Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc181" id="toc181"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf182" id="pdf182"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XIII" id="CantoII-XIII" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XIII. Dasaratha's Distress.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Unworthy of his mournful fate,</div> <div>The mighty king, unfortunate,</div> <div>Lay prostrate in unseemly guise,</div> <div>As, banished from the blissful skies,</div> <div>Yayáti, in his evil day.</div> <div>His merit all exhausted, lay.<SPAN id="noteref_276" name="noteref_276" href="#note_276"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">276</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>The queen, triumphant in the power</div> <div>Won by her beauty's fatal dower,</div> <div>Still terrible and unsubdued,</div> <div>Her dire demand again renewed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Great Monarch, 'twas thy boast till now</span></div> <div>To love the truth and keep the vow;</div> <div>Then wherefore would thy lips refuse</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The promised boon 'tis mine to choose?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>King Daśaratha, thus addressed,</div> <div>With anger raging in his breast,</div> <div>Sank for a while beneath the pain,</div> <div>Then to Kaikeyí spoke again:</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page107"></span><SPAN name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Childless so long, at length I won,</span></div> <div>With mighty toil, from Heaven a son,</div> <div>Ráma, the mighty-armed; and how</div> <div>Shall I desert my darling now?</div> <div>A scholar wise, a hero bold,</div> <div>Of patient mood, with wrath controlled,</div> <div>How can I bid my Ráma fly,</div> <div>My darling of the lotus eye?</div> <div>In heaven itself I scarce could bear,</div> <div>When asking of my Ráma there,</div> <div>To hear the Gods his griefs declare,</div> <div>And O, that death would take me hence</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Before I wrong his innocence!”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As thus the monarch wept and wailed,</div> <div>And maddening grief his heart assailed,</div> <div>The sun had sought his resting-place,</div> <div>And night was closing round apace.</div> <div>But yet the moon-crowned night could bring</div> <div>No comfort to the wretched king.</div> <div>As still he mourned with burning sighs</div> <div>And fixed his gaze upon the skies:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Night whom starry fires adorn,</span></div> <div>I long not for the coming morn.</div> <div>Be kind and show some mercy: see,</div> <div>My suppliant hands are raised to thee.</div> <div>Nay, rather fly with swifter pace;</div> <div>No longer would I see the face</div> <div>Of Queen Kaikeyí, cruel, dread,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Who brings this woe upon mine head.”</span></div> <div>Again with suppliant hands he tried</div> <div>To move the queen, and wept and sighed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“To me, unhappy me, inclined</span></div> <div>To good, sweet dame, thou shouldst be kind;</div> <div>Whose life is well-nigh fled, who cling</div> <div>To thee for succour, me thy king.</div> <div>This, only this, is all my claim:</div> <div>Have mercy, O my lovely dame.</div> <div>None else have I to take my part,</div> <div>Have mercy: thou art good at heart.</div> <div>Hear, lady of the soft black eye,</div> <div>And win a name that ne'er shall die:</div> <div>Let Ráma rule this glorious land,</div> <div>The gift of thine imperial hand.</div> <div>O lady of the dainty waist,</div> <div>With eyes and lips of beauty graced,</div> <div>Please Ráma, me, each saintly priest,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Bharat, and all from chief to least.”</span></div> <div>She heard his wild and mournful cry,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">She saw the tears his speech that broke,</div> <div>Saw her good husband's reddened eye,</div> <div>But, cruel still, no word she spoke.</div> <div>His eyes upon her face he bent,</div> <div>And sought for mercy, but in vain:</div> <div>She claimed his darling's banishment,</div> <div>He swooned upon the ground again.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc183" id="toc183"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf184" id="pdf184"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XIV" id="CantoII-XIV" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XIV. Ráma Summoned.