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

Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [6 He bids Durmukha tell his change of plan to Lakshmaṇa (i. 43¹). Exit Durmukha (i. 44²). Rāma tears himself gently from his sleeping wife (i. 46). His lamentations (i. 46¹—i. 49²). A voice behind the curtain tells him of a danger threatening some of his Brahman subjects from the demon Lavaṇa (i. 50). The voice recalls him to his kingly duty. He resolves to send his brother Śatrughna against the demon (i. 50¹ ᶠ.). With the prayer¹ (i. 50³ ᶠ.), ‘O holy Earth, watch over thy daughter Sītā’, Rāma leaves her and exit. Sītā wakes and finds herself alone (i. 51³). Enters Durmukha (i. 51⁹) and tells her that Lakshmaṇa has the carriage in readiness for her. She rises (i. 51¹¹) to go—as she supposes—with Rāma to the Ganges. Exeunt all. ACT II. DAṆḌAKĀ REVISITED TRANSLATION, PAGES 31–40. Between Act i and Act ii is an interval of twelve years. Scene 1, Interlude (ii. 0¹—ii. 9²). The forest of Daṇḍakā. Vāsantī, the sylvan deity of Daṇḍakā, welcomes, from behind the curtain, Ātreyī, who enters in the habit of a traveller. Vāsantī herself follows (ii. 0⁴). They exchange compliments and fall into a conversation, in the course of which Ātreyī explains why, although studying at Vālmīki’s, she is compelled to travel southwards in search of instruction (ii. 3): because

1. she could not keep pace (ii. 4) with Kuśa and Lava, twins of unknown lineage, of whom Vālmīki is both teacher and foster-father (ii. 3¹³ ᶠᶠ.); and because 2. Vālmīki himself was recently much occupied with the composition of a new poem, the Rāmāyaṇa (ii. 5⁵ ᶠ.). Having rested (ii. 5¹⁰), Ātreyī rises to go, but the incidental mention (ii. 5¹¹) of some places associated with the life of Sītā in the Daṇḍakā arouses painful memories. Vāsantī, ignorant of the happenings in the distant Ayodhyā, makes anxious inquiries. Ātreyī tells her all, including the most recent act of Rāma—his starting out (ii. 8¹ ᶠ.) in search of a Śūdra ascetic, Śambūka, whose austerities² have caused the premature death of a Brahman’s son. As Śambūka is in the Daṇḍakā, Vāsantī ¹ A prayer which did not remain unheard : cp. iii. 2⁶, vii. 18⁹f. ² The law permitted only Brahmans to practise austerities. Śambūka’s doing so was therefore an offence which, if unpunished, might cause trouble in the kingdom.