Ayodhya Kaanda
79 - Sri Rama greets the Yamuna; love of the villagers
Chaupais
Description
Overmastered by love the women felt as uneasy as the female Cakravaka bird does at evening time. Reflecting on the tender lotus-like feet of the princes and the rough road they were required to tread, the women said in polite phrase with their heart stirred with deep feeling, "At the touch of their soft and rosy soles the earth shrinks even as our hearts. If the Lord of the universe chose to exile them into the woods, why did He not at the same time strew their path with flowers? If we can secure from Heaven the boon of our asking, let us keep these princes, O friend, within the lids of our eyes." Those men and women, who did not come in time, were unable to behold Sita and Rama. Hearing of their exquisite beauty they anxiously asked: "How far, brother, must have they gone by now?" The stronger of them ran on and saw the princes, and returned triumphant, attaining the end of their existence