Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc199" id="toc199"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf200" id="pdf200"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXII" id="CantoII-XXII" 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 XXII. Lakshman Calmed.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>So Ráma kept unshaken still</div> <div>His noble heart with iron will.</div> <div>To his dear brother next he turned,</div> <div>Whose glaring eyes with fury burned,</div> <div>Indignant, panting like a snake,</div> <div>And thus again his counsel spake:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thine anger and thy grief restrain,</span></div> <div>And firm in duty's path remain.</div> <div>Dear brother, lay thy scorn aside,</div> <div>And be the right thy joy and pride.</div> <div>Thy ready zeal and thoughtful care</div> <div>To aid what rites should grace the heir,—</div> <div>These 'tis another's now to ask;</div> <div>Come, gird thee for thy noble task,</div> <div>That Bharat's throning rites may he</div> <div>Graced with the things prepared for me.</div> <div>And with thy gentle care provide</div> <div>That her fond heart, now sorely tried</div> <div>With fear and longing for my sake,</div> <div>With doubt and dread may never ache.</div> <div>To know that thoughts of coming ill</div> <div>One hour that tender bosom fill</div> <div>With agony and dark despair</div> <div>Is grief too great for me to bear.</div> <div>I cannot, brother, call to mind</div> <div>One wilful fault or undesigned,</div> <div>When I have pained in anything</div> <div>My mothers or my sire the king.</div> <div>The right my father keeps in view,</div> <div>In promise, word, and action true;</div> <div>Let him then all his fear dismiss,</div> <div>Nor dread the loss of future bliss.</div> <div>He fears his truth herein will fail:</div> <div>Hence bitter thoughts his heart assail.</div> <div>He trembles lest the rites proceed,</div> <div>And at his pangs my heart should bleed.</div> <div>So now this earnest wish is mine,</div> <div>The consecration to resign,</div> <div>And from this city turn away</div> <div>To the wild wood with no delay.</div> <div>My banishment to-day will free</div> <div>Kaikeyí from her cares, that she,</div> <div>At last contented and elate,</div> <div>May Bharat's throning celebrate.</div> <div>Then will the lady's trouble cease,</div> <div>Then will her heart have joy and peace,</div> <div>When wandering in the wood I wear</div> <div>Deerskin, and bark, and matted hair.</div> <div>Nor shall by me his heart be grieved</div> <div>Whose choice approved, whose mind conceived</div> <div>This counsel which I follow. No,</div> <div>Forth to the forest will I go.</div> <div>'Tis Fate, Sumitrás son, confess,</div> <div>That sends me to the wilderness.</div> <div>'Tis Fate alone that gives away</div> <div>To other hands the royal sway.</div> <div>How could Kaikeyí's purpose bring</div> <div>On me this pain and suffering,</div> <div>Were not her change of heart decreed</div> <div>By Fate whose will commands the deed?</div> <div>I know my filial love has been</div> <div>The same throughout for every queen,</div> <div>And with the same affection she</div> <div>Has treated both her son and me.</div> <div>Her shameful words of cruel spite</div> <div>To stay the consecrating rite,</div> <div>And drive me banished from the throne,—</div> <div>These I ascribe to Fate alone,</div> <div>How could she, born of royal race,</div> <div>Whom nature decks with fairest grace,</div> <div>Speak like a dame of low degree</div> <div>Before the king to torture me?</div> <div>But Fate, which none may comprehend,</div> <div>To which all life must bow and bend,</div> <div>In her and me its power has shown,</div> <div>And all my hopes are overthrown.</div> <div>What man, Sumitrá's darling, may</div> <div>Contend with Fate's resistless sway,</div> <div>Whose all-commanding power we find</div> <div>Our former deeds alone can bind?</div> <div>Our life and death, our joy and pain,</div> <div>Anger and fear, and loss and gain,</div> <div>Each thing that is, in every state,</div> <div>All is the work of none but Fate.</div> <div>E'en saints, inspired with rigid zeal,</div> <div>When once the stroke of Fate they feel,</div> <div>In sternest vows no more engage,</div> <div>And fall enslaved by love and rage.</div> <div>So now the sudden stroke whose weight</div> <div>Descends unlooked for, comes of Fate,</div> <div>And with unpitying might destroys</div> <div>The promise of commencing joys.</div> <div>Weigh this true counsel in thy soul:</div> <div>With thy firm heart thy heart control;</div> <div>Then, brother, thou wilt cease to grieve</div> <div>For hindered rites which now I leave.