Ramayana_VOLUME V with index

Ramayana: A Divine Drama – Vol. V
Sumitra speaks highly of Bharatha:
Sumitra spoke next. She said, “Mother! Through your blessings
and good wishes, our sons and daughters-in-law are as pure as
the Ganga itself. Bharatha had never so far asserted that he was
the brother of Rama and claimed something from him. But now
he is demanding that he should fulfil his wishes, in a satwic,
highly righteous manner. Even the Goddess of speech, Saraswati,
will hesitate to accept the assignment of describing the virtues,
the humility, the large-heartedness, the fraternal attachment, the
steadfastness of that faith, the courage and inflexibility of that
courage, that mark out Bharatha as a great person. Can the ocean
be measured by means of a snail shell Bharatha is at all times,
under all conditions, the effulgent Lamp of the Royal Line; only,
people did not realise this until now. A gem has to be examined
before its value can be determined. Gold has to be tested on the
touchstone, before its genuineness and fineness can be known.
Let us not talk despairingly about him at this time. Our reason is
now affected by sorrow and deluded by filial attachment.
Sumitra wiped her tears, as she concluded her wise words of
consolation. (RKRV Part I p.462-463)
Sunayana thinks highly of the queens of Ayodhya:
Hearing her words, the Queen of Mithila, Sunayana, thought
within herself, “The queens of Ayodhya are really very great,
one greater than the other, in nobility. They do not praise their
own children, as mothers are prone to do. They extol the virtues
of the sons of co-wives. This is quite against the nature of
women, as usually found in the world. How they are describing
and appreciating sons born to the other wives of their husband!
These queens, who do not distinguish between their sons and the
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