Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 66: The History of Lord Śiva’s bow
Text 1.66.14
अथ मे कृषतः क्षेत्रं लाङ्गलादुत्थिता मया॥
क्षेत्रं शोधयता लब्धा नाम्ना सीतेति विश्रुता॥
atha me kṛṣataḥ kṣetraṁ lāṅgalād utthitā mayā
kṣetraṁ śodhayatā labdhā nāmnā sīteti viśrutā
atha = later; me kṛṣataḥ kṣetram = when I ploughed a sacrificial field; lāṅgalāt = from the furrow; utthitā = came out a girl; mayā = because I; kṣetram śodhayatā = while cleaning the field; labdhā = had obtained her; nāmnā = by the name; sītā iti = Sītā; viśrutā = she became famous.
Later, when I ploughed a sacrificial field, from the furrow came out a girl. Because I had obtained her while cleaning the field, she became famous by the name Sītā.
In order to prepare a field for conducting a sacrifice, Janaka ploughed it. This is in accordance with scriptural statements such as:
lāṅgalaṁ pavīravam iti dvābhyām ṛṣabheṇa kṛṣati
“He ploughs the field with a bull and two items, the plough and the goad.”
A furrow is referred to as sītā. Because she was born from sītā, she became known as Sītā.