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

43] Act III, The Shadow — Translation [—iii. 6ᵈ of all that is evil, do thou, with flowers collected by thy own hands, pay thy homage. And as thou wilt tread the surface of the earth—through my sure contrivance (prabhāva)—not even deities shall [be able to] see thee, still less mortals." [Likewise] thus was I commanded : "Tamasā, for you this daughter of Janaka, this [our] dear daughter-in-law, has already con- ceived a great affection; do you, therefore, yourself keep her company." Accordingly I am now going to do what I am bidden. Muralā—And I for my part will [now] unto the exalted Lopāmudrā convey this news. Dear Rāma, I think, is just coming here. Tamasā—And here is she, issuing from the deep basin of the Godāvarī— With her face lovely even in the [very] paleness of its emaciated cheeks and with the braid of hair all dishevelled¹—the very image of Pathos² or like Grief-of-separation incarnate : so unto the woodland goes this daughter of Janaka. 4 Muralā—And this to-be-sure (hi) is she! Her long and remorseless sorrow, parching up the flower of her heart, withers away her body [which is] like a tender sprout torn from its stalk, and all pale and emaciated—as does the autumnal heat the inmost petal of a ketakī flower. 5 Both walk about and go out. END OF INTERLUDE. [Voice,] behind the curtain—O how unfortunate, how unfortunate! Then enters Sītā busied in collecting flowers and listening with pathetic eagerness. Sītā—Ha! I know it is my dear friend Vāsantī that is speaking. [Voice,] behind the curtain— That youngling of an elephant who was [fed] formerly by Queen Sītā with tender śallakī leaves gathered by her own hands, fed as he stood before her fond and expectant— 6 a, b Sītā—[And] what of him ? [Same Voice,] behind the curtain once more— he, sporting in the water in the company of his mate, is busily engaged in combat by a mighty leader of another herd of tuskers, who has in wanton-pride (darpa) assailed him. 6 c, d ¹ A woman in separation does not plait her hair. ² Here, as in several other places, the word Pathos is used in a technical sense. Pathos is one of the eight or nine or ten sentiments that, according to Hindu writers on Rhetoric, should pervade a poetic composition.