Baal Kaanda
56 - The wedding of Sita and Rama and Their farewell
Chhands
Description
They began to love Sri Rama's lotus-feet; their whole frame was thrilled with emotion. The sounds of singing and kettledrums and shouts of victory in the heavens as well as in the city overflowed as it were in all direction . The lotus-feet that ever sparkle in the lake of Siva's bosom, by thinking of which even for once the mind gets purified and all the impurities of the Kali age are driven away, by whose touch the sage Gautama's wife, who was full of sin, attained salvation, whose nectar in the form of the river Ganga adorns Sambhu's head and is declared by the gods as the holiest of the holy, and by resorting to which with their bee-like minds sages and mystics attain the goal of their liking, it is those very feet that the most lucky Janaka washed amidst shouts of victory from all corners. Joining the palms of the Bride and the Bridegroom, both the family priests recited the genealogy of the two families; and perceiving that the Bridegroom had accepted the Bride's hand, Brahma and the other divinities as well as men and sages were filled with delight. As the king and queen gazed on the Bridegroom, who was the very fountain of joy, the hair on their body stood erect, while their heart was filled with rapture. And having gone through all the rites sanctioned either by the Vedas or by family usage, the glorious King Janaka gave his Daughter to the Bridegroom. As Himavan gave away Girija to the great Lord Siva, and the deity presiding over seas bestowed Sri on Hari, so did Janaka give Sita to Rama and thereby earned fair renown of an unprecedented character. King Videha (Janaka) was unable to make any supplication, since that Prince (Sri Rama) of swarthy complexion had justified his name (Videha) by making him forget everything about his body. When oblations had been offered to the sacred fire with due rite, the ends of garments of the Bride and the Bridegroom were tied together (as a token of their indissoluble union) and the couple began to circumambulate the fire (in order to show that the two had been united in the presence of the fire-god as a witness).