</div> <div>So cast thy needless grief away,</div> <div>And strictly my commands obey.</div> <div>Those preparations check with speed,</div> <div>Nor let my throning rites proceed.</div> <div>Those urns that stand prepared to shed</div> <div>King-making drops upon my head,</div> <div>Shall, with their pure lustrations now</div> <div>Inaugurate my hermit's vow.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page121"></span><SPAN name="Pg121" id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Yet what have I to do with things</div> <div>That touch the state and pomp of kings?</div> <div>These hands of mine shall water take</div> <div>To sanctify the vow I make.</div> <div>Now Lakshmaṇ, let thy heart no more</div> <div>My fortune changed and lost deplore.</div> <div>A forest life more joys may bring</div> <div>Than those that wait upon a king,</div> <div>Now though her arts successful mar</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">My consecrating rite,</div> <div>Let not the youngest queen too far</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Thy jealous fear excite.</div> <div>Nor let one thought suggesting ill</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Upon our father fall,</div> <div>But let thy heart remember still</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >That Fate is lord of all.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc201" id="toc201"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf202" id="pdf202"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXIII" id="CantoII-XXIII" 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 XXIII. Lakshman's Anger.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus Ráma to his brother said;</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ bent his drooping head.</div> <div>In turns by grief and pride impelled,</div> <div>A middle course of thought he held,</div> <div>Then in a frown of anger, bent</div> <div>His brows that chief most excellent,</div> <div>And like a serpent in his hole,</div> <div>Breathed fierce and fast in wrath of soul.</div> <div>His threatening brows so darkly frowned,</div> <div>His eyes so fiercely glanced around,</div> <div>They made his glare, which none might brook,</div> <div>Like some infuriate lion's look.</div> <div>Like some wild elephant, full oft</div> <div>He raised and shook his hand<SPAN id="noteref_291" name="noteref_291" href="#note_291"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">291</span></span></SPAN> aloft.</div> <div>Now turned his neck to left and right</div> <div>Now bent, now raised its stately height.</div> <div>Now in his rage that sword he felt</div> <div>Which mangling wounds to foemen dealt,</div> <div>With sidelong glance his brother eyed,</div> <div>And thus in burning words replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thy rash resolve, thy eager haste,</span></div> <div>Thy mighty fear, are all misplaced:</div> <div>No room is here for duty's claim,</div> <div>No cause to dread the people's blame.</div> <div>Can one as brave as thou consent</div> <div>To use a coward's argument?</div> <div>The glory of the Warrior race</div> <div>With craven speech his lips debase?</div> <div>Can one like thee so falsely speak,</div> <div>Exalting Fate, confessed so weak?</div> <div>Canst thou, undoubting still restrain?</div> <div>Suspicions of those sinful twain?</div> <div>Canst thou, most duteous, fail to know</div> <div>Their hearts are set on duty's show?</div> <div>They with deceit have set their trains,</div> <div>And now the fruit rewards their pains.</div> <div>Had they not long ago agreed,</div> <div>O Ráma, on this treacherous deed,</div> <div>That promised boon, so long retained,</div> <div>He erst had given and she had gained.</div> <div>I cannot, O my brother, bear</div> <div>To see another throned as heir</div> <div>With rites which all our people hate:</div> <div>Then, O, this passion tolerate.</div> <div>This vaunted duty which can guide</div> <div>Thy steps from wisdom's path aside,</div> <div>And change the counsel of thy breast,</div> <div>O lofty-hearted, I detest.</div> <div>Wilt thou, when power and might are thine,</div> <div>Submit to this abhorred design?</div> <div>Thy father's impious hest fulfil,</div> <div>That vassal of Kaikeyí's will?</div> <div>But if thou still wilt shut thine eyes,</div> <div>Nor see the guile herein that lies,</div> <div>My soul is sad, I deeply mourn,</div> <div>And duty seems a thing to scorn.</div> <div>Canst thou one moment think to please</div> <div>This pair who live for love and ease,</div> <div>And 'gainst thy peace, as foes, allied,</div> <div>With tenderest names their hatred hide?