Rama Vijaya

82 Kamavijaya.

me what I wanted to enjoy, and I told him that I liked
to pass four or five days in a forest, eat kandamuls there
and sleep on -the bed of trana. I think, for the same
purpose 'he is going to send me with you. Let us start.
I am quite -ready/ Listening to what Sita had said
Lakshuman felt much, and shed tears for Her. Soon
nfter, Lakshuman seated her IB a chariot near the riyer,
Janavi, and began to drive it, when she observed bad
omens and asked him what those omens indicated. Lak-
shuman, overwhelmed with grief, could not utter a sylla-
ble and quietly drove the chariot. When she found him
<]uiet and in grief, she said to him, " Why are you so
sorry ? Why don't you speak with me ?" Lakshuman
still kept quiet and, -crossing the river in a boat, landed
her in the forest., where there was no human being and
•it was inhabited by lions, serpents, tigers, and other ani-
mals. She asked Lakshuman, tc Where .are the abodes
of Rishis ?•*' jLakslmman did not -reply ; but, making a
bed o-f grass, he seated her on it. He then fell at her
feet and said with tears in his eyes, " Mother, Kama has
left you alone in this forest. I have brought you here,
as I could not disobey him." 'No sooner did Lakshuman.
speak these words than she fainted. While she was
insensible, Lakshumaa prayed to the goddess of the
forest and every creature in it to protect her and started
for Ayodya. When he went some paces off, Sita came
to herself and, standing on her legs, loudly exclaimed,
*' 0 ! Lakshuman, kindly return and take me back. Why-
do you leave me here without any faults on my part ?
Kill me and tell Rama of it. Where shall I go in this
dreary forest." So saying she violently cried so much
so that even trees and stones shed tears for her. Lakshu-
man returned to Ayodya and told Rama all about Sita.
Sita wandered in the forest barefooted. She had no shel-
ter there. She often fainted. She said to herself, "It