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

i. 42¹—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [28
Alas, my Queen, who hast uprisen from the [very] sacrificial ground of the
Gods! Who by thy birth hast graciously purified [the womb of] the Earth!
Who hast been a joy to Janaka and [the whole race of] Nimi!¹ O thou
whose character [even] Fire and Vasiṣṭha and Arundhatī have commended!
Thou to whom Rāma is life and all! Thou the dear companion of my
residence in the great wilderness [of Daṇḍakā]! Dear unto my [honoured]
father! Sweet and measured in thy words! How is it that of one like
thee such here should be the fate?—
Through thee [are] the worlds holy—unholy [are] the world’s
rumours about thee! Thou art the world’s protection—without
protector thou wilt [now] perish! 43
Go, Durmukha, say unto Lakshmaṇa: This is what thy new King, Rāma,
commands thee. In his ear [whispers] so and so.
Durmukha—And wherefore [unto the Queen] whose purity has been
attested by the fire-ordeal and who bears in her womb the [hopes of the]
continuance of this holy race of Raghu—[wherefore] unto a queen, on base
wretches’ words, has Your Majesty resolved to mete out such treatment?
Rāma—Peace! The people of my city and my country—base wretches?
Ikshvāku’s race hath [ever] been beloved of the people: and [yet
in it] hath arisen, as Fate will have it, an occasion of scandal.
And as for that miraculous event at the time when the Queen was
cleared [by the ordeal]—who will believe it, since it took place
[in Laṅkā] so far away? 44
Go therefore.
Durmukha—Alas, Queen! Exit.
Rāma—Woe and alas! Detestable in my actions—a savage—have I been!
From childhood on, with kind cares (priyaiḥ), to her wants have
I ministered—my dearest, who in her love hath naught but me on
whom to rest: her I am treacherously handing over to Death, as
does a butcher his pet house-bird! 45
Wherefore then should I—the untouchable criminal—[yet continue to]
pollute the Queen [by my touch]? Gently uplifts Sītā’s head, withdrawing
his arm.
[Me,] an outcaste whose deeds it were hard to match, let me go,
thou artlessly-innocent one! Thou hast clung, mistaking it for
a sandal-tree, to what is only a poison-tree with fruit of bane. 46
Rising. Alas! [to me] topsy-turvy now is this world of life. Ended is the
life-purpose of Rāma. A void, now, a wasted wilderness, is the universe.
Robbed-of-its-charms is my existence [hereafter]. My body a mere abode
¹ Ancestor of Sītā’s father, Janaka.