Baal Kaanda
56 - The wedding of Sita and Rama and Their farewell
Chaupais
Description
Having got all the equipage arranged in the order mentioned above, Janaka had everything despatched to Ayodhya. When the queens heard that the bridegrooms' party was about to start, they all felt miserable even as fish when faced with shortage of water. Again and again they took Sita in their lap and blessed and exhorted her in the following words: "May you be ever beloved of your lord, and may you live long with him: this is our blessing. Serve the parents of your husband and other elders and do the bidding of your lord according to his pleasure." In their excess of loves Sita's clever companions too taught her the duties of a housewife in soft accents. The queens politely admonished all the other princesses too and clasped them to their bosom again and again; and as the mothers embraced their daughters time and again, they exclaimed, "Why did Brahma ever create a woman?"