Beholding Śrī Rāma depressed in spirits and lustreless with frustration writ large on his countenance, Sītā, who knew nothing about the interruption of his installation and had been eagerly and joyfully awaiting his return, inquires about the cause of his dejection and is told how his installation has been stopped and how he is going to be sent into exile by his father, and exhorted to look after her father-in-law and mothers-in-law as before and to treat Bharata and Śatrughna as her own brothers or sons and never to harbour malice towards them.