||Sundarakanda ||
|| Sarga 25||(Summary in English)
|| om tat sat||
अथ तासां वदंतीनां परुषं दारुणं बहु।
राक्षसीनां असौम्यानां रुरोद जनकात्मजा॥1||
स॥ अथ असौम्यानां राक्षसीनां बहु दारुणं परुषं वदंतीनां ( श्रुत्वा) जनकात्मजा रुरोद॥
Then hearing the many harsh words of the unpleasant Rakshasis, the daughter of Janaka wept.
Sundarakanda
Sarga 25
Then hearing the many harsh words of the unpleasant Rakshasis, who were ordered thus by the Rakshasas King Ravana, the daughter of Janaka wept.
Having been told thus by the Rakshasi women, very much afraid Vaidehi with her voice choking with tears spoke thus. 'A human being cannot be the wife of a Rakshasa. You can all freely eat me. I will not do what you say'.
Surrounded by the Rakshasa women, threatened by Ravana, Sita, who is like the daughter of Gods, could not get solace. Like the deer separated from its herd and chased by the wolves in the forest, Sita trembling excessively withdrew her limbs into herself. With a broken heart and in sorrow, she held on to the flowering branches of that Ashoka tree and started thinking about her husband.
Then brooding and with the flow of tears bathing her breasts, she could not reach the other end of the sea of sorrow. Trembling like a banana tree in stormy winds, frightened of the Rakshasa women, she looked very pale. The long luxuriant braid of Sita who was shaking looked like a moving serpent.
The distressed and afflicted Mythili with her consciousness drowned in tears, breathing heavily cried shedding tears. The afflicted lady cried saying 'Oh Rama, Oh Lakshmana, my mother in law O Kausalya, Oh Sumitra. Tormented by the cruel Rakshasis here and separated from Rama, I cannot live for a moment. The often quoted saying of learned that untimely death is difficult is indeed true. This lowly, wretched woman, who is like an orphan that I am, will be destroyed like the loaded boat hit by stormy winds in the middle of the sea. Unable to see my husband, being in the control of the Rakshasis, I am collapsing in sorrow like the bank of a river pushed by the water currents. Those who can see that husband of mine who has eyes like that of a lotus petals, who walks with the majesty of a lion, who is ever grateful, they are indeed blessed'.
'Separated from Rama the one who has realized self, my life is impossible like that one who drank venom. Why I am subject to this terrible cruel sorrow? What kind of great sin I might have committed in my previous birth? Filled with this great sorrow I want to give up my life. Rama cannot get me, while I am protected by these Rakshasis'.
'Fie upon human life. Fie upon dependence. Though I wish to give up life I am unable to'.
Thus Sita was lamenting about her fate in the Ashoka grove.
Thus ends Sarga twenty five of Sundarakanda in Ramayana , the first ever poem composed in Sanskrit by the first poet sage Valmiki.
|| om tat sat||
धि गस्तु खलु मानुष्यं धिगस्तु परवश्यताम्।
न शक्यं यत्परित्यक्तु मात्मच्छंदेन जीवितम्॥20||
स॥ मानुष्यं धिक् अस्तु । परवश्यतां धिक् अस्तु । यत् आत्मछंदेन जिवितं परित्यक्तुं (अपि) न शक्यं खलु ॥
'Fie upon human life. Fie upon dependence. Though I wish to give up life I am unable to'.
|| om tat sat||