And when at last
those fierce and cruel _Pisacha_ guards came back, they saw her sitting
with _Trijata_ as before.'"
SECTION CCLXXIX
"Markandeya said, 'And while the chaste Sita was dwelling there
afflicted with melancholy and grief on account of her lord, attired in
mean garb, with but a single jewel (on the marital thread on her wrist),
and incessantly weeping, seated on a stone, and waited upon by
_Rakshasa_ women, Ravana, afflicted by the shafts of the god of desire,
came to her and approached her presence. And inflamed by desire, that
conqueror in battle of the gods, the _Danavas_, the _Gandharvas_, the
_Yakshas_, and the _Kimpurushas_, attired in celestial robes and
possessing handsome features, decked with jewelled earrings and wearing
a beautiful garland and crown, entered the _Asoka_ woods, like an
embodiment of the vernal season. And dressed with care, Ravana looked
like the _Kalpa_ tree in Indra's garden. But though adorned with every
embellishment, that inspired her only with awe, like a beautified banian
in the midst of a cemetery. And that night wanderer, having approached
the presence of that slender-waisted lady, looked like the planet Saturn
in the presence of _Rohini_. And smitten with the shafts of the god of
the flowery emblem he accosted that fair-hipped lady then affrighted
like a helpless doe, and told her these words, "Thou hast, O Sita, shown
thy regard for thy lord too much! O thou of delicate limbs, be merciful
unto me.
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