</div> <div>Now if thy judgment still refers</div> <div>To Fate this plot of his and hers,</div> <div>My mind herein can ne'er agree:</div> <div>And O, in this be ruled by me.</div> <div>Weak, void of manly pride are they</div> <div>Who bend to Fate's imputed sway:</div> <div>The choicest souls, the nobly great</div> <div>Disdain to bow their heads to Fate.</div> <div>And he who dares his Fate control</div> <div>With vigorous act and manly soul,</div> <div>Though threatening Fate his hopes assail,</div> <div>Unmoved through all need never quail.</div> <div>This day mankind shall learn aright</div> <div>The power of Fate and human might,</div> <div>So shall the gulf that lies between</div> <div>A man and Fate be clearly seen.</div> <div>The might of Fate subdued by me</div> <div>This hour the citizens shall see,</div> <div>Who saw its intervention stay</div> <div>Thy consecrating rites to-day.</div> <div>My power shall turn this Fate aside,</div> <div>That threatens, as, with furious stride,</div> <div>An elephant who scorns to feel,</div> <div>In rage unchecked, the driver's steel.</div> <div>Not the great Lords whose sleepless might</div> <div>Protects the worlds, shall stay the rite</div> <div>Though earth, hell, heaven combine their powers:</div> <div>And shall we fear this sire of ours?</div> <div>Then if their minds are idly bent</div> <div>To doom thee, King, to banishment,</div> <div>Through twice seven years of exile they</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page122"></span><SPAN name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Shall in the lonely forest stay.</div> <div>I will consume the hopes that fire</div> <div>The queen Kaikeyí and our sire,</div> <div>That to her son this check will bring</div> <div>Advantage, making Bharat king.</div> <div>The power of Fate will ne'er withstand</div> <div>The might that arms my vigorous hand;</div> <div>If danger and distress assail,</div> <div>My fearless strength will still prevail.</div> <div>A thousand circling years shall flee:</div> <div>The forest then thy home shall be,</div> <div>And thy good sons, succeeding, hold</div> <div>The empire which their sire controlled.</div> <div>The royal saints, of old who reigned,</div> <div>For aged kings this rest ordained:</div> <div>These to their sons their realm commit</div> <div>That they, like sires, may cherish it.</div> <div>O pious soul, if thou decline</div> <div>The empire which is justly thine,</div> <div>Lest, while the king distracted lies,</div> <div>Disorder in the state should rise,</div> <div>I,—or no mansion may I find</div> <div>In worlds to hero souls assigned,—</div> <div>The guardian of thy realm will be,</div> <div>As the sea-bank protects the sea.</div> <div>Then cast thine idle fears aside:</div> <div>With prosperous rites be sanctified.</div> <div>The lords of earth may strive in vain:</div> <div>My power shall all their force restrain.</div> <div>My pair of arms, my warrior's bow</div> <div>Are not for pride or empty show:</div> <div>For no support these shafts were made;</div> <div>And binding up ill suits my blade:</div> <div>To pierce the foe with deadly breach—</div> <div>This is the work of all and each.</div> <div>But small, methinks the love I show</div> <div>For him I count my mortal foe.</div> <div>Soon as my trenchant steel is bare,</div> <div>Flashing its lightning through the air,</div> <div>I heed no foe, nor stand aghast</div> <div>Though Indra's self the levin cast.</div> <div>Then shall the ways be hard to pass,</div> <div>Where chariots lie in ruinous mass;</div> <div>When elephant and man and steed</div> <div>Crushed in the murderous onslaught bleed,</div> <div>And legs and heads fall, heap on heap,</div> <div>Beneath my sword's tremendous sweep.</div> <div>Struck by my keen brand's trenchant blade,</div> <div>Thine enemies shall fall dismayed,</div> <div>Like towering mountains rent in twain,</div> <div>Or lightning clouds that burst in rain.</div> <div>When armed with brace and glove I stand,</div> <div>And take my trusty bow in hand,</div> <div>Who then shall vaunt his might? who dare</div> <div>Count him a man to meet me there?</div> <div>Then will I loose my shafts, and strike</div> <div>Man, elephant, and steed alike:</div> <div>At one shall many an arrow fly,</div> <div>And many a foe with one shall die.</div> <div>This day the world my power shall see,</div> <div>That none in arms can rival me:</div> <div>My strength the monarch shall abase,</div> <div>And set thee, lord, in lordliest place.</div> <div>These arms which breathe the sandal's scent,</div> <div>Which golden bracelets ornament,</div> <div>These hands which precious gifts bestow,</div> <div>Which guard the friend and smite the foe,</div> <div>A nobler service shall assay,</div> <div>And fight in Ráma's cause to-day,</div> <div>The robbers of thy rights to stay.