Baal Kaanda
45 - Sri Rama's visit to Janaka's garden; Rama and Sita catch sight of each other
Chaupais
Description
Hearing the tinkling of bangles, the small bells tied round the waist and the anklets Sri Rama thought within Himself and then said to Laksmana, "It seems as if Cupid has sounded his kettledrum with intent to conquer the universe." So saying, He looked once again in the same direction (whence the sound came); and lo ! His eyes feasted themselves on Sita's countenance even as the Cakora bird gazes on the moon. His charming eyes became motionless, as if Nimi* (the god of winking) had left the eyelids out of shyness. Sri Rama was filled with rapture to behold Sita's beauty; He admired it in His heart, but utterance failed Him. He felt as if the Creator had put his whole creative skill in visible form and demonstrated it to the world at large. "She lends charm to charm itself," He said to Himself, "and looks as if a flame of light is burning in a house of beauty. The similes already employed by the poets are all stale and hackneyed; to whom shall I liken the daughter of Videha?"