DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0514
RAMA'S MISSION FULFILLED 427
him before Rama, but for a time she refused to do so.
The sage pleaded with her, and at length she walked
forth from the hermitage with downcast eyes and hands
uplifted. In the presence of Rama and the people she
then invoked the Earth, and cried:
If unstained in thought and action I have lived from day of
birth,
Spare a daughter's shame and anguish and receive her, Mother
Earth!
If in duty and devotion I have laboured undefiled,
Mother Earth! who bore this woman, once again receive thy
child!
If in truth unto my husband I have proved a faithful wife,
Mother Earth! relieve thy Sita from the burden of this life!
R. C. Dutt's trans.
When she had spoken thus, all who heard her wept
and sorrowed. And while they gazed upon her with pity
and tenderness, the earth suddenly yawned, and from its
depths arose a golden throne sparkling with gems and
supported by four great serpents, as a rose is supported
by green leaves. Then the Earth Mother appeared and
hailed Sita with loving words, and led her to the throne,
on which she seated herself beside her sinless daughter,
the faithful and undefiled wife of Rama. . . . The throne
thereafter vanished and the earth closed over it.
So passed Sita from before the eyes of all mankind.
Rama flung himself upon the ground in an agony of
sorrow. But Brahma appeared and spake to him, saying:
"Why dost thou despair, O Lord of all? Well thou
knowest that life is but a dream, a bubble of water. . . ."
Rama, however, even after the Aswamedha had been
performed, continued to mourn until the Celestial bird
him before Rama, but for a time she refused to do so.
The sage pleaded with her, and at length she walked
forth from the hermitage with downcast eyes and hands
uplifted. In the presence of Rama and the people she
then invoked the Earth, and cried:
If unstained in thought and action I have lived from day of
birth,
Spare a daughter's shame and anguish and receive her, Mother
Earth!
If in duty and devotion I have laboured undefiled,
Mother Earth! who bore this woman, once again receive thy
child!
If in truth unto my husband I have proved a faithful wife,
Mother Earth! relieve thy Sita from the burden of this life!
R. C. Dutt's trans.
When she had spoken thus, all who heard her wept
and sorrowed. And while they gazed upon her with pity
and tenderness, the earth suddenly yawned, and from its
depths arose a golden throne sparkling with gems and
supported by four great serpents, as a rose is supported
by green leaves. Then the Earth Mother appeared and
hailed Sita with loving words, and led her to the throne,
on which she seated herself beside her sinless daughter,
the faithful and undefiled wife of Rama. . . . The throne
thereafter vanished and the earth closed over it.
So passed Sita from before the eyes of all mankind.
Rama flung himself upon the ground in an agony of
sorrow. But Brahma appeared and spake to him, saying:
"Why dost thou despair, O Lord of all? Well thou
knowest that life is but a dream, a bubble of water. . . ."
Rama, however, even after the Aswamedha had been
performed, continued to mourn until the Celestial bird