Sundara Kanda · Sarga 25 of 68 · 20 verses
Sita’s Despair
While the rakshasis go on with their harsh, cruel talk, Janaka’s daughter weeps. Once more she tells them that a human woman cannot be a rakshasa’s wife; let them eat her. Trembling like a doe cut off from her herd and hunted by wolves, she clings to a flowering branch of the ashoka and thinks of her husband, her breasts wet with tears, her long braid shaking like a crawling snake.
She cries out to Rama, to Lakshmana, to Kausalya and Sumitra. The saying is true, she says: death does not come before its time, for here she is, alive without Rama. She is sinking like a loaded boat struck by gales, like a riverbank eaten by water. Blessed are those who see her lord, lotus-eyed, with a lion’s gait, grateful and kind-spoken. What great sin did she commit in another life to suffer this? She wants to die, but the guards prevent it: shame on being human, shame on being in another’s power, when one cannot even give up one’s life by one’s own will.
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अथ तासां वदन्तीनां परुषं दारुणं बहु । राक्षसीनामसौम्यानां रुरोद जनकात्मजा ॥ १ ॥
While those unkind rakshasis were saying many harsh and cruel things, Janaka’s daughter wept.
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एवमुक्ता तु वैदेही राक्षसीभिर्मनस्विनी । उवाच परमत्रस्ता बाष्पगद्गदया गिरा ॥ २ ॥
Spoken to so by the rakshasis, high-minded Vaidehi, terrified, said in a voice choked with tears:
न मानुषी राक्षसस्य भार्या भवितुमर्हति । कामं खादत मां सर्वा न करिष्यामि वो वचः ॥ ३ ॥
“A human woman cannot be a rakshasa’s wife. Eat me if you like, all of you; I will not do as you say.”
सा राक्षसीमध्यगता सीता सुरसुतोपमा । न शर्म लेभे शोकार्ता रावणेनेव भर्त्सिता ॥ ४ ॥
Sita, like a daughter of the gods, in the middle of the rakshasis, stricken with grief, found no peace, as if threatened by Ravana himself.
वेपते स्माधिकं सीता विशन्तीवांगमात्मनः । वने यूथपरिभ्रष्टा मृगी कोकैरिवार्दिता ॥ ५ ॥
Sita trembled the more, as if shrinking into herself, like a doe in the forest separated from her herd and harried by wolves.
सा त्वशोकस्य विपुलां शाखामालम्ब्य पुष्पिताम् । चिन्तयामास शोकेन भर्तारं भग्नमानसा ॥ ६ ॥
Taking hold of a great flowering branch of the ashoka, she thought of her husband in grief, her heart broken.
सा स्नापयन्ती विपुलौ स्तनौ नेत्रजलस्रवैः । चिन्तयन्ती न शोकस्य तदान्तमधिगच्छति ॥ ७ ॥
Bathing her full breasts with streams of tears, thinking, she found no end to her grief.
सा वेपमाना पतिता प्रवाते कदली यथा । राक्षसीनां भयत्रस्ता विवर्णवदनाभवत् ॥ ८ ॥
Trembling, she fell like a plantain in a strong wind; terrified of the rakshasis, her face lost its colour.
तस्याः सा दीर्घबहुला वेपन्त्याः सीतया तदा । ददृशे कम्पिता वेणी व्यालीव परिसर्पती ॥ ९ ॥
As she trembled then, her long, thick braid was seen shaking like a snake crawling.
सा निःश्वसन्ती शोकार्ता कोपोपहतचेतना । आर्ता व्यसृजदश्रूणि मैथिली विललाप च ॥ १० ॥
Sighing, stricken with grief, her mind struck by anger, distressed, Maithili shed tears and lamented,
हा रामेति च दुःखार्ता हा पुनर्लक्ष्मणेति च । हा श्वश्रूर्मम कौसल्ये हा सुमित्रेति भामिनी ॥ ११ ॥
“Ha Rama!”, stricken with sorrow, and again “Ha Lakshmana!”, and “Ha Kausalya, my mother-in-law! Ha Sumitra!”, the lovely woman cried.
लोकप्रवादः सत्योऽयं पण्डितैः समुदाहृतः । अकाले दुर्लभो मृत्युः स्त्रिया वा पुरुषस्य वा ॥ १२ ॥
“This popular saying quoted by the wise is true: death before its time is hard to come by, for a woman or for a man,
यत्राहमाभिः क्रूराभी राक्षसीभिरिहार्दिता । जीवामि हीना रामेण मुहूर्तमपि दुःखिता ॥ १३ ॥
“since, tormented here by these cruel rakshasis, I live, deprived of Rama, even a moment in my sorrow.
एषाल्पपुण्या कृपणा विनशिष्याम्यनाथवत् । समुद्रमध्ये नौः पूर्णा वायुवेगैरिवाहता ॥ १४ ॥
“I, of little merit, wretched, will perish like one without protector, like a laden boat in mid-ocean struck by gusts of wind.
भर्तारं तमपश्यन्ती राक्षसीवशमागता । सीदामि खलु शोकेन कूलं तोयहतं यथा ॥ १५ ॥
“Not seeing my husband, come into the power of rakshasis, I sink in grief like a bank beaten by water.
तं पद्मदलपत्राक्षं सिंहविक्रान्तगामिनम् । धन्याः पश्यन्ति मे नाथं कृतज्ञं प्रियवादिनम् ॥ १६ ॥
“Blessed are those who see my lord, with eyes like lotus petals, walking with a lion’s stride, grateful, kind of speech.
सर्वथा तेन हीनाया रामेण विदितात्मना । तीक्ष्णं विषमिवास्वाद्य दुर्लभं मम जीवनम् ॥ १७ ॥
“In every way, deprived of Rama, who knows himself, my life is hard to keep, like one who has tasted sharp poison.
कीदृशं तु महापापं मया देहान्तरे कृतम् । तेनेदं प्राप्यते घोरं महादुःखं सुदारुणम् ॥ १८ ॥
“What great sin did I commit in another body, that I meet this terrible, cruel, great sorrow?
जीवितं त्यक्तुमिच्छामि शोकेन महता वृता । राक्षसीभिश्च रक्षन्त्या रामो नासाद्यते मया ॥ १९ ॥
“Surrounded by great grief, I want to give up my life; guarded by rakshasis, I cannot reach Rama.
धिगस्तु खलु मानुष्यं धिगस्तु परवश्यताम् । न शक्यं यत् परित्यक्तुमात्मच्छन्देन जीवितम् ॥ २० ॥
“Shame on being human; shame on being in another’s power, when one cannot give up one’s life by one’s own will!”