Taking with them the Brahmans, the minister, the queens, the guru, and some others chosen out of the people, Bharat, Lakshman and Raghunath proceeded to the holy hermitage.
Sita came and embraced the saint’s feet and received the precious blessing that her soul desired. The affectionate manner in which she greeted the guru’s wife and the Brahman ladies is beyond description. Again and again she kissed all their feet and received their benediction, rejoicing her heart. When the queen-mothers looked at Sita, they closed their eyes and shuddered to see her so delicate, like some cygnet fallen into the clutch of a fowler; what a cruel thing God has done! As they gazed at her, they became distressed beyond measure, that she should have to bear all that Fate had put upon her. Then Janak’s daughter, summoning up courage, while her dark lotus eyes were suffused with tears, went and embraced all her mothers-in-law; at that moment Earth reeked with piteousness.
Sita came and embraced the saint’s feet and received the precious blessing that her soul desired. The affectionate manner in which she greeted the guru’s wife and the Brahman ladies is beyond description. Again and again she kissed all their feet and received their benediction, rejoicing her heart. When the queen-mothers looked at Sita, they closed their eyes and shuddered to see her so delicate, like some cygnet fallen into the clutch of a fowler; what a cruel thing God has done! As they gazed at her, they became distressed beyond measure, that she should have to bear all that Fate had put upon her. Then Janak’s daughter, summoning up courage, while her dark lotus eyes were suffused with tears, went and embraced all her mothers-in-law; at that moment Earth reeked with piteousness.