{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry354.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry354.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry354.htm","text":"Again the V\u00e1nar chief began\n Each chamber, bower, and hall to scan.\n In vain: he found not her he sought,\n And pondered thus in bitter thought:\n 'Ah me the Maithil queen is slain:\n She, ever true and free from stain,\n The fiend's entreaty has denied.\n And by his cruel hand has died.\n Or has she sunk, by terror killed,\n When first she saw the palace filled\n With female monsters evil miened\n Who wait upon the robber fiend?\n No battle fought, no might displayed,\n In vain this anxious search is made;\n Nor shall my steps, made slow by shame,\n Because I failed to find the dame,\n Back to our lord the king be bent,\n For he is swift to punishment.\n In every bower my feet have been,\n The dames of R\u00e1van I seen;\n But R\u00e1ma's spouse I seek in vain,\n And all my toil is fruitless pain.\n How shall I meet the V\u00e1nar\n I left upon the ocean strand?\n How, when they bid me speak, proclaim\n These tidings of defeat and shame?\n How shall I look on Angad's eye?\n What words will J\u00e1mbav\u00e1n\n Yet dauntless hearts will never fail\n To win success though foes assail,\n And I this sorrow will subdue\n And search the palace through and through,\n Exploring with my cautious tread\n Each spot as yet unvisited.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Again he turned him to explore\n Each chamber, hall, and corridor,\n And arbour bright with scented bloom.\n And lodge and cell and picture-room.\n \n \n With eager eye and noiseless feet\n He passed through many a cool retreat\n Where women lay in slumber drowned;\n But S\u00edt\u00e1 nowhere found.","title":"BOOK V: Canto XII.: The Search Renewed.","type":"page"}