The mysterious Lakshman Rekha does not exist in the original Ramayan!
According to the original Ramayan which was written Valmiki and according to Ramcharitramanas written Tulsidas there is no such thing as the mysterious Lakshman Rekha.
These texts simply state that on being persuaded Seeta to go looking for his elder brother Ram, Lakshman prayed to the Gods to protect her in his absence and then left.
The mysterious Lakshman Rekha is a very modern addition to this legend. It is described to be a line drawn around the humble dwelling of Ram, Seeta and Lakshman Lakshman himself. He did this to prevent evil from entering and thus harming Seeta.
However, Seeta herself steps out of this mysterious Lakshman Rekha to provide food to a sadhu (the religious man who stays away from mortal pleasures). He turns out to be the king of Lanka in disguise and kidnaps her. This, in turn, leads to a war which ultimately leads to his demise and the destruction of his entire lineage. Also, later on, this kidnapping leads to the ousting of Seeta from the kingdom of Ram as well.
This later addition of the mysterious Lakshman Rekha is mostly folklore which teaches us not to cross our boundaries and to obey rules that protect us. However, it also shows what a great and true feminist Seeta was. Crossing that line caused her a great amount of pain and misery. However, never once in the whole epic does she regret doing so as she did so to help a hungry man and it was no fault of her that he turned out to be a fraud.
This later addition to the epic shows us what a brave and confident woman she was. Even though many people will say she made a mistake stepping out. However, she paid the price of her mistake several times over without sulking even once and with dignity as well.
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