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The wicked queen her speech renewed,</div> <div>When rolling on the earth she viewed</div> <div>Ikshváku's son, Ayodhyá's king,</div> <div>For his dear Ráma sorrowing:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Why, by a simple promise bound,</span></div> <div>Liest thou prostrate on the ground,</div> <div>As though a grievous sin dismayed</div> <div>Thy spirit! Why so sore afraid?</div> <div>Keep still thy word. The righteous deem</div> <div>That truth, mid duties, is supreme:</div> <div>And now in truth and honour's name</div> <div>I bid thee own the binding claim.</div> <div>Śaivya, a king whom earth obeyed,</div> <div>Once to a hawk a promise made,</div> <div>Gave to the bird his flesh and bone,</div> <div>And by his truth made heaven his own.<SPAN id="noteref_277" name="noteref_277" href="#note_277"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">277</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Alarka, when a Bráhman famed</div> <div>For Scripture lore his promise claimed,</div> <div>Tore from his head his bleeding eyes</div> <div>And unreluctant gave the prize.</div> <div>His narrow bounds prescribed restrain</div> <div>The Rivers' Lord, the mighty main,</div> <div>Who, though his waters boil and rave,</div> <div>Keeps faithful to the word he gave.</div> <div>Truth all religion comprehends,</div> <div>Through all the world its might extends:</div> <div>In truth alone is justice placed,</div> <div>On truth the words of God are based:</div> <div>A life in truth unchanging past</div> <div>Will bring the highest bliss at last.</div> <div>If thou the right would still pursue,</div> <div>Be constant to thy word and true:</div> <div>Let me thy promise fruitful see,</div> <div>For boons, O King, proceed from thee.</div> <div>Now to preserve thy righteous fame,</div> <div>And yielding to my earnest claim—</div> <div>Thrice I repeat it—send thy child,</div> <div>Thy Ráma, to the forest wild.</div> <div>But if the boon thou still deny,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Before thy face, forlorn, I die.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus was the helpless monarch stung</div> <div>By Queen Kaikeyí's fearless tongue,</div> <div>As Bali strove in vain to loose</div> <div>His limbs from Indra's fatal noose.</div> <div>Dismayed in soul and pale with fear,</div> <div>The monarch, like a trembling steer</div> <div>Between the chariot's wheel and yoke,</div> <div>Again to Queen Kaikeyí spoke,</div> <div>With sad eyes fixt in vacant stare,</div> <div>Gathering courage from despair:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“That hand I took, thou sinful dame,</span></div> <div>With texts, before the sacred flame,</div> <div>Thee and thy son, I scorn and hate,</div> <div>And all at once repudiate.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page108"></span><SPAN name="Pg108" id="Pg108" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The night is fled: the dawn is near:</div> <div>Soon will the holy priests be here</div> <div>To bid me for the rite prepare</div> <div>That with my son the throne will share,</div> <div>The preparation made to grace</div> <div>My Ráma in his royal place—</div> <div>With this, e'en this, my darling for</div> <div>My death the funeral flood shall pour.</div> <div>Thou and thy son at least forbear</div> <div>In offerings to my shade to share,</div> <div>For by the plot thy guile has laid</div> <div>His consecration will be stayed.</div> <div>This very day how shall I brook</div> <div>To meet each subject's altered look?</div> <div>To mark each gloomy joyless brow</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >That was so bright and glad but now?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>While thus the high-souled monarch spoke</div> <div>To the stern queen, the Morning broke,</div> <div>And holy night had slowly fled,</div> <div>With moon and stars engarlanded.</div> <div>Yet once again the cruel queen</div> <div>Spoke words in answer fierce and keen,</div> <div>Still on her evil purpose bent,</div> <div>Wild with her rage and eloquent:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“What speech is this? Such words as these</span></div> <div>Seem sprung from poison-sown disease.</div> <div>Quick to thy noble Ráma send</div> <div>And bid him on his sire attend.