When that foremost of men had gone out of the city with joined hands,
there arose a chorus of cries proceeding from the females residing in
the inner apartment. "Where goeth he that was the stay and refuge of the
friendless, the feeble, and the helpless? He that although falsely
accused, used not to be moved by anger, who pacified every enraged
person by renouncing things calculated to fan anger and who felt equally
for all, where goeth he? Where goeth that highly energetic and
magnanimous one who conducted himself with us as he did with his mother
Kaucalya? Afflicted by Kaikeyi and commissioned by the monarch unto the
woods, where goeth the deliverer of these people--of the entire world?
Ah! the senseless monarch is sending to the woods the stay of all
creatures--the righteous and truthful Rama." Thus all the queens,
oppressed with grief, burst out into lamentations like kine bereft of
calves, and loud was the sound of their wailing. Hearing the loud tumult
of lamentation in the inner apartment, the lord of earth burning in
grief for his son was striken with sorrow. And oblations unto the fire
had not been offered; and the Sun set; and elephants forsook their
forage; and the kine did not suckle their calves. Trisanku, Lohitanga,
Vrihashpati, Budha and the other Grahas getting at the Moon, remained
with fierce aspects. The stars are shorn of their brightness; the Grahas
deprived of sheen; and Vicakha appeareth enveloped in haze. And clouds
driven by the wind resembled the sea mounting the welkin; and the city
shook on Rama having departed for the forest. And the cardinal points
are distressed, and appear enveloped in darkness. And no planet or star
is to be seen. And all of a sudden the citizens have been striken with
poverty: and no one turns his thoughts to eating or drinking. And
ceaselessly burning in grief and heaving sighs, the people in Ayodhya
rage at the monarch. And with their faces washed in tears, the wayfarers
betoken no delight, but all are being exercised with grief. And the cool
air does not blow, and no moon of mild appearance is seen, and no sun
heats the world, all the entire Earth is overwhelmed with woe. And sons
depend not upon their parents, hurbands on their wives, and brothers on
brothers; and all forsaking each other, think of Rama only. And deprived
of sense, and oppressed by the load of sorrow, the friends of Rama
forsook their rest. Like the Earth with her mountains bereft of
Purandara, Ayodhya, bereft of Rama, shook, agitated by fear and grief;
and the citizens with elephants and warriors uttered exclamations of
distress.