When the Nishada chief saw his Lord lying there asleep (on the bed of grass and leaves), his soul was troubled with excess of love; he trembled with emotion and his eyes flowed with tears. Then he addressed the following affectionate words to Lakshmana:

'The king’s palace is altogether glorious, unrivalled by the dwelling of the Lord of heaven, its charming roof-chambers, ilaid with precious germs, seem to have been adorned by Love’s own hands

Free from impurities and superbly wrought, abounding in exquisite luxuries and fragrant with the perfume of flowers, they are furnished with soft, lovely beds and lighted with jewelled lamps and are full of amenities of every description.

They are equipped with all kinds of coverlets, pillows and mattresses, all soft and white and charming as the froth of milk. It is in such attics that Sita and Rama were wont to repose at night and put to shame with their beauty and pride of Rati and her consort, Kamadeva.

And it is this same Sita and Rama who now sleep on a pallet, weary and uncovered, a sight one cannot bear to see! The same Lord Rama whom his parents and his kinsfolk, his subjects and companions and good-natured men-servants and handmaids -

-all cherished as tenderly as their own lives, now lies sleeping on the bare ground; and she whose father, Janaka, is famed throughout the world, whose father-in-law is Dasharath, the chief of Raghus and an ally of Indra (the king of heaven),

- and whose spouse is Ramachandra, is lying on the ground! An adverse fate spares none. So Sita and Raghubira deserve to be exiled to the woods? Well do men say, "Fate is paramount!"