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

63] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 10ᶜ
Here is another unhappy reversal of circumstances :
That very same person [Kausalyā] that, formerly, was unto me
like an embodiment of festal joy, the sight of her has now become
unendurable, like brine upon an [open] wound! 7
Then enter Arundhatī and Kausalyā and a chamberlain [Gṛishṭi].
Arundhatī—Why, I say, aren’t you directed by your family preceptor
[Vasishṭha] to go in person and see the King of Videha? It was for this
too that I am sent. What means then, at each step, this your extreme lack
of determination?
\ Chamberlain—Queen, compose yourself, I beg you, and follow the direction
of the exalted Vasishṭha.
Kausalyā—That in times like these I should have to see the Lord of
Mithilā [Janaka]—this makes my griefs well up all at once within me:
I am powerless to hold together my heart the roots of which are as if
loosening from their bonds.
Arundhatī—This, no doubt, is quite natural :
Although never [quite] ceasing to flow entirely, the sorrows of
men, caused by separations from dearest relatives, become, at the
sight of some very dear friend, altogether unendurable and as
if in thousands of floods they seem to gush forth. 8
Kausalyā—And how may we—when my dear daughter-in-law [Sītā] has
fared thus—[how may we] look upon the face of her father, the royal
sage?
Arundhatī—And here he is, your noble connexion and the sustainer
of the family of the Janakas—he whom sage Yājñavalkya has
initiated into¹ the knowledge of Brahma. 9
Kausalyā—And this is he who was a delight to the heart of my great King
[Daśaratha]—the father of my dear daughter-in-law [Sītā]—the royal sage.
Ha! I am put in mind of those times when every day brought forth many
an unbidden festivity. Alas, O Fate, that it should be no more!
Janaka, approaching—Exalted Arundhatī! This is Vaideha, the Sīra-
dhvaja,² making homage unto you.
In your company [your husband] regards himself as [more] holy,
although he is himself the store of holy light—your husband who,
of all the gurus of yore, is indeed the supreme guru; with my head
bowing low down to the earth I salute you, the exalted one, who
for the universe (trilokī) are the [very] fountain of its bliss
¹ Literally, to whom he has taught or solemnly ² Literally, one whose banner has the plough
set forth (jagau) the knowledge, as in the as an emblem.
Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad.