As Rama walked towards Panchavati his left eye twitched, he stumbled and his body quivered. Hounded by doubts of Sita's safety, he reached the cottage only to find it silent and empty. To Rama's mind came the many omens of ill that he had felt and seen. His heart stilled for a moment, "What could have happened to Sita!" he wondered. In the forest even birds and beasts hung their heads, oppressed by a sorrow that seemed to shroud them. A profound sorrow pervaded the green glades and thickets of the jungle, even the forest deities seemed to have forsaken their homes. Rama saw the deer skin and reeds that Sita had offered Ravana as they lay scattered and the disarray seemed symbolic. The signs were ominous and despair gripped him. "Sita must have been stolen by a rakshasa or perhaps having lost her way is hiding from the marauding demons." As many doubts raced through Rama's mind his handsome face was ravaged and his grief stricken mind tottered on the brink of insanity. Rama ran from tree to tree, from mountain to mountain and from river to river, in a delirium, hoping to find Sita. Renowned in the three worlds for his might and invincibility, Rama for once lost his composure and began to ask even the wild beasts and silent trees if they had seen Sita! "Tell me Kadamba, have you seen my beautiful Sita, who loved you so? And you Asoka, known as the allayer of sorrows, wont you drive away my sorrow? And you Bilva, have you seen my charming consort who wears yellow silks and whose skin is as soft and smooth as your tender leaves? Perhaps you can tell me if that timid woman is still alive?" Though every tree remained silent, they too seemed to weep with him in their silence! A deer appeared and Rama quickly went up to it saying, "The trees refuse to reveal news of Sita. With her doe like eyes, she has perhaps merged into your flock." Without waiting for an answer, Rama ran after an elephant that he spotted, "You are a brave one, tell me without fear, what you know of Sita, did you happen to see her?" Deluded into believing that Sita flitted between trees and that he could catch glimpses of her yellow silks, Rama vacillated between hope and fear, as he tried to take hold of himself. Imagining dreadful rakshasas tearing at Sita's slender throat and her dainty arms, driven to distraction, he cried out, "To be food for the rakshasas, Sita has deserted me! Bring her back Lakshmana!
Summary
As Rama walked towards Panchavati his left eye twitched, he stumbled and his body quivered. Hounded by doubts of Sita's safety, he reached the cottage only to find it silent and empty. To Rama's mind came the many omens of ill that he had felt and seen. His heart stilled for a moment, "What could have happened to Sita!" he wondered. In the forest even birds and beasts hung their heads, oppressed by a sorrow that seemed to shroud them. A profound sorrow pervaded the green glades and thickets of the jungle, even the forest deities seemed to have forsaken their homes. Rama saw the deer skin and reeds that Sita had offered Ravana as they lay scattered and the disarray seemed symbolic. The signs were ominous and despair gripped him. "Sita must have been stolen by a rakshasa or perhaps having lost her way is hiding from the marauding demons." As many doubts raced through Rama's mind his handsome face was ravaged and his grief stricken mind tottered on the brink of insanity. Rama ran from tree to tree, from mountain to mountain and from river to river, in a delirium, hoping to find Sita. Renowned in the three worlds for his might and invincibility, Rama for once lost his composure and began to ask even the wild beasts and silent trees if they had seen Sita! "Tell me Kadamba, have you seen my beautiful Sita, who loved you so? And you Asoka, known as the allayer of sorrows, wont you drive away my sorrow? And you Bilva, have you seen my charming consort who wears yellow silks and whose skin is as soft and smooth as your tender leaves? Perhaps you can tell me if that timid woman is still alive?" Though every tree remained silent, they too seemed to weep with him in their silence! A deer appeared and Rama quickly went up to it saying, "The trees refuse to reveal news of Sita. With her doe like eyes, she has perhaps merged into your flock." Without waiting for an answer, Rama ran after an elephant that he spotted, "You are a brave one, tell me without fear, what you know of Sita, did you happen to see her?" Deluded into believing that Sita flitted between trees and that he could catch glimpses of her yellow silks, Rama vacillated between hope and fear, as he tried to take hold of himself. Imagining dreadful rakshasas tearing at Sita's slender throat and her dainty arms, driven to distraction, he cried out, "To be food for the rakshasas, Sita has deserted me! Bring her back Lakshmana!