What! will Sîtâ desert her spouse, or Lakshman remain here at home?
Will Bharat enjoy the dominion of the state, or the king survive without Râma?
Reflect upon this and expel passion from your breast, nor make yourself a stronghold of remorse and disgrace. By all means make Bharat the king’s coadjutor; but what need is there for Râma to be banished to the wood? Râma is not greedy of royal power; he is righteous and averse to sensual pleasures. Let him leave the palace and go and live with his guru; ask this of the king as your second petition. A son like Râma does not deserve banishment; what will people say to you when they hear of it? If you do not agree to what I tell you, nothing will prosper in your hands. If this is only some jest of yours, speak out clearly and let me know. Up quickly and devise a plan to avert future remorse and disgrace.
Devise a plan to avert remorse and disgrace and save your family. Be instant in diverting Râma from going to the woods, and labour for nothing else. As the day without the sun, as the body without life, as the night without the moon, so (says Tulsî Dâs) is Avadh without its lord; I beg you, lady, to consider this.”
Will Bharat enjoy the dominion of the state, or the king survive without Râma?
Reflect upon this and expel passion from your breast, nor make yourself a stronghold of remorse and disgrace. By all means make Bharat the king’s coadjutor; but what need is there for Râma to be banished to the wood? Râma is not greedy of royal power; he is righteous and averse to sensual pleasures. Let him leave the palace and go and live with his guru; ask this of the king as your second petition. A son like Râma does not deserve banishment; what will people say to you when they hear of it? If you do not agree to what I tell you, nothing will prosper in your hands. If this is only some jest of yours, speak out clearly and let me know. Up quickly and devise a plan to avert future remorse and disgrace.
Devise a plan to avert remorse and disgrace and save your family. Be instant in diverting Râma from going to the woods, and labour for nothing else. As the day without the sun, as the body without life, as the night without the moon, so (says Tulsî Dâs) is Avadh without its lord; I beg you, lady, to consider this.”
Pleasant to hear and beneficial in result was the advice her friends gave; but she paid no heed to it, having been tutored in villany by Hunchback.
She answered not a word, but raged with irrepressible fury like a hungry tigress that has spied a deer. Perceiving her disease to be incurable, they left her, saying as they went: “Demented wretch! Fate has destroyed her in her pride; she has acted in such a way as no one has ever acted before.” Thus all the men and women of the city were lamenting and heaping countless abuse on the wicked queen. Burning with intolerable fever they sob out: “What hope of life is there without Râma?” Agonized by his loss, the people were as miserable as creatures of the deep when water fails. Great was the distress of all, whether man or woman: but the saintly Râma went to his mother, with joy in his face and fourfold joy in his soul, fearing only that the king might detain him.
She answered not a word, but raged with irrepressible fury like a hungry tigress that has spied a deer. Perceiving her disease to be incurable, they left her, saying as they went: “Demented wretch! Fate has destroyed her in her pride; she has acted in such a way as no one has ever acted before.” Thus all the men and women of the city were lamenting and heaping countless abuse on the wicked queen. Burning with intolerable fever they sob out: “What hope of life is there without Râma?” Agonized by his loss, the people were as miserable as creatures of the deep when water fails. Great was the distress of all, whether man or woman: but the saintly Râma went to his mother, with joy in his face and fourfold joy in his soul, fearing only that the king might detain him.