Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc229" id="toc229"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf230" id="pdf230"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXVII" id="CantoII-XXXVII" 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 XXXVII. The Coats Of Bark.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus spake the virtuous sage: and then</div> <div>Ráma addressed the king of men.</div> <div>In laws of meek behaviour bred,</div> <div>Thus to his sire he meekly said:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“King, I renounce all earthly care,</span></div> <div>And live in woods on woodland fare.</div> <div>What, dead to joys, have I to do</div> <div>With lordly train and retinue!</div> <div>Who gives his elephant and yet</div> <div>Upon the girths his heart will set?</div> <div>How can a cord attract his eyes</div> <div>Who gives away the nobler prize?</div> <div>Best of the good, with me be led</div> <div>No host, my King with banners spread.</div> <div>All wealth, all lordship I resign:</div> <div>The hermit's dress alone be mine.</div> <div>Before I go, have here conveyed</div> <div>A little basket and a spade.</div> <div>With these alone I go, content,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >For fourteen years of banishment.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>With her own hands Kaikeyí took</div> <div>The hermit coats of bark, and, <span class="tei tei-q" >“Look,”</span></div> <div>She cried with bold unblushing brow</div> <div>Before the concourse, <span class="tei tei-q" >“Dress thee now.”</span></div> <div>That lion leader of the brave</div> <div>Took from her hand the dress she gave,</div> <div>Cast his fine raiment on the ground,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page139"></span><SPAN name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>And round his waist the vesture bound.</div> <div>Then quick the hero Lakshmaṇ too</div> <div>His garment from his shoulders threw,</div> <div>And, in the presence of his sire,</div> <div>Indued the ascetic's rough attire.</div> <div>But Sítá, in her silks arrayed,</div> <div>Threw glances, trembling and afraid,</div> <div>On the bark coat she had to wear,</div> <div>Like a shy doe that eyes the snare.</div> <div>Ashamed and weeping for distress</div> <div>From the queen's hand she took the dress.</div> <div>The fair one, by her husband's side</div> <div>Who matched heaven's minstrel monarch,<SPAN id="noteref_312" name="noteref_312" href="#note_312"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">312</span></span></SPAN> cried:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“How bind they on their woodland dress,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Those hermits of the wilderness?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>There stood the pride of Janak's race</div> <div>Perplexed, with sad appealing face.</div> <div>One coat the lady's fingers grasped,</div> <div>One round her neck she feebly clasped,</div> <div>But failed again, again, confused</div> <div>By the wild garb she ne'er had used.</div> <div>Then quickly hastening Ráma, pride</div> <div>Of all who cherish virtue, tied</div> <div>The rough bark mantle on her, o'er</div> <div>The silken raiment that she wore.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then the sad women when they saw</div> <div>Ráma the choice bark round her draw,</div> <div>Rained water from each tender eye,</div> <div>And cried aloud with bitter cry:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O, not on her, beloved, not</span></div> <div>On Sítá falls thy mournful lot.</div> <div>If, faithful to thy father's will,</div> <div>Thou must go forth, leave Sítá still.</div> <div>Let Sítá still remaining here</div> <div>Our hearts with her loved presence cheer.</div> <div>With Lakshmaṇ by thy side to aid</div> <div>Seek thou, dear son, the lonely shade.</div> <div>Unmeet, one good and fair as she</div> <div>Should dwell in woods a devotee.</div> <div>Let not our prayers be prayed in vain:</div> <div>Let beauteous Sítá yet remain;</div> <div>For by thy love of duty tied</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thou wilt not here thyself abide.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then the king's venerable guide</div> <div>Vaśishṭha, when he saw each coat</div> <div>Enclose the lady's waist and throat,</div> <div>Her zeal with gentle words repressed,</div> <div>And Queen Kaikeyí thus addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O evil-hearted sinner, shame</span></div> <div>Of royal Kekaya's race and name;</div> <div>Who matchless in thy sin couldst cheat</div> <div>Thy lord the king with vile deceit;</div> <div>Lost to all sense of duty, know</div> <div>Sítá to exile shall not go.