________________
Leaving Pundarikpur
365
"Dear brother! I can never forget the benefaction you bestowed upon me. You have taken care of me with the affection of a father, mother and brother. You always treated me with the highest regard and affection. Ah ! You have experienced a lot of inconvenience and difficulty on account of me and my sons. You have done, everything to keep us happy and cheerful. I could bear with my difficulties cheerfully only because of the extraordinary affection you showed me. Let no other woman experience so much grief and anguish as I have experienced in life. May no other woman be caught in such a whirlwind of calamities as the one in which I was caught, This is my prayer to the Almighty."
The tears streamed from Sita's eyes. King Vajrajang's voice was choked. With great difficulty, he said,
"Oh you revered lady ! Your arrival at Pundarikpur brought prosperity, felicity and good fortune to the people of our city and to our royal family. Your sacred presence has hallowed our city and has filled us all with joy. Since you have hallowed our city, it will continue to be prosperous and progressive. Your leaving the city is a death-blow to us; and it will cause anguish to all of us; but yet a sister cannot remain with her brother for ever.
King Vajrajang ordered his men to announce to drum-beats the news that Sita was returning to Ayodhya. At once, the people of the city thronged the palace of Sita. All were shedding tears; and were sobbing. Their faces had grown bleak and blighted. Sita instructed her daughters-in-law to get ready to travel to Ayodhya; and then she went up to the window of the balcony to bid farewell to the thronging crowds and to receive their compliments and regards.
All those who had gathered there were saying the same thing;
“Now, Sita will return to Ayodhya for good. Lav and Kush have already gone to Ayodhya. Sita will not remain at Pundarikapur."
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