</div> <div>Speak, brother, tell thy foeman's name</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Whom I, in conquering strife,</div> <div>May strip of followers and fame,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Of fortune, or of life.</div> <div>Say, how may all this sea-girt land</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Be brought to own thy sway:</div> <div>Thy faithful servant here I stand</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >To listen and obey.”</span></div> <div>Then strove the bride of Raghu's race</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Sad Lakshmaṇ's heart to cheer,</div> <div>While slowly down the hero's face,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Unchecked, there rolled a tear.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The orders of my sire,”</span> he cried,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >“My will shall ne'er oppose:</span></div> <div>I follow still, whate'er betide,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >The path which duty shows.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc203" id="toc203"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf204" id="pdf204"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXIV" id="CantoII-XXIV" 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 XXIV. Kausalyá Calmed.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>But when Kauśalyásaw that he</div> <div>Resolved to keep his sire's decree,</div> <div>While tears and sobs her utterance broke,</div> <div>Her very righteous speech she spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Can he, a stranger yet to pain,</span></div> <div>Whose pleasant words all hearts enchain,</div> <div>Son of the king and me the queen,</div> <div>Live on the grain his hands may glean;</div> <div>Can he, whose slaves and menials eat</div> <div>The finest cakes of sifted wheat—</div> <div>Can Ráma in the forest live</div> <div>On roots and fruit which woodlands give;</div> <div>Who will believe, who will not fear</div> <div>When the sad story smites his ear,</div> <div>That one so dear, so noble held,</div> <div>Is by the king his sire expelled?</div> <div>Now surely none may Fate resist,</div> <div>Which orders all as it may list,</div> <div>If, Ráma, in thy strength and grace,</div> <div>The woods become thy dwelling-place.</div> <div>A childless mother long I grieved,</div> <div>And many a sigh for offspring heaved,</div> <div>With wistful longing weak and worn</div> <div>Till thou at last, my son, wast born.</div> <div>Fanned by the storm of that desire</div> <div>Deep in my soul I felt the fire,</div> <div>Whose offerings flowed from weeping eyes,</div> <div>With fuel fed of groans and sighs,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page123"></span><SPAN name="Pg123" id="Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>While round the flame the smoke grew hot</div> <div>Of tears because thou camest not.</div> <div>Now reft of thee, too fiery fierce</div> <div>The flame of woe my heart will pierce,</div> <div>As, when the days of spring return,</div> <div>The sun's hot beams the forest burn.</div> <div>The mother cow still follows near</div> <div>The wanderings of her youngling dear.</div> <div>So close to thine my feet shall be,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Where'er thou goest following thee.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Ráma, the noblest lord of men,</div> <div>Heard his fond mother's speech, and then</div> <div>In soothing words like these replied</div> <div>To the sad queen who wept and sighed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Nay, by Kaikeyí's art beguiled,</span></div> <div>When I am banished to the wild,</div> <div>If thou, my mother, also fly,</div> <div>The aged king will surely die.</div> <div>When wedded dames their lords forsake,</div> <div>Long for the crime their souls shall ache.</div> <div>Thou must not e'en in thought within</div> <div>Thy bosom frame so dire a sin.</div> <div>Long as Kakutstha's son, who reigns</div> <div>Lord of the earth, in life remains,</div> <div>Thou must with love his will obey:</div> <div>This duty claims, supreme for aye.</div> <div>Yes, mother, thou and I must be</div> <div>Submissive to my sire's decree,</div> <div>King, husband, sire is he confessed,</div> <div>The lord of all, the worthiest.</div> <div>I in the wilds my days will spend</div> <div>Till twice seven years have reached an end,</div> <div>Then with great joy will come again,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And faithful to thy hests remain.