While Sita appears much later in Valmiki Ramayana, Sriramakirtimahakavyam introduces Sita right in the beginning.
Nandaka took the form of Ravana on earth and ruled over prosperous Lanka, with the ocean as its moat. Among his large number of wives, he loved Mandodari the most. She, having smelt the fragrance of the balls of rice, spreading in all the four directions, tells her husband, 'I wish to eat them.'
Ravana to please her, tells a demon lady Khakana, 'Go bring the rice balls quickly.' The lady assumes the form of a crow, flies to the country of Uttarakosala and takes away half of the balls of rice. She then gives it to king Ravana and who in turn offers it to Mandodari. Mandodari eats them, becomes pregnant and in time gave birth to an extraordinary girl.
As soon as the girl took birth, she cried thrice, 'Let Ravana be killed.' But these words did not reach ears of her parents. But Vibhishana and many astrlogers predicted the destruction of the family of Ravana, devastation of Lanka and this terrified Ravana.
Ravana tells his brother, 'Do what you like with the girl.' Vibhishana placed the girl in a jar and ordered a servant to throw the jar into the river quickly. Within a moment, the jar was thrown into the river by the servant, but the jar did not sink. As the girl was the incarnation of goddess Lakshmi, by her power a lotus appeared and supported the jar on itself.
The jar sailed smoothly on the waves of the river and reached its bank. Wherein a high-souled king Janaka dressed as a sage was doing penance. The king was taking his bath and saw the jar placed on the lotus. Curious, he opened the jar and saw the recently born girl. And then the gentle presiding deity of the river, Manimekhala placed the girl on her lap. The virtuous one, on account of her chastity realised that the girl was goddess Lakshmi. The reason why, even if the mouth of the jar was shut, she remained alive without difficulty.
The sage-like king wanted to go back to his penance. Desirous of finding a way, he took the jar to the forest. There he dug a pit on the roots of a tree and prayed that if the girl is to be the spouse of Narayana, a lotus should spring up and it should bear the jar on it. It happened so in an instant. A lotus sprang up and the sage-king placed the jar on it with great devotion and prayed gods for the safety of the girl. He then returned to his religious austerities.
Even after vehement penance for sixteen years the king did not get the desired result. Therefore he did not want to undergo anymore austerities. Before leaving for his kingdom he remembered the jar. He asked his servant to go and dig out the jar and bring it to him. The servant dug deep and did not find the jar.
The king then told him to go to Mithila and gets troops equipped with ploughs and spades to speed up the digging of the earth. The troops exerted long but did not find the jar. Then the king himself decided to dig and took the plough and at the very moment the jar appeared. In it was a fascinating girl with a celestial form, taking her seat on a row of lotus petals.
Seeing the girl humiliating the lotuses with the splendour of her cheeks, eyes large with long eye lashes, as bright as gold and as white as the rays of moon, people were wonder struck. As she sprang up from a furrow made by the plough, she was given the name Sita. And Janaka, well known on earth became her father.
The story could be a mixture of many versions. Almost like a cut and paste effort! No wonder fantasies are ever popular! Anything is possible!
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