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The Thirty-Third Chapter
Then, Rama, leaving behind the regions fit for human enjoyment, reached the beautiful hermitages of the ascetics. There dwelt ascetics with matted hair, wearing various barks, and the earth was like a tree laden with sweet fruits. [1-2]
The hermitages were covered with large leaves, and had platforms for sitting, sometimes adorned with piles of Palasa and Udumbara wood. [3]
Their courtyards were filled with un-sown, self-grown grain drying in the sun, and were adorned with deer chewing their cud in peace. [4]
The courtyards were filled with calves, with matted hair, constantly mooing, and with their beautiful tails raised high. [5]
The hermitages were filled with parrots, mynas, and owls, with clear voices, sitting in the shade of beautiful flowering creepers. [6]
The hermitages were adorned with young trees, their beds watered by maidens, who considered them as their brothers. [7]
The ascetics welcomed them with great respect, offering them various fruits, fragrant flowers, sweet water, words of welcome, food offered with reverence, sweet conversation, gifts of huts, and beds of soft leaves. [8-9]
These ascetics were naturally hospitable, and their virtue was even more evident in the presence of such beautiful men. [10]
When Rama and Lakshmana were about to leave, the ascetics came to their path. Their form could melt even stones, what to speak of others? [11]
The ascetics of that hermitage had never seen such beauty. They lived on dry leaves and air, and when they saw Sita's beauty, they...