Now let no one proud of his valour be offended if I hold that there is no hero left on earth. Give up all hope and turn your faces homewards. It is not the will of Providence that Sita should wed.

I shall lose all my religious merit if I abandon my vow; so the princess must remain a maiden-what can I do? Had I known, brothers, that there are no more heroes in the world. I would not have made the vow and become a laughing-stock!’

All who heard Janaka’s words, men and women alike, looked at Janaki and were sad. Lakshmana, however, was furious; his eyebrows were knit, his lips trembled and his eyes shot fire.

But for fear of Raghubira he could speak nothing, though Janaka’s words pierced his heart like an arrow; yet at last, bowing his head before Rama’s lotus feet, he thus spoke in authoritative accents:

‘In an assembly where anyone of the house of Raghu is present, no one may utter such scandalous words as Janaka has uttered, even though he knows that the jewel of the Raghu race is here.

Listen, O sun of the lotus-like Solar race, I sincerely tell you, without any vain boasting if I but have your permission, I will lift the round world like a bail.

-and smash it like an ill-baked potter’s vessel! By the glory of your majesty, O Blessed Lord, I can tear up Mount Meru like a radish! What, then, is this rotten old bow?