Go at once and fetch Rama here, and when you come back, you can ask what the matter is.’ Judging (from his master’s looks) that the king approved of this idea, Sumantra left; he guessed that the queen had contrived some wicked scheme.

He felt so distressed with anxiety that his legs refused to move. ‘What,’ he thought, ‘will the king say to Rama, now that he has sent for him?’ Then he took courage and repaired to the palace gate. Seeing him disconsolate, all began to ask the cause.

He reassured them all and proceeded to the apartment where was the ornament of the Solar race (Rama). When Rama saw Sumantra coming, he received him with the same honour that he would have shown to his father.

He looked on Rama’s face and conveyed to him the royal command and returned with the light of the house of Raghu. When the people saw Rama following the minister so unceremoniously, they began to grieve wherever they were.

The jewel of Raghu’s race went and saw the king in an utterly wretched condition, like that of some aged elephant who had dropped down in terror at the sight of a lioness.

His lips were parched and his whole frame burned; he looked like a helpless snake bereft of its jewel. He saw the furious Kaikeyi near, like Death counting the moments to his end.

Rama was compassionate and gentle by nature; he had never heard of sorrow, and now for the first time saw it; yet, recovering himself as the occasion required, he addressed his step-mother in sweet tones: