The Palace Feels Like a House of Spirits
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 147
Doha 147 · Movement 2 of 2
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Word of Sumantra's arrival enters the women's quarters and distress seizes the palace. Hope runs toward the sound of the chariot, then recoils from the absence it confirms.
To the minister, the royal residence no longer resembles the ordered home he left. Corridors, chambers, and shadowed thresholds feel haunted, as though living warmth has withdrawn and spirits occupy the shell.
Nothing supernatural needs to appear. A place built around Ram's presence has become frightening through his removal. Sumantra walks inside carrying the forest's final image, while every familiar wall waits to echo a question he cannot answer without deepening the desolation.
Without Ram, the palace remains standing but feels to Sumantra like a haunted shell from which life has fled.
Read the passage from the Manas
-सचिव आगमनु सुनत सबु बिकल भयउ रनिवासु। भवन भयंकरु लाग तेहि मानहुँ प्रेत निवासु।।147।।
Hearing of the minister's arrival, the entire royal palace was overcome with distress. The palace appeared frightful to Sumantra, as though it were a dwelling place of spirits.