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

iii. 6¹—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [44
Sītā, in flurry advancing a few steps—To his succour, Noble my Lord,
to the succour of my fondling! Recollecting, and with dejection. Alas,
alas! Those same long-familiar words, at the sight of [this] Pañchavaṭī,
come up to my lips—unhappy that I am! Alas, my noble Lord! Swoons.
Tamasā, entering—Look up! Courage, my child!
[Voice,] behind the curtain—[Stay,] thou best of aerial cars, stay right
here!
Sītā, recovering, with trepidations of joy—Ha! Like a swollen rain-
cloud’s tremulous roar, deep and massive, whence now is this thrilling
voice which, as it fills the hollows of my ears, quickly brings even me, the
luckless one, back to life?
Tamasā, with a tearful smile—What now, my darling?
At this sound, indistinct and coming thou knowest not whence,
here art thou standing thus startled and eager—as might a pea-
hen at a thundering cloud! 7
Sītā—‘Indistinct’—does your ladyship say? [No.] By the tone of voice
I do recognize that it is my noble Lord himself who is saying this.
Tamasā—It has [indeed] come to our ears that, for laying chastisement
upon a Śūdra practising penance, the Royal descendant of Ikshvāku has
come to Janasthāna.
Sītā—It is happy that [he] fails not in [the discharge of] his kingly
duties—the King!
[Voice,] behind the curtain—
Where trees no less than the deer were my comrades; where long
in the company of my beloved I have stayed: here, along the margin
of the Godāvarī, are those very same mountain-slopes with many
a cave and waterfall. 8
Sītā, observing—Alas! How now? [Is this then,] like the orb of the
moon at daybreak, wan and weak and wasted in his look, and only
through his own proper mild and serene grandeur recognizable—is this
then none other than my noble Lord? [Honoured Tamasā] lend me now
your support. Falls in Tamasā’s arms, overwhelmed with emotion.
Tamasā, supporting [her]—Take heart, my child, take heart!
[Voice,] behind the curtain—Through this sight of Pañchavaṭī—
Of the fire of my grief [long] dormant within and now about to
blaze forth wildly, this gloom is as it were the column of smoke
that, as a precursor [of the coming fire], is now enveloping me. 9
Alas, my dearest! Thou daughter of Janaka!
Tamasā, to herself—This it was that the [kind] elders had also dreaded.
Sītā, recovering herself—Ha! How comes this?