Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 33: Rāma, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa Depart to Meet Daśaratha
Text 2.33.8

या न शक्या पुरा द्रष्टुं भूतैराकाशगैरपि।
तामद्य सीतां पश्यन्ति राजमार्गगता जनाः॥

yā na śakyā purā draṣṭuṁ bhūtair ākāśagair api
tām adya sītāṁ paśyanti rāja-mārga-gatā janāḥ

= who; na = not; śakyā = could; purā = in the past; draṣṭum = be seen; bhūtaiḥ = by beings; ākāśagaiḥ = flying in the sky; api = even; tām1 adya = now; sītām = Sītā; paśyanti = see; rāja-mārga-gatāḥ = on the grand road; janāḥ = people.

People on the grand road now see Sītā who could not be seen in the past even by beings flying in the sky!

GLOSS. “Beings flying in the sky” refer to Sūrya and so on.

NOTE. In the early 1970s, Śrīla Prabhupāda remarked about the visibility of respectable ladies as follows:

Even fifty or sixty years ago in Calcutta, all respectable ladies would go to a neighboring place riding on a palanquin carried by four men. The palanquin was covered with soft cotton, and in that way there was no chance of seeing a respectable lady traveling in public. Ladies, especially those coming from respectable families, could not be seen by ordinary men. This system is still current in remote places. The Sanskrit word asūrya-paśyā indicates that a respectable lady could not be seen even by the sun. In the oriental culture this system was very prevalent and was strictly observed by respectable ladies, both Hindu and Muslim. We have actual experience in our childhood that our mother would not walk even next door to observe an invitation; rather, she would go in either a carriage or a palanquin carried by four men. This custom was also strictly followed five hundred years ago, and the wife of Advaita Ācārya, being a very respectable lady, observed the customary rules current in that social environment. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 13.114 purport)

1 Technical note: tām sītām.