her.
He was the king of the rakshasas, the one the gods, danavas, gandharvas, yakshas, and kimpurushas had never managed to vanquish in battle. But desire had found him, and it had found him helpless. He went to the grove of ashoka trees and prepared himself.
He put on celestial garments. He fastened resplendent jewelled earrings. He wore colourful garlands and a crown. He looked like spring personified — like the kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree of heaven. But with all these adornments, he was as terrible as a chaitya tree in a cremation ground, a funeral marker decked in flowers.
The traveller of the night approached the slender-waisted one. He looked like the planet Saturn approaching the star Rohini.
He greeted her. He was struck by the arrows of the god of love, the one who carries a flower as his banner. And he spoke to the one who was as terrified as a doe.
"O Sita! You have shown favours towards your husband for a long time. O one who is slender in form! Show me your favours. You should be adorned. O one with the beautiful hips! Love me, adorned in expensive garments and ornaments. O beautiful one! Be the foremost among all my women."
He told her what he had. Daughters of the gods and the women of rajarshis (royal sages). Daughters of the danavas and the women of daityas. Fourteen crore pishachas (flesh-eating spirits) awaited his word, and double that number of rakshasas — eaters of men, performers of terrible deeds. Three times that number of yakshas carried out his instructions. Only a few had sought refuge with his brother, the lord of riches.
"When I am in my drinking hall," he said, "gandharvas and apsaras always attend on me, as they attend on my brother."
He told her who he was. "I am the son of the brahmana rishi, the sage Vishrava himself. My fame is renowned as the fifth guardian of the world. I eat celestial food and I have many different kinds of drink. O beautiful one! Whatever the thirty gods have, I possess that. Let all the evils of your sojourn in the forest be gone. O one with the beautiful hips! Be my wife, like Mandodari."
Thus addressed, Vaidehi — Sita, the princess of Mithila — turned her face away.
She thought of the traveller of the night as no more than a blade of grass. She spoke to him with inauspicious tears from her eyes drenching her firm breasts and beautiful thighs. Accepting her husband to be a god, she spoke these words to the mean one.
"O lord of the rakshasas! I am unfortunate that I have had to listen to such words from you. I am miserable and unlucky that I have heard such words. O fortunate one! Be fortunate in your happiness, but turn these thoughts away. I am another man's wife and am always devoted to my husband. This helpless woman cannot be an appropriate wife for you. What pleasure will you find from violating a helpless woman?"
She named his father. "Your father is a brahmana. He was born from Brahma and is the equal of Prajapati. If you are the equal of a guardian of the world, how do you not follow dharma?"
She named his brother. "Do you not have any shame at naming your brother, the lord of riches and the king of the yakshas, the friend of the lord Maheshvara?"
Having said this, the heavy-breasted Sita trembled and wept. The one who was slender in form covered her head and her face with her garment. Her hair was long and was braided well. Hanging from her head, it looked like a delicate and dark serpent. The indignant one was weeping.
On hearing those extremely cruel words spoken by Sita and being rejected, Ravana, whose intelligence was wicked, spoke again.
"O Sita! Let the one with the makara on his banner burn my limbs through desire. O one with the beautiful smile! O one with the beautiful hips! But I will not enjoy you against your wishes. What can I possibly do? Even now, you are devoted to Rama, a human who is nothing but our food."
Thus addressing the one with the unblemished limbs, the lord of masses of rakshasas instantly disappeared and went in whatever direction he desired.
Surrounded by the rakshasis, Vaidehi was overcome by grief. Served by Trijata, she resided there. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 562