পাতা:Vanga Sahitya Parichaya Part 1.djvu/৮৬

78 INTROL)|UCTION. ( 8 ) (The queens asleep. The princess bids adieu to them:) “Oh my mothers, may your blessings fall on me. Here do I bow down at your feet. Henceforth we shall meet no more. Like a boat trusting itself to the current, I trust my youth to fate. Do not weep dear queens, when you miss me—your hapless child. Have that solace which one gets within oneself. Throw away my royal umbrella and the sceptre which I wield as a princess. Burn my throne and royal couch, for they will torment your eyes. Offer all the books lying in heaps in my chamber as a present to the Brahmins. Forbear to enter my apartment, it will grieve you over much. My golden plates and cups and vessels adorned with precious stones, distribute among the poor. My jewels and ornaments send to the royal treasury and adieu queens—my mothers—adieu for life.” Says the poet Phakira Rāma. “Why do you embrace this life, Oh Princess, when you have so great a sacrifice to make for it.” ( 9 ) The princess (meeting her preceptor who dissuades her from the path she has chosen). “How can I now return to the palace, oh my revered preceptor? Pray do not advise me thus. With what face shall I appear before my parents? How shall I bear life there, despised, where I was once so loved P. Such is the lot of a woman, Oh preceptor, the touch of man outside destroys her prospect for ever! Being a woman of the Zenana I have come out. And where once I was as dear as life to all, I shall be an eye-sore, and how can I bear that? Do you not recall the washerman's wife in Ajodhyā, described in the Rāmāyana? Her husband refused her a place in his home. From my father's home have I come out for ever.” Says Phakira Rāma. “It is like the case of exiled Sitä once again.” ( 10 ) “Tell my father, the king, Oh my revered preceptor, that never more will he see his beloved daughter. Or if you like, you may tell him that she is dead. If he is sad, try to soothe him with soft words. Is it ever heard that a daughter stays in her father's home for ever? A daughter is owned by her father for a short time only. As soon as she is married, she goes to another family. Draupadi was dear to her father as life itself, but being married in to the Pandava family she went to her new home for ever. It is written in the holy books, that a father is a daughter's guardian only when she is a child. In her youth she is cared for by her