In the cottage, on the walls were mighty bows and quivers full of deadly arrows,
swords which seemed to radiate victory and other weapons all of superlative excellence.
They saw also, spread out to dry on the branches of trees, garments of bark. Bharata
beheld all these sure signs of his brothers' residence in the hermitage with a swelling
heart.
From inside came smoke from the oblations
of daily worship, and entering, Bharata saw the altar with its blazing fire and Raama
himself seated by it with matted locks, majestic, though in deer-skin and bark, a ruler of
the world, with his mighty arms, breadth of chest and a countenance made to command love
and obedience, By him were Seeta and Lakshmana. He had been thinking all the time of
the infamy that had gathered on his head, and wondering what to say and what to do when he
met Raama. |
