Shloka 5.28.7
सीताविलापः (Sita’s Lament and Resolve under Threat)
दुःखं बतेदं मम दुःखिताया
मासौ चिरायाधिगमिष्यतो द्वौ।
बद्धस्य वध्यस्य तथा निशान्ते
राजापराधादिव तस्करस्य।।5.28.7।।
duḥkhaṃ batedaṃ mama duḥkhitāyā māsau cirāyādhigamiṣyato dvau | baddhasya vadhyasya tathā niśānte rājāparādhād iva taskarasya ||5.28.7||
Alas—this is misery for me in my sorrow: two months will pass like an age. I am like a thief, bound for execution for offending the king, who must endure the night until dawn.
"Alas, two months is too long a time to wait in grief. I am like a thief captured for offending a king and waiting overnight for execution at day-break.
The moral weight of unjust captivity: dharma recognizes the cruelty of punishing the innocent; Sītā’s comparison highlights the anguish of awaiting an undeserved death.
Sītā reflects that the time granted by Rāvaṇa feels unbearably long, like a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.
Inner fortitude and truthful self-expression in suffering.