Doha 230

Hearing the tinkling of bangles, the small bells tied round the waist and the anklets, Śrī Rāma thought within Himself and then said to Lakṣmaṇa, “It seems as if Cupid has sounded his kettledrum with intent to conquer the world.” (1) So saying, He looked once again in the same direction (whence the sound came); and lo ! His eyes feasted themselves on Sītā’s countenance even as the Cakora bird gazes on the moon. His charming eyes became motionless, as if Nimi* (the god of winking) had left the eyelids out of shyness. (2) * Nimi was a forbear of King Janaka. On his death his spirit obtained a seat on the eyelids of human beings and has ever since remained there. The poet here figuratively attributes the motionlessness of Śrī Rāma’s eyelids to the sudden departure therefrom of Nimi, who as a forbear of Janaka is described as loath to witness this exchange of pure love between Rāma and Sītā. Śrī Rāma was filled with rapture to behold Sītā’s beauty; He admired it in His heart, but speech failed Him. He felt as if the Creator had put his entire creative skill in visible form and demonstrated it to the world at large. (3) ‘She lends charm to Charm itself’, He said to Himself, ‘and looks as if a flame of light is burning in a house of beauty. The similes already employed by the poets are all stale and hackneyed; to whom shall I liken Sītā, the daughter of Janaka?’ (4)

Thus describing to Himself Sītā’s loveliness and reflecting on His own condition, the Lord innocently spoke to His younger brother in terms appropriate to the occasion: (230)