</div> <div>When to my son the rule is given;</div> <div>When Ráma to the woods is driven;</div> <div>When not a rival copes with me,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >From chains of duty thou art free.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus goaded, like a generous steed</div> <div>Urged by sharp spurs to double speed,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My senses are astray,”</span> he cried,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“And duty's bonds my hands have tied.</span></div> <div>I long to see mine eldest son,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >My virtuous, my beloved one.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>And now the night had past away;</div> <div>Out shone the Maker of the Day,</div> <div>Bringing the planetary hour</div> <div>And moment of auspicious power.</div> <div>Vaśishṭha, virtuous, far renowned,</div> <div>Whose young disciples girt him round,</div> <div>With sacred things without delay</div> <div>Through the fair city took his way.</div> <div>He traversed, where the people thronged,</div> <div>And all for Ráma's coming longed,</div> <div>The town as fair in festive show</div> <div>As his who lays proud cities low.<SPAN id="noteref_278" name="noteref_278" href="#note_278"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">278</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>He reached the palace where he heard</div> <div>The mingled notes of many a bird,</div> <div>Where crowded thick high-honoured bands</div> <div>Of guards with truncheons in their hands.</div> <div>Begirt by many a sage, elate,</div> <div>Vaśishṭha reached the royal gate,</div> <div>And standing by the door he found</div> <div>Sumantra, for his form renowned,</div> <div>The king's illustrious charioteer</div> <div>And noble counsellor and peer.</div> <div>To him well skilled in every part</div> <div>Of his hereditary art</div> <div>Vaśishṭha said: <span class="tei tei-q" >“O charioteer,</span></div> <div>Inform the king that I am here,</div> <div>Here ready by my side behold</div> <div>These sacred vessels made of gold,</div> <div>Which water for the rite contain</div> <div>From Gangá and each distant main.</div> <div>Here for installing I have brought</div> <div>The seat prescribed of fig-wood wrought,</div> <div>All kinds of seed and precious scent</div> <div>And many a gem and ornament;</div> <div>Grain, sacred grass, the garden's spoil,</div> <div>Honey and curds and milk and oil;</div> <div>Eight radiant maids, the best of all</div> <div>War elephants that feed in stall;</div> <div>A four-horse car, a bow and sword.</div> <div>A litter, men to bear their lord;</div> <div>A white umbrella bright and fair</div> <div>That with the moon may well compare;</div> <div>Two chouries of the whitest hair;</div> <div>A golden beaker rich and rare;</div> <div>A bull high-humped and fair to view,</div> <div>Girt with gold bands and white of hue;</div> <div>A four-toothed steed with flowing mane,</div> <div>A throne which lions carved sustain;</div> <div>A tiger's skin, the sacred fire,</div> <div>Fresh kindled, which the rites require;</div> <div>The best musicians skilled to play,</div> <div>And dancing-girls in raiment gay;</div> <div>Kine, Bráhmans, teachers fill the court,</div> <div>And bird and beast of purest sort.</div> <div>From town and village, far and near,</div> <div>The noblest men are gathered here;</div> <div>Here merchants with their followers crowd,</div> <div>And men in joyful converse loud,</div> <div>And kings from many a distant land</div> <div>To view the consecration stand.</div> <div>The dawn is come, the lucky day;</div> <div>Go bid the monarch haste away,</div> <div>That now Prince Ráma may obtain</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The empire, and begin his reign.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Soon as he heard the high behest</div> <div>The driver of the chariot pressed</div> <div>Within the chambers of the king,</div> <div>His lord with praises honouring.</div> <div>And none of all the warders checked</div> <div>His entrance for their great respect</div> <div>Of him well known, in place so high,</div> <div>Still fain their king to gratify.</div> <div>He stood beside the royal chief,</div> <div>Unwitting of his deadly grief,</div> <div>And with sweet words began to sing</div> <div>The praises of his lord and king:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“As, when the sun begins to rise,</span></div> <div>The sparkling sea delights our eyes,</div> <div>Wake, calm with gentle soul, and thus</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page109"></span><SPAN name="Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Give rapture, mighty King, to us.