उत्तररामचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - संस्कृत मूल एवं हिन्दी व्याख्या)

—III. 1] UTTARARĀMACHARITA. 211 Act III. (Then enter two Rivers). One (River nymph) — Friend Muralā, why do you look to be in haste? Muralā — Friend Tamasā, I am sent by Lopāmudrā, the wife of the sage Agastya, to the best of rivers, the Godāvarī, to deliver this message — You know how since the abandonment of his wife, (Verse 1) The grief of Rāma, not manifest on account of his profundity but causing secret and acute pain inside, is like a drug boiled in a closed pot. And by that long continuance of sorrow produced by a calamity happening to such a beloved person, which has now gone to excess, good Rāma is now exceedingly wasted. On beholding him my heart is as it were shaken to its very centre (stem or root), moreover, now that good Rāma is returning, he must certainly behold in the Panchavati wood those regions which witnessed the affectionate confidences between him and his wife, produced by dwelling together, and although good Rāma is firm by nature, still owing to the violent agitation caused by his excessive and overwhelming sorrow which must arise in such circumstances, at every step serious occasions of mishaps are to be apprehended for him in such places. Therefore venerable Godāvarī, thou shouldst be on the watch: (Verse 2). In every fit of distraction that comes upon good Rāma, refresh his life with breezes from thy waves, sent up gently, cool with particles of spray, carrying with them the scent of lotus filaments. Tamasā — This kindness is but fitting for affection that Lopāmudrā has for Rāma, but a radical means of reviving good Rāma is at hand to-day. Muralā — How do you mean? Tamasā — Listen. When long ago Lakshmaṇa had gone after abandoning Sītā in the neighbourhood of Vālmīki's penance-grove, the queen Sītā, when she found that the throes of child-birth had come upon her, threw herself into the stream of the Gangā on account of the extreme violence of grief. And there at that very instant she gave birth to two boys, and, being favoured by the venerable Earth and Gangā, was taken to the nether world, and after they had been weaned the goddess Gangā in person committed her two boys to the care of the great sage Prāchetasa (Vālmīki).