Ayodhya Kaanda
64 - Dialogue between king Dasaratha and Kaikeyi; Dasaratha's lamentation; Sumantra goes to the palace and, returning from it, sends Sri Rama to His father
Chaupais
Description
So saying, the wicked woman rose and stood up as though it were a swollen stream of passion that had issued from the mountain of sin and, overflowing with the water of anger, was too terrible to look at. The two boons she had asked for represented its banks, her inexorable obstinacy corresponded to its (swift) current and the impelling force of Manthara's words stood for its eddies; uprooting the king like a tree the river headed towards the ocean of adversity. The king now perceived that the demand of the queen was really true, and that it was death itself which was dancing over his head in the disguise of his own consort. Clasping her feet he persuaded her to sit down and implored her, "Pray do not play the axe with respect to the solar race. Ask of me my own head and I will forthwith give it to you; but kill me not by tearing Rama from me. Retain Rama by any means whatsoever, or your bosom will burn with anguish all your life."