SECTION XLI.
When that foremost of men had gone out of the city with joined hands, there arose a chorus of cries proceeding from the females residing in the inner apartment. "Where goeth he that was the stay and refuge of the friendless, the feeble, and the helpless? He that although falsely accused, used not to be moved by anger, who pacified every enraged person by renouncing things calculated to fan anger and who felt equally for all, where goeth he? Where goeth that highly energetic and magnanimous one who conducted himself with us as he did with his mother Kauçalyā? Afflicted by Kaikeyi and commissioned by the monarch unto the woods, where goeth the deliverer of these people—of the entire world? Ah! the senseless monarch is sending to the woods the stay of all creatures—the righteous and truthful Rāma." Thus all the queens, oppressed with grief, burst out into lamentations like kine bereft of calves, and loud was the sound of their wailing. Hearing the loud tumult of lamentation in the inner apartment, the lord of earth burning in grief for his son was striken with sorrow. And oblations unto the fire had not been offered; and the Sun set; and elephants forsook their forage; and the kine did not suckle their calves. Trisanku, Lohitānga, Vrihashpati, Budha and the other Grahas getting at the Moon, remained with fierce aspects. The stars are shorn of their brightness; the Grahas deprived of sheen; and Viçakhā appeareth enveloped in haze. And clouds driven by the wind resembled the sea mounting the welkin; and the city shook on Rāma having departed for the forest. And the cardinal points are distressed, and appear enveloped in darkness. And no planet or star is to be seen. And all of a sudden the citizens have been striken with poverty: and no one turns his thoughts to eating or drinking. And ceaselessly burning in grief and heaving sighs, the people in Ayodhyā rage at the monarch. And with their faces washed in tears, the wayfarers betoken no delight, but all are being exercised with grief. And the cool air does not blow, and no moon of mild appearance is seen, and no sun heats the world, all the entire Earth is overwhelmed with woe. And sons depend not upon their parents, hurbands on their wives, and brothers on brothers; and all forsaking each other, think of Rāma only. And deprived of sense, and oppressed by the load of sorrow, the friends of Rāma forsook their rest. Like the Earth with her mountains bereft of Purandara, Ayodhyā, bereft of Rāma, shook, agitated by fear and grief; and the citizens with elephants and warriors uttered exclamations of distress.