Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 4

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 246

BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND EXILE OF RĀMA AND LAKSMANA 211
gracious eye. Do not become weak at any time because of separation from me."
After hearing that, the queen fell to the ground in a faint. Sprinkled with sandal and water by slave-girls, she got up and said: "Oh! Why have I lived! For a swoon is an easy way to die. How shall I alive endure the pain of the separation from Rama? My son intends to go to the forest; my husband intends to become a mendicant. Are you made of adamant, Kauśilya, that you are not crushed at hearing that!"
Rāma said again: "Mother, you are my father's wife. Why have you done this which is suitable for inferior women? The son of a lioness goes alone to wander in the forest. But the lioness remains happy and is not worried at all. This promised boon is an important debt of my father. While I stay here, how can he pay the debt, mother?" After enlightening Aparajita by suitable speeches such as this, Lakṣmaṇa's elder brother bowed to her and the other mothers and departed.
Sītā bowed to Dasaratha from a distance, approached Aparajita and bowed to her, and asked for orders to follow Rāma. Queen Aparajita seated Janaki on her lap like a child, bathing her with warm tears, and said: "Child, my son Rämabhadra, respectful, at his father's command goes into the forest. That is not difficult for him, a man-lion. You have been cherished from birth like a queen with the best vehicles. How can you endure the pain of going on foot, child? Your body is soft as the inside of a lotus; distressed by heat, et cetera, it would cause distress to Dasaratha, also. I can not deny permission to you to go because you would be following your husband and I can not give permission because of the undesired hardships."
Sītā bowed to Aparajită, fearlessly, her face like a lotus opened at dawn, and said, "May my devotion to you always confer happiness on the road. I shall follow Rāma, like the lightning the cloud." With these words, Janaka's daughter bowed to her again and departed, meditating