All Ayodhya Thirsts for the Coronation Hour
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 52
Doha 52 · Movement 2 of 2
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Every man and woman longs for the appointed moment. Expectation has become thirst felt through the whole city.
They are like pairs of chataka birds waiting beneath the autumn sky for the single pure drop that falls under Svati. No other water can answer their longing.
Ram's coronation is not one celebration among many but the desired drop toward which every face is lifted. The comparison deepens the coming loss: clouds seem gathered, the hour is near, and the thirsty city does not know that destiny has already turned the rain toward the forest.
Ayodhya waits with open mouth for one coronation drop, unaware that the cloud has begun to move away.
Read the passage from the Manas
जेहि चाहत नर नारि सब अति आरत एहि भाँति। जिमि चातक चातकि तृषित बृष्टि सरद रितु स्वाति।।52।।
All men and women longed for that moment with the desperate thirst of chataka birds, male and female, waiting for the Svati rain-drop in autumn.