</div> <div>As Mátali<SPAN id="noteref_279" name="noteref_279" href="#note_279"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">279</span></span></SPAN> this selfsame hour</div> <div>Sang lauds of old to Indra's power,</div> <div>When he the Titan hosts o'erthrew,</div> <div>So hymn I thee with praises due.</div> <div>The Vedas, with their kindred lore,</div> <div>Brahmá their soul-born Lord adore,</div> <div>With all the doctrines of the wise,</div> <div>And bid him, as I bid thee, rise.</div> <div>As, with the moon, the Lord of Day</div> <div>Wakes with the splendour of his ray</div> <div>Prolific Earth, who neath him lies,</div> <div>So, mighty King, I bid thee rise.</div> <div>With blissful words, O Lord of men,</div> <div>Rise, radiant in thy form, as when</div> <div>The sun ascending darts his light</div> <div>From Meru's everlasting height.</div> <div>May Śiva, Agni, Sun, and Moon</div> <div>Bestow on thee each choicest boon,</div> <div>Kuvera, Varuṇa, Indra bless</div> <div>Kakutstha's son with all success.</div> <div>Awake, the holy night is fled,</div> <div>The happy light abroad is spread;</div> <div>Awake, O best of kings, and share</div> <div>The glorious task that claims thy care.</div> <div>The holy sage Vaśishṭha waits,</div> <div>With all his Bráhmans, at the gate.</div> <div>Give thy decree, without delay,</div> <div>To consecrate thy son today.</div> <div>As armies, by no captain led,</div> <div>As flocks that feed unshepherded,</div> <div>Such is the fortune of a state</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Without a king and desolate.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Such were the words the bard addressed,</div> <div>With weight of sage advice impressed;</div> <div>And, as he heard, the hapless king</div> <div>Felt deeper yet his sorrow's sting.</div> <div>At length, all joy and comfort fled,</div> <div>He raised his eyes with weeping red,</div> <div>And, mournful for his Ráma's sake,</div> <div>The good and glorious monarch spake:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Why seek with idle praise to greet</span></div> <div>The wretch for whom no praise is meet?</div> <div>Thy words mine aching bosom tear,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And plunge me deeper in despair.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra heard the sad reply,</div> <div>And saw his master's tearful eye.</div> <div>With reverent palm to palm applied</div> <div>He drew a little space aside.</div> <div>Then, as the king, with misery weak,</div> <div>With vain endeavour strove to speak,</div> <div>Kaikeyí, skilled in plot and plan,</div> <div>To sage Sumantra thus began:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The king, absorbed in joyful thought</span></div> <div>For his dear son, no rest has sought:</div> <div>Sleepless to him the night has past,</div> <div>And now o'erwatched he sinks at last.</div> <div>Then go, Sumantra, and with speed</div> <div>The glorious Ráma hither lead:</div> <div>Go, as I pray, nor longer wait;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >No time is this to hesitate.”</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“How can I go, O Lady fair,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Unless my lord his will declare?”</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Fain would I see him,”</span> cried the king,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Quick, quick, my beauteous Ráma bring.”</span></div> <div>Then rose the happy thought to cheer</div> <div>The bosom of the charioteer,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The king, I ween, of pious mind,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The consecration has designed.”</span></div> <div>Sumantra for his wisdom famed,</div> <div>Delighted with the thought he framed,</div> <div>From the calm chamber, like a bay</div> <div>Of crowded ocean, took his way.</div> <div>He turned his face to neither side,</div> <div> But forth he hurried straight;</div> <div>Only a little while he eyed</div> <div>The guards who kept the gate.</div> <div>He saw in front a gathered crowd</div> <div>Of men of every class,</div> <div>Who, parting as he came, allowed</div> <div>The charioteer to pass.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc185" id="toc185"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf186" id="pdf186"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XV" id="CantoII-XV" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XV. The Preparations.