Chapter 62
Aranya Kanda - Book Of Forest
सीताम् अपश्यन् धर्मात्मा शोक उपहत चेतनः
विललाप महाबाहू रामः कमल लोचनः
sītām apaśyan dharmātmā śoka upahata cetanaḥ
vilalāpa mahābāhū rāmaḥ kamala locanaḥ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
In not seeing Seetha that virtue-souled Rama's sagacity is marred by his anguish and he bewailed with his lotus-like eyes that are reddening like a pair of lotuses, raising is long arms. [3-62-1]
PURPORT
पश्यन् इव च ताम् सीताम् अपश्यन् मदन अर्दितः
उवाच राघवो वाक्यम् विलाप आश्रय दुर्वचम्
paśyan iva ca tām sītām apaśyan madana arditaḥ
uvāca rāghavo vākyam vilāpa āśraya durvacam
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Even if Raghava is not able to see Seetha in his presence he started talking to her in a kind of inarticulate wailing, as wailing pampered his articulacy because his speech took shelter of wailing instinct, and as he is cowed down by Love-god, and thus he started to vent out his heart in this way. [3-62-2]
PURPORT
त्वम् अशोकस्य शाखाभिः पुष्प प्रिय तराअ प्रिये
अवृणोषि शरीरम् ते मम शोक विवर्धिनी
tvam aśokasya śākhābhiḥ puṣpa priya tarāa priye
avṛṇoṣi śarīram te mama śoka vivardhinī
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Flowers fascinate you very much, my dear, hence you veil yourself with the full bloomed branches of Ashoka tree, but that alone is amplifying my anguish because you both have presently became tormentors. [3-62-3]
PURPORT
कदली काण्ड सदृशौ कदल्या संवृता उभौ
ऊरू पश्यामि ते देवि न असि शक्ता निगूहितुम्
kadalī kāṇḍa sadṛśau kadalyā saṃvṛtā ubhau
ūrū paśyāmi te devi na asi śaktā nigūhitum
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Maybe, both your thighs liken to the stalks of banana plants, thinking so, now you have lapped them in grovy banana plants, but I can distinguish which is which, thus now I caught sight of them, oh, lady, you are inapt at least to cover them from me. [3-62-4]
कर्णिकार वनम् भद्रे हसंती देवि सेवसे
अलम् ते परिहासेन मम बाधावहेन वै
karṇikāra vanam bhadre hasaṃtī devi sevase
alam te parihāsena mama bādhāvahena vai
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Oh, lady, you are facetiously glorying in the boscage of fully bloomed Karnikaara trees which is really wafting worry to me, rather than the fragrance of those flowers oh, glorious lady, enough, enough is this facetiousness of yours. [3-62-5]
विशेषेण आश्रमस्थाने हासो अयम् न प्रशस्यते
अवगच्छामि ते शीलम् परिहास प्रियम् प्रिये
viśeṣeṇa āśramasthāne hāso ayam na praśasyate
avagacchāmi te śīlam parihāsa priyam priye
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"I am aware of your humour, lady, and I know that you are jocose, but in a place like hermitage unmerited is this sort of raillery, even if it is good-natured. Hence, you come back, oh, wide-eyed one, your cottage is empty. [3-62-6, 7a]
PURPORT
सु व्यक्तम् राक्षैः सीता भक्षिता वा हृता अपि वा
su vyaktam rākṣaiḥ sītā bhakṣitā vā hṛtā api vā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Oh, Lakshmana, very evidently demons have either gorged up Seetha, or perhaps abducted her, because she is not returning to me who am whiny indeed for her. [3-62-7b, 8a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Indeed these teary-eyed mobs of deer look as if to explain that nightwalkers have gluttonised my lady. [3-62-8b, 9a]
हा मम आर्ये क्व याता असि हा साध्वि वर वर्णिनि
hā mama ārye kva yātā asi hā sādhvi vara varṇini
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Ha! My graceful lady, to where you have strayed now... Ha! Chastely and best complexioned lady, now the ambition of my queen mother Kaikeyi will be fulfilled, as I breath my last owing to your straying... [3-62-8b, 9a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"I have come to forests with Seetha and have to go back to Ayodhya without Seetha. How, in all but name, can I step into an oblivion called my palace-chambers? [3-62-9b, 10a]
निर्वीर्य इति लोको माम् निर्दयः च इति वक्ष्यति
nirvīrya iti loko mām nirdayaḥ ca iti vakṣyati
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"People will denounce me as a vigourless and pitiless person, and my ineptitude will indeed be self-evident, for Seetha is led away from me by some tactical being... [3-62-10b, 11a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"When the king of Mithila Janaka asks after the wellbeing of all the three of us after the completion of forest living, how do I have the face to stand him? [3-62-11b, 12a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"On seeing me without Seetha the king of Videha will be distraught by the perishing of his daughter, and he defiantly goes under the preponderance of perplexity... [3-62-12b, 13a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Instead, I prefer not to go to the city Ayodhya that is ruled by Bharata, because it must be comforting to one and all under his rulership, but not to me as Seetha will not be with me... else if, that end of my life occurs now and if I were to go to heaven, even that heaven will be a void to me without her... I believe so... [3-62-13b, 14a]
तत् माम् उत्सृज्य हि वने गच्छ अयोध्या पुरीम् शुभाम्
tat mām utsṛjya hi vane gaccha ayodhyā purīm śubhām
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Hence, Lakshmana, you go back to that auspicious city Ayodhya forsaking me in forests, because I have no existence without Seetha, isn't it! [3-62-14b, 15a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"On tightly hugging Bharata you shall tell him these words as I have said, 'Rama authorises you to reign the earth...' [3-62-16]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Oh, efficacious Lakshmana, on revering my mothers Kaika, Sumitra, and Kausalya justifiably you tell them my good bye, and you as the one who effectuates whatever is assigned to you, you have to effortfully protect my mother Kausalya by doing whatever she says. [3-62-17b, 18]
सीतायाः च विनाशो अयम् मम च अमित्र सूदन
विस्तरेण जनन्या विनिवेद्य त्वया भवेत्
sītāyāḥ ca vināśo ayam mama ca amitra sūdana
vistareṇa jananyā vinivedya tvayā bhavet
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Oh, the subjugator of unfriendly, Lakshmana... you shall clearly inform in detail about this perish of Seetha, also that of mine, to our mothers. [3-62-19]
इति वाल्मीकि रामायणे आदि काव्ये अरण्य काण्डे द्वि षष्टितमः सर्गः
iti vālmīki rāmāyaṇe ādi kāvye araṇya kāṇḍe dvi ṣaṣṭitamaḥ sargaḥ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Thus Raghava, the dejected, neared every corner of the forest in his search, and bewailed because that lady with best plaits, Seetha, is not found and missing from him. Even Lakshmana became whey-faced, frantic-hearted, highly overwrought, by the fear of uncertainty looming large on them. [3-62-20]