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

91] Act VI, Princes Recognized — Translation [—vi. 36³ Rāma—Repeat [them], my dear boy. Kuśa—“It was her nature that made Sītā dear unto Rāma’s mighty heart; but she endeared herself all the more unto him by reason of her [good] qualities. 31 So also was Rāma unto Sītā dearer than her very life: only their heart knows the extent of each other’s affection.” 32 Rāma—Alas! Exceedingly cruel is this blow upon the very vitals of my heart! Ha, Queen! So indeed it then was! Oh, how tormenting are these affairs of the world—fraught¹ with capricious reverses [of fortune], extremely painful, and all terminating in void phantoms! Where now is that joy which, springing from an absolute [mutual] confidence, knew no bounds? Where that mutual assiduousness [for each other’s comfort], and where those fathomless charms of novelty? In pleasure or in pain where indeed [can I now find] that unison of hearts?—and yet this my cursed heart (prāṇa) does continue to beat and will not cease! 33 Woe and alas!— That period wherein were revealed to me, as in one flash, those [hundreds and] thousands of my dear [Sītā’s] charms—of that period beset with painful memories, the memory recurs to me now. 34 For then, little by little, each succeeding day leaving its mark upon them, the breasts of my fawn-eyed [Sītā] kept expanding slowly like a bud; and then also it was that, strengthened by the concord of our age and our love and our longings, the God of Love had his opportunity (sphurati) to rage freely in our hearts, but demurely in the outward-expression (vapushi). 35 Lava—Here is another stanza² addressed by the Lord of the Raghus unto the Queen Sītā in the course of their pleasure-trip in the outskirts [vana] of the Chitrakūṭa [mountain] close by the [river] Mandākinī.— “As if set purposely for thee, here in front is this slab of stone; all around it this kesara tree has rained as it were a rain of flowers!” 36 Rāma, with a bashful smile and a mixture of love and pathos—Children are indeed artlessly-simple, especially if they be forest-bred. Alas, Queen! Dost thou remember what transports of unreserved endearments we did then have? Alas, alas! ¹ Or, devoid of all real relations, positive or ² See Rāmāyaṇa, Bombay recension, the extra negative. canto after ii. 95, stanzas 5–6.