Shloka 5.28.12
सीताविलापः (Sita’s Lament and Resolve under Threat)
अनन्य दैवत्वमियं क्षमा चभूमौ च शय्या नियमश्च धर्मे।पतिव्रतात्वं विफलं ममेदंकृतं कृतघ्नेष्विव मानुषाणाम्।।5.28.12।।
ananya-daivatvam iyaṁ kṣamā ca
bhūmau ca śayyā niyamaś ca dharme |
pativratātvaṁ viphalaṁ mamedaṁ
kṛtaṁ kṛtaghneṣv iva mānuṣāṇām || 5.28.12 ||
My single-hearted devotion to you alone as my deity, my forbearance, my sleeping upon the ground, and my discipline in dharma—this very chastity of mine has proved fruitless, like a good deed done for ungrateful people.
"I am devoted to you and to no other god. My hardship in sleeping on the ground, my righteousness, my discipline and chastity have all proved futile like the devotion of an ungrateful person.
The verse spotlights pativratā-dharma and disciplined living, while also expressing the anguish that arises when righteous conduct seems unrewarded—raising the Ramayana’s recurring question of how dharma is tested before it is vindicated.
Sītā laments that her austerity, patience, and exclusive devotion appear to have yielded no protection, as she faces mortal danger in Laṅkā.
Sītā’s chastity, restraint, and endurance—virtues held as exemplary in the epic, even when they become the very ground of her suffering and trial.