My instant death would be,

As blossoms on the old bamboo

Destroy the parent tree.[313]

If aught amiss by Ráma done

Offend thee, O thou wicked one,

What least transgression canst thou find

In her, thou worst of womankind?

What shade of fault in her appears,

Whose full soft eye is like the deer's?

What canst thou blame in Janak's child,