Guilty As Sita?

Hot take: Guilty As Sin by Taylor Swift is actually about Sita's love for Rama, especially during the vanavas and swayamvara

Drowning in the Blue Nile / He sent me 'Downtown Lights' / I hadn't heard it in a while

Rama sent Sita the ring from his messenger Hanuman which is the first glimpse of hope she's seen since her capture. Her not being able to cross the sea ('Blue Nile') to go back to her husband feels like drowning.

My boredom's bone deep / This cage was once just fine

Being 'trapped' in Lanka should have been fine to any other woman, and might even have been fine to her before she met Rama. Ravana would give her anything she ever asked for, except the one thing she wanted most— freedom.

Am I allowed to cry?

The very fate she is saddened by is the dream that any other woman would desire. She should be happy that she doesn't have to spend the rest of her exile in a forest in an uncomfortable house with little food. She does not have to suffer with her husband in the forest any longer, and that makes her... want to cry? Should she be allowed to cry instead of being grateful that Ravana does not wish to hurt her?

I dream of cracking locks / Throwing my life to the wolves / Or the ocean rocks

Sita is not weak or stupid. She could plan an escape on her own and succeed if she wanted to. She could have gone with Hanuman when she had the chance. She stays, not because she wants to, but to allow her husband his moment of glory as he fulfils his duty on Earth and avenges her in war, thus restoring dharma. It is what needs to happen. That doesn't stop her from fantasising though. She imagines herself impulsively slaying the asuras herself and swimming all the way back to Rama's embrace without caring for her life. In her dreams, she doesn't have to stay strong.

Crashing into him tonight / He's a paradox

Rama constantly has to choose between being the king that his people deserve and being the man that his family deserves. That is the paradox. Sita, during her final moments in Ayodhya, relieves him of that choice by going into vanavasa so that he can just be the king that his people need and sacrificing the husband she deserves.

I'm seeing visions, am I bad? / Or mad? Or wise?

Sita knows Rama is going to avenge her and destroy Ravana. She knows it's his destiny to restore dharma on Earth. She knows this because she is literally Thayar's incarnation, she was there when her destiny was written. But in her human form, while she's being held captive, the doubt plagues her- what if she's being delusional? What if her visions are wrong and nobody is coming for her? It's driving her mad.

What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh / Only in my mind?

This is so Yaaro Ivar Yaaro coded. Rama knew they were meant to be the moment he saw her. Rama claimed her in every lifetime. He loved her in every lifetime. And only Sita knew that.

One slip and falling back into the hedge maze / Oh what a way to die

Ramayana is written in such a way that if Rama had missed a single step, if even one thing had gone differently, they would have lost the war. If Hanuman hadn't returned with the Sanjeevini mountain in time, if Jatayu had died before he got the chance to tell Rama what happened, or if he hadn't seen Ravana kidnap Sita at all, if Jambavan hadn't reminded Hanuman of his powers and they hadn't crossed the ocean... there were so many variables, and only one constant. Love. Sita pinned all her hopes on that one constant, knowing fully well that she could lose everything including her own life if that failed.

I keep recalling things we never did / Messy top lip kiss / How I long for our trysts

"I keep recalling things we never did" = things they did in their past life.

This is also Yaaro Ivar Yaaro coded. In the song, Rama recalled his past life with her when he saw her. It would be rather poetically fitting if Sita recalled it when she was away from him. Things they never did in this lifetime, because circumstances had it that they spent more time away from each other than together. But there wasn't a moment in their time on Earth that they didn't spend loving each other.

Without ever touching his skin / How can I be guilty as sin?

She wants Rama to take her back to Ayodhya, but she also knows that when she gets there, she will not get the welcome she deserves from the people. She has stayed faithful to Rama, she hasn't touched Ravana or any other man even once, and Rama would believe her but who else would? Even after walking through fire to prove her innocence, the people of Ayodhya would declare her guilty.

