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

vi. 27²—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [90 such here are the looks and the age and the prowess of these two [boys]. Now as to the missiles being self-revealed to them, let me see: Can it really be that the permission which, in the course of our viewing those pictures, I gave unto the missiles has had its effect? For, even in the case of the ancients, we never have heard of any missiles obtained without a [formal] handing over. There is also this my heart’s extreme joy-and-sorrow that affords to my wavering mind [further] assurance. Often had I perceived that it was twins that the Queen would bring forth. With tears: In those days gone by, when our love, once formed, had grown with the growth of familiarity, I was the first, with the practised feel of my hand, to discover, in the confidence of privacy—her eyes lowered nevertheless in her inborn bashfulness—that it was twins that were in store for her. It was some days later that she discovered it. 28 Weeps. Shall I then, in some way or other, ask them [directly]? Lava—What can this mean, Father? Unto this face that is as a blessing to the world, with this shower of tears, you are lending the beauty of a white lotus glistening [lit. besprinkled] with dew-drops. 29 Kuśa—But don’t you see, my dear boy?— Without his Queen, Sītā, to the Lord of the Raghus what thing is there that may not be painful? For, with the loss of one’s beloved, the whole world, it is said, becomes a wilderness! On the one hand, that [extreme] degree of love, and here, on the other, is this separation that is endless! Why askest thou thus then, as if thou hadst never studied the Rāmāyaṇa? 30 Rāma, to himself—Oh, they talk as if the matter did not concern them: no need therefore of asking any [direct] question. Thou wretched heart! What means this thy sudden transport of emotion? Not being able to contain within me the anguish of my heart, I am commiserated even by these boys! Well, I will change the topic. Aloud. There is current, my dear boys, a report about what they call ‘Rāmāyaṇa’, a panegyric of the Solar race, the outpouring of the exalted Vālmīki’s learning-and- eloquence (Sarasvatī). I wish, therefore, out of curiosity, to hear some part of it. Kuśa—That entire story is [quite] familiar to us. Here, to begin with (tāvat), are these two stanzas,¹ coming in a chapter at the end of the ‘Bālacharita’, that rise into my memory. ¹ The Calcutta recension of the Rāmāyaṇa the other recensions the readings differ. gives these very stanzas near the end of See Notes. the Bāla-kāṇḍa (Gorresio, i. 78¹³–¹⁵); in