66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

We met last evening and you were so attentive to me! Ah!”
she cried, her infatuation reviving.
Rama understood. “You are the same one, are you?” he
asked. He made no other comment.
She replied, amidst her agony, “You don’t find me
beautiful? No wonder! If one’s nose and ears and breasts
are lopped off, will not one’s beauty suffer?”
Rama turned to Lakshmana and asked, “What did she
do?”
Lakshmana answered, “With fire in her eyes, she was
about to fall on Janaki, 7 and I prevented it.”
Soorpanaka now explained, “Naturally, it’s just and right
that I hate anyone who has deprived me of my beloved’s
company.” In her mind she had treated Rama as her own
property. “Would it not inflame a woman’s heart to see her
beloved taken away?”
Rama said simply, “Go away before your tongue utters
worse words, which may bring you more harm. Go back to
your own people.”
Soorpanaka made one last attempt to gain Rama’s love.
She said, “Even now it’s not too late. My brother Ravana will
pardon you for what you have done if he knows we are
married; he will also make you the overlord of several
worlds, placed above all the gods. It’s not too late. On the
other hand, if anyone comments on my nose or ears, he will