Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 30: Rāma Allows Sītā to Follow Him to the Forest
Text 2.30.24
तस्याः स्फटिकसङ्काशं वारि सन्तापसम्भवम्।
नेत्राभ्यां परिसुस्राव पङ्कजाभ्यामिवोदकम्॥
tasyāḥ sphaṭika-saṅkāśaṁ vāri santāpa-sambhavam
netrābhyāṁ parisusrāva paṅkajābhyām ivodakam
tasyāḥ = her; sphaṭika-saṅkāśam = as clear as a crystal; vāri = tears; santāpa-sambhavam = born from her sorrow; netrābhyām = from eyes; parisusrāva = streamed; paṅkajābhyām = [oozing out of] two lotuses; iva = like; udakam = honey.
Born from her sorrow, tears as clear as a crystal streamed from her eyes like honey [oozing out of] two lotuses.
1 Her kājal had been washed off earlier after she started crying.
“As clear as a crystal” indicates that her tears were not mixed with her eyeliner; this is because she had cried for a long time.1 Udakam (literally “water”) refers to honey because the honey from the lotus is warm and spotless.
GLOSS. Paṅkajābhyām indicates that Sītā-devī’s tears resembled the water from lotuses that had been just taken out of a lake.