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

iv. 21⁸—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [68 How strange! Not only in the build of his body, which is dark and resplendent like a half-opened blue lotus—nor again only in his voice, that has the prolonged resonance of the sonorous notes of a swan whose throat is mellowed (kasāa) by feeding on lotus filaments—does he take after our dear Rāma; even the very touch of his body, smooth like the interior of a full-grown lotus, has the same quality. Let me look at thy face a while, my darling! Raises his chin and observes him closely; then with tears and as-if-trying-to-divine-some-hidden-secret (sākūtam). And don't you also mark it, Royal sage? Narrowly observed, does he not [also] show resemblance to the moon-like face of [Sītā] my dear daughter-in-law? Janaka—I mark it, friend, I mark it. Kausalyā—Forsooth! My heart, as if in madness, dreams of things impossible, and wanders far, far astray! Janaka—In this boy here is plainly visible [the contour] of my daughter as well as of [Rāma,] that eminent scion of Raghu: it is as if all perfectly mirrored in him—that very same form, that grandeur, that voice, that inborn modesty, and even that selfsame divine lustre. Alas, alas, Fate! Wherefore is it that my mind should now run waywardly into devious paths? 22 Kausalyā—Darling, Hast thou a mother? Dost thou remember thy father? Lava—No. Kausalyā—Whose [son] art thou then? Lava—The exalted Vālmīki's. Kausalyā—Why, my darling! Say that [at least] which may be said.¹ Lava—This is all I know. [Voice,] behind the curtain—Hey ho, soldiers! This is what Prince Chandraketu commands: 'Let no one trespass on the ground sacred to (abhyarṇa) the hermitage!' Arundhatī and Janaka—Ah! Following—as its guard—the track of the sacrificial horse, it is dear Chandraketu that we shall see to-day—What a happy day this! Kausalyā—'The son of our dear Lakshmaṇa commands'—these words that I hear are [indeed] sweet like drops of nectar! Lava—Noble Sir, who is he—this Chandraketu? Janaka—Knowest thou Rāma and Lakshmaṇa, the sons of Daśaratha? Lava—The same that are the heroes of the Rāmāyaṇa? Janaka—The same. Lava—Why, then of course I know them. ¹ Vālmīki, of course, never married.