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

39] Act II, Daṇḍakā Revisited — Translation [—ii. 28³ Godāvarī reflecting the glory of its sombre trees and the birds filling the skies with their incessant warblings—such is this charming woodland [scenery]. 25 And even here is that Pañchavaṭī every spot in which can bear witness, in the course of our long residence, to those manifold expressions of unreserved endearments, and where my dear wife’s dear friend, Vāsantī, [has her abode]. What then is this that has to-day befallen this Rāma? For now— Like the virulent essence of some poison [dormant hitherto but now] after such a long time diffusing itself all over and causing spasms [of acute pain]--like the splinter of an arrow [imbedded in flesh and smarting now] as when, from some cause or other, it is violently shaken—like a [festering] ulcer overgrown with flesh [on the outside but] bursting open in the very vitals of the heart—even so my [long and so to say] solidified grief [now] unmans me as would a recent [grief]. 26 Still, these friends of old—these landscapes here—I will see. Looking [more] closely. Ha! How changed [now] is the aspect of this region!— Where once was the stream [itself], there now are the sands of the rivers; of the sprouting trees (kshiti-ruh) the denseness and the sparseness have exchanged places:¹ This forest, seen after [such] a long time, seems to me like another [forest]—only the unaltered position of the mountains confirms the idea that it is the same! 27 Alas! Though trying to avoid it, my attachment to Pañchavaṭī forcibly draws me, as it were, towards it. With pathos— [That Pañchavaṭī] wherein, in that [blissful] manner, those days with her I passed, and later, in our home, with long talks about which [Pañchavaṭī] we constantly whiled away our time: alone, now, after being the cause of the loss of his dear [wife], how should Rāma, sinful as he is, visit that very same Pañchavaṭī, or how pass on regardless of it? 28 Śambūka, entering—Victory unto Your Majesty! The exalted Agastya hearing from me of your presence [here], sends this word unto you:— ‘Having in readiness all the auspicious preparations for your welcome, the kindly Lopāmudrā awaits you, as do also all the sages [in our neighbourhood]. Come then: honour us [with your visit]. With your swift Pushpaka you can thereafter return to your country in time for the horse-sacrifice.’ ¹ I. e. where the trees were dense, now they are sparse, and vice versa.