महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

i. 42¹—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [28 Alas, my Queen, who hast uprisen from the [very] sacrificial ground of the Gods! Who by thy birth hast graciously purified [the womb of] the Earth! Who hast been a joy to Janaka and [the whole race of] Nimi!¹ O thou whose character [even] Fire and Vasiṣṭha and Arundhatī have commended! Thou to whom Rāma is life and all! Thou the dear companion of my residence in the great wilderness [of Daṇḍakā]! Dear unto my [honoured] father! Sweet and measured in thy words! How is it that of one like thee such here should be the fate?— Through thee [are] the worlds holy—unholy [are] the world’s rumours about thee! Thou art the world’s protection—without protector thou wilt [now] perish! 43 Go, Durmukha, say unto Lakshmaṇa: This is what thy new King, Rāma, commands thee. In his ear [whispers] so and so. Durmukha—And wherefore [unto the Queen] whose purity has been attested by the fire-ordeal and who bears in her womb the [hopes of the] continuance of this holy race of Raghu—[wherefore] unto a queen, on base wretches’ words, has Your Majesty resolved to mete out such treatment? Rāma—Peace! The people of my city and my country—base wretches? Ikshvāku’s race hath [ever] been beloved of the people: and [yet in it] hath arisen, as Fate will have it, an occasion of scandal. And as for that miraculous event at the time when the Queen was cleared [by the ordeal]—who will believe it, since it took place [in Laṅkā] so far away? 44 Go therefore. Durmukha—Alas, Queen! Exit. Rāma—Woe and alas! Detestable in my actions—a savage—have I been! From childhood on, with kind cares (priyaiḥ), to her wants have I ministered—my dearest, who in her love hath naught but me on whom to rest: her I am treacherously handing over to Death, as does a butcher his pet house-bird! 45 Wherefore then should I—the untouchable criminal—[yet continue to] pollute the Queen [by my touch]? Gently uplifts Sītā’s head, withdrawing his arm. [Me,] an outcaste whose deeds it were hard to match, let me go, thou artlessly-innocent one! Thou hast clung, mistaking it for a sandal-tree, to what is only a poison-tree with fruit of bane. 46 Rising. Alas! [to me] topsy-turvy now is this world of life. Ended is the life-purpose of Rāma. A void, now, a wasted wilderness, is the universe. Robbed-of-its-charms is my existence [hereafter]. My body a mere abode ¹ Ancestor of Sītā’s father, Janaka.