And those hideous Rakshasees thus threatning her with reproaches rude
and rough, the daughter of the king Janaka began to weep. And being thus
addressed by those Rakshasees, Vaidehi, of subdued soul, being greatly
terrified, said, having her voice choked with vapour,--"A woman can
never be the wife of a Rakshasa. Eat me up if you will, I shall never
follow your words." And being surrounded by the Rakshasees and
threatened by Ravana, Sita, resembling the daughter of a celestial,
stricken with grief, could not console herself. And trembling, she
shrank from their presence like unto a strayed fawn surrounded by
wolves. And resorting to a flowery branch of an _Asoka_ tree, she sunk
in grief, thought upon her lord. With tears she bathed her beautiful
breast and oppressed with woe, she could not reach the other bank of the
ocean of grief. Like a plantain tree shaken by the breeze, she shook and
fell down trembling (on the earth). And being afraid of the Rakshasees,
her cheeks forsook their native hue. And herself trembling, her pretty
long lock of hair also shook and appeared like a serpent moving this way
and that. Overwhelmed with grief and beside herself with ire, the
daughter of the king of Mithila, wept and exclaimed sorrowfully,--"O
mother Kausalya! O queen Sumitra! true is the saying of the wise that
death doth never approach untimely the male or the female. Or else I
would not have lived for a moment, separated from Rama and oppressed by
the Rakshasees as I am. Limited is my virtue, and therefore I am to die
the death of a poor deserted thing like unto a bark driven by the blast
in the midst of the ocean. Debarred from my husband's sight and tortured
by the hideous demons, I shall sink, oppressed with woes, like unto the
banks of a river, washed by the water. Oh blest are they who have been
resting their eyes upon my grateful and sweet-speeched lord of leonine
gaits, having eyes resembling lotus petals! And separated frpm Rama of
subdued soul, it is as difficult for me to breathe as for him who hath
drank up virulent poison. What mighty iniquity had I perpetrated in my
previous existence that I have met with this terrible disaster! I wish
to renounce my life under this load of grief--but alas! I am surrounded
by the Rakshasees and cannot meet Rama. Oh! cursed is this subject human
life, that they cannot renounce it even at their pleasure"!