Chapter CLXVII: Section XXV

And those hideous Rakshasees thus threatning her with reproaches rude and rough, the daughter of the king Janaka began to weep. And being thus addressed by those Rakshasees, Vaidehi, of subdued soul, being greatly terrified, said, having her voice choked with vapour,--"A woman can never be the wife of a Rakshasa. Eat me up if you will, I shall never follow your words." And being surrounded by the Rakshasees and threatened by Ravana, Sita, resembling the daughter of a celestial, stricken with grief, could not console herself. And trembling, she shrank from their presence like unto a strayed fawn surrounded by wolves. And resorting to a flowery branch of an _Asoka_ tree, she sunk in grief, thought upon her lord. With tears she bathed her beautiful breast and oppressed with woe, she could not reach the other bank of the ocean of grief. Like a plantain tree shaken by the breeze, she shook and fell down trembling (on the earth). And being afraid of the Rakshasees, her cheeks forsook their native hue. And herself trembling, her pretty long lock of hair also shook and appeared like a serpent moving this way and that. Overwhelmed with grief and beside herself with ire, the daughter of the king of Mithila, wept and exclaimed sorrowfully,--"O mother Kausalya! O queen Sumitra! true is the saying of the wise that death doth never approach untimely the male or the female. Or else I would not have lived for a moment, separated from Rama and oppressed by the Rakshasees as I am. Limited is my virtue, and therefore I am to die the death of a poor deserted thing like unto a bark driven by the blast in the midst of the ocean. Debarred from my husband's sight and tortured by the hideous demons, I shall sink, oppressed with woes, like unto the banks of a river, washed by the water. Oh blest are they who have been resting their eyes upon my grateful and sweet-speeched lord of leonine gaits, having eyes resembling lotus petals! And separated frpm Rama of subdued soul, it is as difficult for me to breathe as for him who hath drank up virulent poison. What mighty iniquity had I perpetrated in my previous existence that I have met with this terrible disaster! I wish to renounce my life under this load of grief--but alas! I am surrounded by the Rakshasees and cannot meet Rama. Oh! cursed is this subject human life, that they cannot renounce it even at their pleasure"!