From palace roof and turret high Each woman bent her eager eye; She looked for Rama, but in vain; Gazed on the car and shrieked for pain. Their long clear eyes with sorrow drowned They, when this common grief was found, Looked each on other, friend and foe, In sympathy of levelling woe: No shade of difference between Foe, friend, or neutral, there was seen. Without a joy, her bosom rent With grief for Rama's banishment, Ayodhya like the queen appears Who mourns her son with many tears."Ramayana 2.324b · Ramayana · 2
Ramayana 2.324b
Ramayana · translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith
Themes in this passage
GriefFriendshipChildrenJoyGreed
Grief in other traditions
The same theme, as Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam address it.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.James 4:9 · Bible · James
From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear.Dhp 16.212 · Dhammapada · Pleasure
On occasions of festivity to be on the left hand is the prized position; on occasions of mourning, the right hand. The second in command of the army has his place on the left; the general commanding in chief has his on the right;--his place, that is, is assigned to him as in the rites of mourning. He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief; and the victor in battle has his place (rightly) according to those rites.Tao Te Ching 31.3 · Tao Te Ching
And he turned away from them and said: Alas, my grief for Joseph! And his eyes were whitened with the sorrow that he was suppressing.Quran 12:84 · Quran · Joseph
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