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and
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astrologers
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told
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my
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mother that I was destined to live in the
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forest for a while. Can I fulfil this
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prediction alone in the forest? Here is the
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opportunity for me to fulfil it in your
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company which will make the forest a
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garden of delight. For whom is forest life
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unpleasant?
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Only
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to
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those men and
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women who have not controlled their
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senses. You and I can be masters of our
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senses and miss nothing. I implore you,
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put me not away from you, for parting
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from you is more cruel than death."
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There is a strength in supreme love
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which defies reason and laughs at death
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itself. And Rama suffered himself to be
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persuaded, partly because his love was
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great as hers and every passionate word
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she spoke found ready lodgment in his
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heart, and partly because he was confident
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of his ability to protect her. It was settled
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that Sita should accompany Rama to the
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forest.
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She sent for the poor and gave away all
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her belongings and prepared herself for
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life in the forest. Lakshmana also decided
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to go with his brother and be of service to
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him in the forest, and Rama had to agree.
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The three went to take leave of the aged
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King.
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In the streets and on the balconies were
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crowds of people looking on. Through the
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windows
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and
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from
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the
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terraces
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of
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mansions, men and women saw Rama and
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Lakshmana and the princess proceeding
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on foot, like the poorest in the land.
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Filled
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with
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boundless
|
grief
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and
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indignation,
|
the
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people
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said
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to
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one
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another: "What kind of a King is this who
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sends so noble a prince to the forest? And
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their Sita walks a princess that should
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command the service of the royal chariot.
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Can she bear the heat and the rain of the
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forest? This is monstrous! We shall go
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then to the forest too. Let us gather up all
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we have and get away to the forest with
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these princes. The forest where Rama
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dwells shall be our Ayodhya. Let these
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houses
|
here
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henceforth
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deserted
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be
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infested with snakes and rats. Let Kaikeyi
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rule over the ruins of Ayodhya. Wild
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beasts and vultures of the forest will come
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to stay here. This will become a forest,
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and the forest will become Ayodhya."
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Rama heard people talking thus, but
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took no notice. At the entrance to
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Kaikeyi's palace, Rama saw Sumantra
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seated sorrow fully aside in a corner.
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Rama tenderly spoke to him: "The three of
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us have come to meet the King. Sumantra,
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crave leave for us to enter his presence."
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Sumantra
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went,
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in
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accordingly
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to
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announce them to the King. What a sight
|
met him there! Like the sun in eclipse,
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like an oven filled all over with ash, like a
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tank gone dry, the King was stretched flat
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on the floor, his glory gone and his face
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shrunken and distorted with anguish.
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Sumantra, his voice trembling with
|
grief and his hands clasped together, said:
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