Chapter 43 - The lament of Queen Kaushalya

Queen Kaushalya, deeply afflicted by the separation from her son, seeing the king lying on the couch merged in grief, said: “O King, that evil Kaikeyi having discharged her poison on Shri Rama, will wander about at will, like a snake that has cast its slough. That sinful woman, having accomplished her design and sent Rama to the forest will ever inspire me with terror, like a venomous serpent in the home. If her demand had been that Rama should dwell in the city on alms or had she condemned him to be her slave, it were better than exile. She has cast out Rama, as the oblation offered to the asuras is cast away by those who tend the sacrificial fire. The long armed Rama, the wielder of the great bow, walking like the king of elephants, must by now have reached the forest with Sita and Lakshmana. O King, consider how your son Rama, who has never before experienced suffering, is banished by you, urged by Kaikeyi I O What fate will befall them now? Without wealth, exiled in his youth when a king’s happiness should have been his portion, how will he be able to live on roots and berries in the forest? Will the time ever come when I shall see Rama, Lakshmana and Sita return, putting an end to my sorrow? When will that glad day dawn, when the illustrious capital filled with rejoicing crowds, decorated with flags, banners and garlands, welcomes Rama? O will that auspicious hour ever strike, when the citizens hearing of his return will be filled with gladness, like the sea at the time of the full moon? When will Shri Rama with Sita, enter the city, like the bull who, at dusk, preceding the herd of cows, returns to the town. When will the people of the capital, waiting to scatter rice over him, gather in thousands on the highways to welcome Rama, the subduer of his foes? O, when shall I see my sons, resplendent as two mountain peaks, return to Ayodhya, adorned with earrings, bearing the sword and scimitar. When will the two princes, circumambulating the city with Janaki, receive gifts of flowers and fruit from the hands of virgins and brahmins? When will the virtuous and sagacious Rama run towards me, leaping like a child? Surely my love pours forth for him, as the breasts of mothers when suckling their infants. O Great King, because of this, Kaikeyi has increased my love for my child; bereft of him, I am like a cow whose calf has been forcibly carried away by a lion. My only son Rama is versed in all the classics and endowed with every excellent quality; without such a son, I cannot live. O Great King, I cannot sustain life in the absence of my brave and beloved son; the fire of grief caused by the separation from my son is consuming me, as the rays of the sun in summer consume the surface of the earth.”