Again and again the queen kindly questioned Manthara, hypnotized as she was by her guileful words like a doe enchanted by the song of a Bhil woman. Her reason went astray, as fate would have it, and the handmaid rejoiced to find her cunning scheme succeed.

‘You persist in questioning me, but I am afraid to open my lips, for you have called me mischief-maker.’ Thus spoke the Saturn of Avadh, trimming and fashioning her speech I every way to win her trust. (Sarhasati, literally seven and a half, is a name for the malignant star Saturn, whose one revolution occupies a period of seven and a half years.)

‘You said, O queen, that Sita and Rama were dear to you, and that you had endeared yourself to Rama; and what you say is true, but this is a thing of the past; now those days are gone. When times change, even friends become foes. ‘You said, O queen, that Sita and Rama were dear to you, and that you had endeared yourself to Rama; and what you say is true, but this is a thing of the past; now those days are gone. When times change, even friends become foes.

The sun fosters the family of lotuses, but in the absence of water, that same sun burns them to ashes. The rival queen (Kausalya) would tear you up by the root; so take care of your garden and hedge it about with a scheme.

You feel no concern because you rely on your husband’s (feigned) affection and know him to be under your influence. The king is malicious of mind, though sweet of tongue; but you possess a guileless nature.

Rama’s mother is a crafty and deep; and having found her opportunity has turned it to account. You must know it is at the suggestion of Rama’s mother that the king has sent away Bharata to visit his grandmother.

She says to herself, ‘All the other queens serve me well, only Bharata’s mother is proud, because of her influence with her lord.’ You, lady, are a thorn in Kausalya’s side, but she is too deep and crafty to make it known.