What is Lakshamana Rekha? This is literally a rekha or line drawn by Lakshmana around the parnashaala or aashramam of Sita, while he was forcefully sent by Sitadevi to help Lord Raama to whom all mortals turn for help!
When Sitadevi and Lord Raama was sitting and enjoying the nature in Chitrakoota, a beautiful golden deer appeared there and started jumping and playing around. Sitadevi was happy to see the deer and wanted to catch it and play with the deer. So he told Rama to get it for her.
The all- knowing Raama went after the golden deer, who was actually the demon Maaricha in disguise. Deer ran far away from the aashramam to take Lord away from Sita devi and Lakshmana's eye sight. Raama did not return for a long time and Sitadevi became impatient and asked Lakshmana to go and look for Him.
Suddenly both of them could hear a pathetic cry " Hae! Sita Hae! Lakshmana!" and it sounded as if Lord Raama was calling for help! All this was Maarichaa's maaya or magic. How can ever a pathetic cry come from Lord Raama? Sitadevi was very upset and requested Lakshmana to go immediately and help his brother. Lakshmana told her that he would not leave her alone and go because it was Rama' order to stay back and protect Sita. Also he assured that Raama would never cry for help and it was all Maarichaa's trick. But, in her grief, she misunderstood Lakshmana's good intention of staying back. Anger replaced the grief and she uttered a lot of harsh and unfair words to Lakshmana. When he could not stand those harsh words any more, he drew a line around her parnashaala and told her that she would be safe as long as she did not cross that line. Anybody attempting to harm Sita by crossing the line would be consumed by flames erupting from the line.
Lakshmana left in search of Rama and Ravana comes in the form of a sage and asks for alms. Sita forgot Lakshmana's warning about crossing the line drawn by him. She thought :"अतिथी देवो भव (Atithi Devo Bhava) A guest has to be honored like God." and unsuspectingly crossed the boundary line to give alms to Ravana. Ravana wasted no time, kidnapped her and flew to Lanka in the Pushpaka Vimaana.
This is the story of Lakshmana rekha. Now we use the phrase Lakshmana rekha to refer to a strict rule, never to be broken. Most of the time it refers to moral limits of action, ignoring which may lead to unfavorable results.
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