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>There slept the Bráhmans, deeply read</div> <div>In Scripture, till the night had fled;</div> <div>Then, with the royal chaplains, they</div> <div>Took each his place in long array.</div> <div>There gathered fast the chiefs of trade,</div> <div>Nor peer nor captain long delayed,</div> <div>Assembling all in order due</div> <div>The consecrating rite to view.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The morning dawned with cloudless ray</div> <div>On Pushya's high auspicious day,</div> <div>And Cancer with benignant power</div> <div>Looked down on Ráma's natal hour.</div> <div>The twice-born chiefs, with zealous heed,</div> <div>Made ready what the rite would need.</div> <div>The well-wrought throne of holy wood</div> <div>And golden urns in order stood.</div> <div>There was the royal car whereon</div> <div>A tiger's skin resplendent shone;</div> <div>There water, brought for sprinkling thence</div> <div>Where, in their sacred confluence,</div> <div>Blend Jumná's waves with Gangá's tide,</div> <div>From many a holy flood beside,</div> <div>From brook and fountain far and near,</div> <div>From pool and river, sea and mere.</div> <div>And there were honey, curd, and oil,</div> <div>Parched rice and grass, the garden's spoil,</div> <div>Fresh milk, eight girls in bright attire,</div> <div>An elephant with eyes of fire;</div> <div>And urns of gold and silver made,</div> <div>With milky branches overlaid,</div> <div>All brimming from each sacred flood,</div> <div>And decked with many a lotus bud.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page110"></span><SPAN name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>And dancing-women fair and free,</div> <div>Gay with their gems, were there to see,</div> <div>Who stood in bright apparel by</div> <div>With lovely brow and witching eye.</div> <div>White flashed the jewelled chouri there,</div> <div>And shone like moonbeams through the air;</div> <div>The white umbrella overhead</div> <div>A pale and moonlike lustre shed,</div> <div>Wont in pure splendour to precede,</div> <div>And in such rites the pomp to lead.</div> <div>There stood the charger by the side</div> <div>Of the great bull of snow-white hide;</div> <div>There was all music soft and loud,</div> <div>And bards and minstrels swelled the crowd.</div> <div>For now the monarch bade combine</div> <div>Each custom of his ancient line</div> <div>With every rite Ayodhyá's state</div> <div>Observed, her kings to consecrate.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then, summoned by the king's behest,</div> <div>The multitudes together pressed,</div> <div>And, missing still the royal sire,</div> <div>Began, impatient, to inquire:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Who to our lord will tidings bear</span></div> <div>That all his people throng the square?</div> <div>Where is the king? the sun is bright,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And all is ready for the rite.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As thus they spoke, Sumantra, tried</div> <div>In counsel, to the chiefs replied,</div> <div>Gathered from lands on every side:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“To Ráma's house I swiftly drave,</span></div> <div>For so the king his mandate gave.</div> <div>Our aged lord and Ráma too</div> <div>In honour high hold all of you:</div> <div>I in your words (be long your days!)</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Will ask him why he thus delays.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus spoke the peer in Scripture read,</div> <div>And to the ladies' bower he sped.</div> <div>Quick through the gates Sumantra hied,</div> <div>Which access ne'er to him denied.</div> <div>Behind the curtained screen he drew,</div> <div>Which veiled the chamber from the view.</div> <div>In benediction loud he raised</div> <div>His voice, and thus the monarch praised:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Sun, Moon, Kuvera, Śiva bless</span></div> <div>Kakutstha's son with high success!</div> <div>The Lords of air, flood, fire decree</div> <div>The victory, my King, to thee!</div> <div>The holy night has past away,</div> <div>Auspicious shines the morning's ray.</div> <div>Rise, Lord of men, thy part to take</div> <div>In the great rite. Awake! awake!</div> <div>Bráhmans and captains, chiefs of trade,</div> <div>All wait in festive garb arrayed;</div> <div>For thee they look with eager eyes:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >O Raghu's son, awake! arise.