I keep these longings locked / In lowercase inside a vault

This line is so Nee Uraippai Hanumaane coded, like when Rama says "nee uraithadhinaale vandha vinai thaan idhu".

The first time she expressed a desire of hers, to accompany her husband to the forest, Rama warned her against it but ended up agreeing out of love— that caused him so much guilt and concern. The next time, the golden deer, that's what got her into this mess in the first place. The last time, in Lanka, where she expresses her desire for freedom, she is denied it. She is offered everything except what she truly desires.

Rama's blind need to fulfil every desire she expresses has only caused them chaos and suffering. Ravana's pride in being able to give her everything she could possibly desire, except the one that she has expressed, has caused her nothing but frustration. Perhaps if she had kept her longings locked away from everyone, if she kept her desires smaller, they could have been happy.

Someone told me / There's no such thing as bad thoughts / Only your actions talk

Sita has no impure thoughts, Kamban describes her as not just a mere woman, but the embodiment of great lineage, boundless patience, and chastity— all qualities dancing with joy in one person.

But if we look at Amish Tripathi's version of Sita's swayamvara— she did have faith in Rama, that's why she chose for the swayamvara to be a test rather than just garlanding the person she wanted. However, her love for Rama was so deep that she almost broke the rules by giving him the bow to practice with beforehand because she could not bear the thought of not marrying him.

Despite all of that, in the end, Rama won Sita's hand fairly, so that's what counts.

These fatal fantasies / Giving way to labored breath / Taking all of me

We've already done it in my head / If it's make believe / Why does it feel like a vow / We'll both uphold somehow?

This whole paragraph is so Yaaro Ivar Yaaro coded again. Their fantasies of having what they had in every lifetime before add to the pressure and anxiety, consuming all their thoughts, but that's what makes the final result worth it. They're already married in their heart even before the swayamvara has started. It was never going to be anyone else, for either of them.

What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh / Only in my mind? / One slip and falling back into the hedge maze / Oh what a way to die

My bedsheets are ablaze / I've screamed his name / Building up like waves / Crashing over my grave

Lanka is quite literally ablaze from Hanuman's fire, and that's how she knows Rama is coming for her. The fire wasn't just a symbol of rebellion, but a message to Sita that Rama who is not by nature a violent person, would destroy the entire kingdom if it was what he needed to do to protect her.

Without ever touching his skin / How can I be guilty as sin?

What if I roll the stone away? / They're gonna crucify me anyway

Sita could walk through fire a thousand times and emerge unscathed to prove her chastity, but it wouldn't change the rumours circulating among the people. It wouldn't change the way anyone viewed her, and it wouldn't stop them from villainising her. Because their doubts of her chastity were never about justice, they were about silencing a woman's voice. And society will find a way to do that even in the face of the most undeniable evidence.

What if the way you hold me / Is actually what's holy?

The most beautiful thing in the Ramayana is that Perumal and Thayar in their human forms are not heroes because of their divinity. They are heroes because of their love. Rama wouldn't have had a reason to attack Lanka if he didn't love Sita. Sita wouldn't have had a reason not to marry Ravana when he kidnapped her if she didn't love Rama.

Love is why the entire Ramayana happened, therefore in the absence of Perumal and Thayar's cosmic powers, their love for each other is actually what's holy.

If long suffering propriety / Is what they want from me / They don't know how you've haunted me / So stunningly / I choose you and me / ... Religiously

She chose him even when Ravana offered her everything she could ever want, and even when he had to go to the forest (denying herself the comfort of the palace that a queen deserves to have), and even when she had to leave Ayodhya permanently (she chose to leave to the forest when the people doubted her to spare his image from public scrutiny)

What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh / Only in my mind? / One slip and falling back into the hedge maze / Oh what a way to die

I keep recalling things we never did / Messy top lip kiss / How I long for our trysts / Without ever touching his skin / How can I be guilty as sin?

He sent me 'Downtown Lights' / I hadn't heard it in a while / Am I allowed to cry?

A/N: It makes me so sad that they spent more time fighting for each other than actually being happy together