king of MithilŒ has been referred to here as the “lord of Janakas”. 598 * ÝR” RMACARITAMNASA* The river flooded the banks of wisdom and dispassion and was joined in its course by tributary streams and rivulets in the form of sorrowful utterances. Sighs and lamentation severally represented the waves and the wind that uprooted the stout tree of fortitude standing on its banks. It had deep sorrow for its swift current, while fear and delusion constituted its numberless eddies and whirlpools. Boatmen in the form of the learned waited with big boats in the form of their learning; but they were unable to row them, because they had no idea of its depth. The Kolas and KirŒtas that roamed about in the woods were the poor wayfarers who had lost heart at the sight of the turbulent stream and stood aghast. When the stream joined the ocean of the hermitage, the latter too surged up as it were with emotion. The two royal hosts were so excited with grief that they had no sense, fortitude or shame left. Extolling King DaÜaratha’s comeliness of form, goodness and amiability they all wept and were plunged into an ocean of woe. (1—4)