</div> <div>Sítá shall guard, as 'twere her own,</div> <div>The precious trust of Ráma's throne.</div> <div>Those joined by wedlock's sweet control</div> <div>Have but one self and common soul.</div> <div>Thus Sítá shall our empress be,</div> <div>For Ráma's self and soul is she.</div> <div>Or if she still to Ráma cleave</div> <div>And for the woods the kingdom leave:</div> <div>If naught her loving heart deter,</div> <div>We and this town will follow her.</div> <div>The warders of the queen shall take</div> <div>Their wives and go for Ráma's sake,</div> <div>The nation with its stores of grain,</div> <div>The city's wealth shall swell his train.</div> <div>Bharat, Śatrughna both will wear</div> <div>Bark mantles, and his lodging share,</div> <div>Still with their elder brother dwell</div> <div>In the wild wood, and serve him well.</div> <div>Rest here alone, and rule thy state</div> <div>Unpeopled, barren, desolate;</div> <div>Be empress of the land and trees,</div> <div>Thou sinner whom our sorrows please.</div> <div>The land which Ráma reigns not o'er</div> <div>Shall bear the kingdom's name no more:</div> <div>The woods which Ráma wanders through</div> <div>Shall be our home and kingdom too.</div> <div>Bharat, be sure, will never deign</div> <div>O'er realms his father yields, to reign.</div> <div>Nay, if the king's true son he be,</div> <div>He will not, sonlike, dwell with thee.</div> <div>Nay, shouldst thou from the earth arise,</div> <div>And send thy message from the skies,</div> <div>To his forefathers' custom true</div> <div>No erring course would he pursue.</div> <div>So hast thou, by thy grievous fault,</div> <div>Offended him thou wouldst exalt.</div> <div>In all the world none draws his breath</div> <div>Who loves not Ráma, true to death.</div> <div>This day, O Queen, shalt thou behold</div> <div>Birds, deer, and beasts from lea and fold</div> <div>Turn to the woods in Ráma's train.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And naught save longing trees remain.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc231" id="toc231"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf232" id="pdf232"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXVIII" id="CantoII-XXXVIII" 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 XXXVIII. Care For Kausalyá</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then when the people wroth and sad</div> <div>Saw Sítá in bark vesture clad,</div> <div>Though wedded, like some widowed thing,</div> <div>They cried out, <span class="tei tei-q" >“Shame upon thee, King!”</span></div> <div>Grieved by their cry and angry look</div> <div>The lord of earth at once forsook</div> <div>All hope in life that still remained,</div> <div>In duty, self, and fame unstained.</div> <div>Ikshváku's son with burning sighs</div> <div>On Queen Kaikeyí bent his eyes,</div> <div>And said: <span class="tei tei-q" >“But Sítá must not flee</span></div> <div>In garments of a devotee.</div> <div>My holy guide has spoken truth:</div> <div>Unfit is she in tender youth,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page140"></span><SPAN name="Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>So gently nurtured, soft and fair,</div> <div>The hardships of the wood to share.</div> <div>How has she sinned, devout and true,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">The noblest monarch's child,</div> <div>That she should garb of bark indue</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And journey to the wild?</div> <div>That she should spend her youthful days</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Amid a hermit band,</div> <div>Like some poor mendicant who strays</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Sore troubled, through the land?</div> <div>Ah, let the child of Janak throw</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Her dress of bark aside,</div> <div>And let the royal lady go</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">With royal wealth supplied.</div> <div>Not such the pledge I gave before,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Unfit to linger here:</div> <div>The oath, which I the sinner swore</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Is kept, and leaves her clear.</div> <div>Won from her childlike love this too</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">My instant death would be,</div> <div>As blossoms on the old bamboo</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Destroy the parent tree.