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Kauśalyá by her son addressed,</div> <div>With love and passion sore distressed,</div> <div>Afflicted, with her eyes bedewed,</div> <div>To Ráma thus her speech renewed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Nay, Ráma, but my heart will break</span></div> <div>If with these queens my home I make.</div> <div>Lead me too with thee; let me go</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And wander like a woodland roe.”</span></div> <div>Then, while no tear the hero shed,</div> <div>Thus to the weeping queen he said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Mother, while lives the husband, he</span></div> <div>Is woman's lord and deity.</div> <div>O dearest lady, thou and I</div> <div>Our lord and king must ne'er deny;</div> <div>The lord of earth himself have we</div> <div>Our guardian wise and friend to be.</div> <div>And Bharat, true to duty's call,</div> <div>Whose sweet words take the hearts of all,</div> <div>Will serve thee well, and ne'er forget</div> <div>The virtuous path before him set.</div> <div>Be this, I pray, thine earnest care,</div> <div>That the old king my father ne'er,</div> <div>When I have parted hence, may know,</div> <div>Grieved for his son, a pang of woe.</div> <div>Let not this grief his soul distress,</div> <div>To kill him with the bitterness.</div> <div>With duteous care, in every thing,</div> <div>Love, comfort, cheer the aged king.</div> <div>Though, best of womankind, a spouse</div> <div>Keeps firmly all her fasts and vows,</div> <div>Nor yet her husband's will obeys,</div> <div>She treads in sin's forbidden ways.</div> <div>She to her husband's will who bends,</div> <div>Goes to high bliss that never ends,</div> <div>Yea, though the Gods have found in her</div> <div>No reverential worshipper.</div> <div>Bent on his weal, a woman still</div> <div>Must seek to do her husband's will:</div> <div>For Scripture, custom, law uphold</div> <div>This duty Heaven revealed of old.</div> <div>Honour true Bráhmans for my sake,</div> <div>And constant offerings duly make,</div> <div>With fire-oblations and with flowers,</div> <div>To all the host of heavenly powers.</div> <div>Look to the coming time, and yearn</div> <div>For the glad hour of my return.</div> <div>And still thy duteous course pursue,</div> <div>Abstemious, humble, kind, and true.</div> <div>The highest bliss shalt thou obtain</div> <div>When I from exile come again,</div> <div>If, best of those who keep the right,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The king my sire still see the light.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The queen, by Ráma thus addressed,</div> <div>Still with a mother's grief oppressed,</div> <div>While her long eyes with tears were dim,</div> <div>Began once more and answered him:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Not by my pleading may be stayed</span></div> <div>The firm resolve thy soul has made.</div> <div>My hero, thou wilt go; and none</div> <div>The stern commands of Fate may shun.</div> <div>Go forth, dear child whom naught can bend,</div> <div>And may all bliss thy steps attend.</div> <div>Thou wilt return, and that dear day</div> <div>Will chase mine every grief away.</div> <div>Thou wilt return, thy duty done,</div> <div>Thy vows discharged, high glory won;</div> <div>From filial debt wilt thou be free,</div> <div>And sweetest joy will come on me.</div> <div>My son, the will of mighty Fate</div> <div>At every time must dominate,</div> <div>If now it drives thee hence to stray</div> <div>Heedless of me who bid thee stay.</div> <div>Go, strong of arm, go forth, my boy,</div> <div>Go forth, again to come with joy,</div> <div>And thine expectant mother cheer</div> <div>With those sweet tones she loves to hear.</div> <div>O that the blessed hour were nigh</div> <div>When thou shalt glad this anxious eye,</div> <div>With matted hair and hermit dress</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >returning from the wilderness.”</span></div> <div>Kauśalyá's conscious soul approved,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">As her proud glance she bent</div> <div>On Ráma constant and unmoved,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Resolved on banishment.</div> <div>Such words, with happy omens fraught</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">To her dear son she said,</div> <div>Invoking with each eager thought</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">A blessing on his head.</div> </div></div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page124"></span><SPAN name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />