Compassion and Separation Take Residence in Mithila
Bala Kanda, Doha 337
Doha 337 · Movement 2 of 2
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Every man and woman is overcome. Companions who shared the princesses' childhood, attendants who served the palace, and members of the royal household all stand beneath the same gathering sorrow.
The doha gives that sorrow living form. Karuna and Viraha, compassion and separation, seem to have entered Videha's city and made their dwelling there.
Mithila is no longer merely the setting of farewell. Its streets, chambers, courtyards, and thresholds have become the bodies through which grief moves. Compassion opens each heart to another's pain, while separation reveals how deeply each life has been joined to Sita and the other brides. The entire city becomes one vast inward chamber of love.
In Mithila's streets, compassion and separation walk as visible presences among the people.
Read the passage from the Manas
प्रेमबिबस नर नारि सब सखिन्ह सहित रनिवासु। मानहुँ कीन्ह बिदेहपुर करुनाँ बिरहँ निवासु।।337।।
Overwhelmed by love, every man and woman, the companions and the royal household alike, made it seem as though Karuna and Viraha themselves had taken up residence in Videha's city.