Lakshmana rekha

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Rawana approaches Sita in the garb of mendicant

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Lakshman Rekha (Sanskrit: ), in some later versions of Ramayana, is a line drawn
by Lakshmana around the dwelling he shares with his brother Rama and Rama's
wife Sita at Panchavati in the forest of Dandakaranya which now part of the city
of Nashik in Maharashtra. The line is meant to protect Sita, while he is away searching
for Rama. Ramacharitamanas, the popular North Indian rendering of story of Rama, does not feature
the Lakshmana Rekha story in the Aranya Kanda. Neither does the original, the Valmiki Ramayana.
However in Lanka Kanda of the Ramcharitmanas, (35.1) Mandodari rebukes Ravana on his
boisterous claims of valour by hinting that his claim of strength and valour is shallow for he could not
even cross a small line drawn by Shri Rama's younger brother Lakshmana.
In the story, Rama goes chasing a golden deer (which actually is the Rakshasa Maricha in disguise),
and does not return for a long time. When Sita coerces Lakshmana to leave in search of his brother,
Lakshmana who cannot bear to see Sita cry in grief, reluctantly decides to go and search for Rama,
subject to his condition that Sita not cross the protective line he draws. Anybody other than Rama,
Sita and himself attempting to cross the line would be singed by flames erupting from the line. Once
Lakshmana leaves in search of Rama, the Rakshasa king Ravana comes in the form of a mendicant
and asks Sita for alms. Not expecting a trick, she unsuspectingly crosses the Lakshman Rekha to
provide alms to him and Ravana kidnaps her in his Pushpaka Vimana.
Radhey Shyam Ramayan mentions that the crossing of Lakshaman Rekha by Sita was done
absent-mindedly by an anxious Sita only to honour the great Indian tradition of " "
(Atithi Devo Bhava): the guest is embodiment of a Deva (divine entity). Sita crosses the boundary
line only to give alms to Ravana once he insists that alms cannot be accepted across a barrier as
having a boundary in between was against the principle of free will of the donor.
Modern use[edit]
Lakshman Rekha, in modern Indian parlance, refers to a strict convention or a rule, never to be
broken. It often refers to the ethical limits of an action, traversing which may lead to undesirable
consequences. Example of use: