"Proud of having kept your word and happy in young Kaikeyi's approval and
gratification, have you any thought for others? You have been my world and my god, my joy
in this world and my hope for the next and you have forsaken me. My son, the light of my
life, has been wrenched away from me and banished. I live here alone, old, helpless
woman, without the love of my lord or the sight of my only son. Was ever a woman left more
desolate? But you-are you not delighted with what you have done?
"It is enough for you that Kaikeyi and
Bharata are happy. You need not entertain any fear that Raama will mar that happiness,
even if he returned from the forest after fourteen years. He will not touch the kingdom
once ruled by Bharata. The tiger does not touch the leavings of another animal's. Like a
fish, eating its offspring, you have killed your own child." |
