जय श्रीराम!
My attempt to show the contrast could have been better.
दधतो मङ्गलक्षौमे वसानस्य च वल्कले ।
ददृशुर्विस्मितास्तस्य मुखरागं समं जनाः ॥१२.८॥
Notes: The moment arrives when Śrī Rāma, Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa are ready to proceed to the forest. Kaikeyī gleefully hands them the forest hermit's garments made from tree bark and such. Sītā is distressed beyond understanding how she can switch to these clothes, having been a princess wearing royal clothes all her life. She is spared from misery as Vasiṣṭha intervenes and admonishes Kaikeyī. Daśaratha orders that Sītā shall continue to wear her royal garments and ornaments.
But Śrī Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa quietly put on the forest clothes. The three now proceed slowly out of the Palace, wending their way through the milling crowd of distressed citizens of Ayodhyā wailing aloud about this strange turn of events.
Now our dear Kālidāsa picks up his poetic brush. He paints the picture of Śrī Rāma walking in utter majesty, unruffled, dressed in those tree barks as if he were wearing royal finery befitting the Yuvarāja.
"The citizens looked on in utter astonishment as Śrī Rāma was the picture of equanimity wearing the bark clothes as much as if he were wearing auspicious finery made of silk for the occasion of the coronation. His moonlike face bore the same unflappable expression!"
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जय श्रीराम!
