The Mothers Bathe the Brothers in Tears
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 245
Doha 245 · Movement 1 of 2
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Ram and Lakshmana bow before the guru's wife and every Brahmin woman, honoring them like Ganga and Gauri. Gentle blessings flow toward the brothers from the gathered elders.
Sumitra grasps their feet and draws them into her lap like one destitute suddenly receiving immeasurable wealth. Then the brothers fall before their own mother's feet, bodies trembling beyond control.
She gathers them to her heart and bathes them with tears of affection. Joy and sorrow occupy the same embrace in a taste no poet can explain, like sweetness known by one without speech. After meeting her, Ram asks Vasishtha where the people should settle, and the citizens descend upon land and water under the sage's direction.
In the mothers' arms, reunion and bereavement become one taste, and tears wash the forest dust from the brothers.
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गुरतिय पद बंदे दुहु भाई। सहित बिप्रतिय जे सँग आई।। गंग गौरि सम सब सनमानीं।।देहिं असीस मुदित मृदु बानी।। गहि पद लगे सुमित्रा अंका। जनु भेटीं संपति अति रंका।। पुनि जननि चरननि दोउ भ्राता। परे पेम ब्याकुल सब गाता।। अति अनुराग अंब उर लाए। नयन सनेह सलिल अन्हवाए।। तेहि अवसर कर हरष बिषादू। किमि कबि कहै मूक जिमि स्वादू।। मिलि जननहि सानुज रघुराऊ। गुर सन कहेउ कि धारिअ पाऊ।। पुरजन पाइ मुनीस नियोगू। जल थल तकि तकि उतरेउ लोगू।।
Both brothers bowed at the feet of the guru's wife and the Brahmin ladies who had come along with her. They honored every woman as one would honor Ganga and Gauri. The ladies blessed them with joyful, gentle words. Sumitra clasped their feet and drew them close, like a destitute soul suddenly meeting great wealth. Then both brothers fell at their mother's charana, their entire bodies trembling with prema. With boundless anuraag, the mother gathered them to her heart. Her eyes bathed them in tears of sneha, of pure love. The joy and sorrow of that moment: how can any kavi describe it? It is like a mute person trying to speak of rasa, of taste itself. Having met his mother with his younger brother, Raghurao asked the guru, "Where shall we place our feet?" Receiving the Muneesh's command, the purajan looked about on water and on land, and the whole company descended.