She wants to tell Him, “If my father were to hear that You have abandoned me [here] and gone to the forest, he would think that You are definitely a woman in the appearance of a man who has married his virgin daughter.”

Rāma indicates that Rāma is so bewildering to others simply by His beauty.

Vaidehaḥ indicates that Sītā’s father was from a dynasty in Videha that was primarily performing the duties of karma [to set an example for the common people]:

karmaṇaiva hi saṁsiddhim
āsthitā janakādayaḥ

“Kings such as Janaka attained perfection solely by performance of prescribed duties.” (Bhagavad-gītā 3.20)

As such, Sītā-devī’s father never tolerated the absence of his wife.¹ He was the ruler of Mithilā, that is, the complete protector of that province. Sītā rhetorically asks Lord Rāma [here], “Will my father not consider You to be a woman, that is, internally with the characteristics of a woman, [though] in the form of a man, that is, externally disguised as a man because You left me and went to the forest, which is because You are unable to protect me, [just] one woman?” She states here that he would certainly think so.

GLOSS. Sītā wanted to convey, “You are a woman by activity and a man in appearance. My father didn’t know this. Had he known this, he would not have given me to You.”