स्त्रीसहस्रनिनादश्च संजज्ञे राजवेश्मनि।
हा हा रामेति सहसा भूषणध्वनिमूर्च्छितः॥
strī-sahasra-ninādaś ca saṁjajñe rāja-veśmani
hā hā rāmeti sahasā bhūṣaṇa-dhvani-mūrcchitaḥ
strī-sahasra-ninādaḥ ca saṁjajñe = thousands of women cried out; rāja-veśmani = in the king’s residence; hā = alas; hā = alas; rāma iti = Rāma; sahasā = suddenly; bhūṣaṇa-dhvani-mūrcchitaḥ = their cries in the king’s residence were pervaded by the sounds of their ornaments.
Thousands of women immediately cried out, “Alas! Alas! Rāma!” Their cries in the king’s residence were pervaded by the sounds of their ornaments.
1 When they cried in utter anguish, they spontaneously beat their chests and foreheads because of which their bangles, necklaces and head ornaments clashed. Therefore, the sounds of their ornaments mixed in with their cries. Because the three hundred fifty women were queens, their maidservants would have naturally accompanied them, and so it is mentioned here that thousands of women cried. Everyone loved Rāma, as we saw in the previous chapter also.
GLOSS. Thousands of women, that is, Daśaratha’s wives, other women and maidservants, cried. Thus there is no contradiction between this statement and the earlier statement that three hundred and fifty women [came to see Rāma].1