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>To him in holy Scripture read,</div> <div>Who hailed him thus, the monarch said,</div> <div>Upraising from his sleep his head:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Go, Ráma, hither lead as thou</span></div> <div>Wast ordered by the queen but now.</div> <div>Come, tell me why my mandate laid</div> <div>Upon thee thus is disobeyed.</div> <div>Away! and Ráma hither bring;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >I sleep not: make no tarrying.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus gave the king command anew:</div> <div>Sumantra from his lord withdrew;</div> <div>With head in lowly reverence bent,</div> <div>And filled with thoughts of joy, he went.</div> <div>The royal street he traversed, where</div> <div>Waved flag and pennon to the air,</div> <div>And, as with joy the car he drove,</div> <div>He let his eyes delighted rove.</div> <div>On every side, where'er he came,</div> <div>He heard glad words, their theme the same,</div> <div>As in their joy the gathered folk</div> <div>Of Ráma and the throning spoke.</div> <div>Then saw he Ráma's palace bright</div> <div>And vast as Mount Kailása's height,</div> <div>That glorious in its beauty showed</div> <div>As Indra's own supreme abode:</div> <div>With folding doors both high and wide;</div> <div>With hundred porches beautified:</div> <div>Where golden statues towering rose</div> <div>O'er gemmed and coralled porticoes.</div> <div>Bright like a cave in Meru's side,</div> <div>Or clouds through Autumn's sky that ride:</div> <div>Festooned with length of bloomy twine,</div> <div>Flashing with pearls and jewels' shine,</div> <div>While sandal-wood and aloe lent</div> <div>The mingled riches of their scent;</div> <div>With all the odorous sweets that fill</div> <div>The breezy heights of Dardar's hill.</div> <div>There by the gate the Sáras screamed,</div> <div>And shrill-toned peacocks' plumage gleamed.</div> <div>Its floors with deftest art inlaid,</div> <div>Its sculptured wolves in gold arrayed,</div> <div>With its bright sheen the palace took</div> <div>The mind of man and chained the look,</div> <div>For like the sun and moon it glowed,</div> <div>And mocked Kuvera's loved abode.</div> <div>Circling the walls a crowd he viewed</div> <div>Who stood in reverent attitude,</div> <div>With throngs of countrymen who sought</div> <div>Acceptance of the gifts they brought.</div> <div>The elephant was stationed there,</div> <div>Appointed Ráma's self to bear;</div> <div>Adorned with pearls, his brow and cheek</div> <div>Were sandal-dyed in many a streak,</div> <div>While he, in stature, bulk, and pride,</div> <div>With Indra's own Airávat<SPAN id="noteref_280" name="noteref_280" href="#note_280"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">280</span></span></SPAN> vied.</div> <div>Sumantra, borne by coursers fleet,</div> <div>Flashing a radiance o'er the street,</div> <div>To Ráma's palace flew,</div> <div>And all who lined the royal road,</div> <div>Or thronged the prince's rich abode,</div> <div>Rejoiced as near he drew.</div> <div>And with delight his bosom swelled</div> <div>As onward still his course he held</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page111"></span><SPAN name="Pg111" id="Pg111" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Through many a sumptuous court</div> <div>Like Indra's palace nobly made,</div> <div>Where peacocks revelled in the shade,</div> <div>And beasts of silvan sort.</div> <div>Through many a hall and chamber wide,</div> <div>That with Kailása's splendour vied.</div> <div>Or mansions of the Blest,</div> <div>While Ráma's friends, beloved and tried,</div> <div>Before his coming stepped aside,</div> <div>Still on Sumantra pressed.</div> <div>He reached the chamber door, where stood</div> <div>Around his followers young and good,</div> <div>Bard, minstrel, charioteer,</div> <div>Well skilled the tuneful chords to sweep,</div> <div>With soothing strain to lull to sleep,</div> <div>Or laud their master dear.</div> <div>Then, like a dolphin darting through</div> <div>Unfathomed depths of ocean's blue</div> <div>With store of jewels decked,</div> <div>Through crowded halls that rock-like rose,</div> <div>Or as proud hills where clouds repose,</div> <div>Sumantra sped unchecked—</div> <div>Halls like the glittering domes on high</div> <div>Reared for the dwellers of the sky</div> <div>By heavenly architect.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />