"Cheated by your face I thought you a woman and took you for my wife. Like a
deluded man, tempted by the flavour of poisoned wine, I was lured by your beauty into
marrying you. Like a deer ensnared by a hunter, I am caught in your net and perish. Like a
drunken Braahmana in the streets I shall be universally despised. What boons have you
demanded? Boons that for ever will taint the fame of our dynasty with the ignominy of
lustful dotage that drove an old fool to the banishment of a beloved and peerless son.
"If I tell Raama to go to the forest,
yes, he will cheerfully obey and go to the forest. Myself and then Kausalya and Sumitra
will die. How will you enjoy the kingdom thus secured, O sinful, foolish woman? |
