WHEN Sita, having a husband although seeming as if she had none, was
putting on the ascetic guise, the people got into a wrath and exclaimed,
"O Daaaratha, fie on you!" Aggrieved at the uproar that arose there in
consequence, the lord of earth banished from his heart all regard for
life, virtue, and fame. And sighing hot, that descendant Ikshwaku spoke
onto that wife of his, saying,--"O Kaikeyi, Sita deserves not to go in a
Kuca dress. Tender, and youthful, and worthy of happiness, she is by no
means capable of living in the forest. My spiritual guide has spoken the
truth. Whom has this one injured that, being the daughter of the
foremost of kings, she like a female ascetic, wearing a meagre garb in
the presence of all, will (repair to the woods and) remain there like a
beggar destitute of everything? Let Janaka's daughter leave off her
ascetic guise. This is not the promise that I had made to you before.
Let the princess go to the forest in comfort, furnished with all sorts
of gems. My sands run out; by me hath this cruel promise been made with
an oath. But this (exile of Sita) has been thought of by you through
your ignorance! Let it not, however, consume you like a bamboo flower
destroying the bamboo. If, O wicked woman, Rama has happened to do thee
something unbeautiful, what wrong, O base wretch, has Vaidehi done thee
in the world? Of eyes expanded like those of a doe, endued with a mild
temperament, and virtuous, what harm has Janaka's daughter done thee.
Surely, O nefarious one, the banishment of Rama is enough for thee. Why
then dost thou bend thy mind to perpetrate these atrocious sins? O noble
dame, having heard you asking for the banishment of Rama, who had at
first been intended by me for being installed, and who came here
afterwards, I had promised you (his exile alone.) But since, going
beyond that promise of mine, you behold Mithala's daughter dressed in
mendicant garb, surely you wish to find your way to hell." Thus
commissioned to the forest, Rama who was seated sealing his lips,
said,--"O righteous one, this my mother is aged and famous and of a
lofty spirit. May she not meet with improper treatment at your hands! It
behoves you, O bestower of boons, to show greater honor to her when she
shall be deprived of me and be plunged into a sea of grief and afflicted
with unprecedented woe. O you comparable unto the mighty Indra, you
should so behave with my mother smitten with my separation, that
exercised by grief in consequence of my residence in the forest, she may
not, renouncing life, repair to the mansions of Yama."