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SETUBANDHA
121
114. Forgive my shameless death, despicable because of lack of love, since I endured separation from Rāma, and accepted widowhood with a cruel heart.'39 Thus saying, she burst into tears.
115. “This is the fate of all, but such an end is unbecoming to those who have an exalted sense of their dignity.40 As she uttered these words she threw herself on the ground, beating her breast.
116. Even as she wailed in this wise, ashamed of her life, wearily in a voice faint from grief, Sītā addressed Rāma as the son of Daśaratha, but could not say 'Beloved'.
117. No more did she wish to lament, nor smote her breast,41 like an enemy. She shed no tears, but checked their flow. Her heart was bent on death.
118. Trijatā then began to speak to her. Yearning for death, she was drooping heavily with her body held up (by her friend) as she, with quivering hands, almost fell to the ground.
119. “Sītā, despise not my affectionate words, because I am a Rākşasa woman. Whether in a garden or in a wood, it is the fragrant flowers of the creepers that are culled.
120. 'Friend, if Rāghava were really dead, what would indeed be the use of thy living? But my heart is weighed down with sorrow, because thou art dying even when Rāma is safe.
121. 'It is impossible even to imagine what thou hast surmised. If it were so, would my consolation be now in place in regard to thee, as in the case of the common people ?42
122. 'A single ape43 reduced the entire city of the demons to such a plight that the loud wail rang through the rows of houses. How could Rāma's death come about with the demons unscathed?
123. 'It is impossible. Rāma cannot be killed. The world will soon be without any demons. I say so because I have foreseen it
39. Instead of dying on seeing the severed head. 40. Trans. follows Ramadāsa's reading. 41. Lit. body.
42. i.e., if Rama were really dead, it would be unnecessary to comfort Sitā like an ordinary woman, because she would commit suicide as a matter of course.
43. Hanumat. S. 16
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