<SPAN id="noteref_313" name="noteref_313" href="#note_313"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">313</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>If aught amiss by Ráma done</div> <div>Offend thee, O thou wicked one,</div> <div>What least transgression canst thou find</div> <div>In her, thou worst of womankind?</div> <div>What shade of fault in her appears,</div> <div>Whose full soft eye is like the deer's?</div> <div>What canst thou blame in Janak's child,</div> <div>So gentle, modest, true, and mild?</div> <div>Is not one crime complete, that sent</div> <div>My Ráma forth to banishment?</div> <div>And wilt thou other sins commit,</div> <div>Thou wicked one, to double it?</div> <div>This is the pledge and oath I swore,</div> <div>What thou besoughtest, and no more,</div> <div>Of Ráma—for I heard thee, dame—</div> <div>When he for consecration came.</div> <div>Now with this limit not content,</div> <div>In hell should be thy punishment,</div> <div>Who fain the Maithil bride wouldst press</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >To clothe her limbs with hermit dress.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus spake the father in his woe;</div> <div>And Ráma, still prepared to go,</div> <div>To him who sat with drooping head</div> <div>Spake in return these words and said:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Just King, here stands my mother dear,</span></div> <div>Kauśalyá, one whom all revere.</div> <div>Submissive, gentle, old is she,</div> <div>And keeps her lips from blame of thee,</div> <div>For her, kind lord, of me bereft</div> <div>A sea of whelming woe is left.</div> <div>O, show her in her new distress</div> <div>Still fonder love and tenderness.</div> <div>Well honoured by thine honoured hand</div> <div>Her grief for me let her withstand,</div> <div>Who wrapt in constant thought of me</div> <div>In me would live a devotee.</div> <div>Peer of Mahendra, O, to her be kind,</div> <div>And treat I pray, my gentle mother so,</div> <div>That, when I dwell afar, her life resigned,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >She may not pass to Yáma's realm for woe.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc233" id="toc233"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf234" id="pdf234"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXIX" id="CantoII-XXXIX" 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 XXXIX. Counsel To Sítá.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Scarce had the sire, with each dear queen,</div> <div>Heard Ráma's pleading voice, and seen</div> <div>His darling in his hermit dress</div> <div>Ere failed his senses for distress.</div> <div>Convulsed with woe, his soul that shook,</div> <div>On Raghu's son he could not look;</div> <div>Or if he looked with failing eye</div> <div>He could not to the chief reply.</div> <div>By pangs of bitter grief assailed,</div> <div>The long-armed monarch wept and wailed,</div> <div>Half dead a while and sore distraught,</div> <div>While Ráma filled his every thought.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“This hand of mine in days ere now</span></div> <div>Has reft her young from many a cow,</div> <div>Or living things has idly slain:</div> <div>Hence comes, I ween, this hour of pain.</div> <div>Not till the hour is come to die</div> <div>Can from its shell the spirit fly.</div> <div>Death comes not, and Kaikeyí still</div> <div>Torments the wretch she cannot kill,</div> <div>Who sees his son before him quit</div> <div>The fine soft robes his rank that fit,</div> <div>And, glorious as the burning fire,</div> <div>In hermit garb his limbs attire.</div> <div>Now all the people grieve and groan</div> <div>Through Queen Kaikeyí's deed alone,</div> <div>Who, having dared this deed of sin,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Strives for herself the gain to win.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He spoke. With tears his eyes grew dim,</div> <div>His senses all deserted him.</div> <div>He cried, O Ráma, once, then weak</div> <div>And fainting could no further speak.</div> <div>Unconscious there he lay: at length</div> <div>Regathering his sense and strength,</div> <div>While his full eyes their torrents shed,</div> <div>To wise Sumantra thus he said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Yoke the light car, and hither lead</span></div> <div>Fleet coursers of the noblest breed,</div> <div>And drive this heir of lofty fate</div> <div>Beyond the limit of the state.</div> <div>This seems the fruit that virtues bear,</div> <div>The meed of worth which texts declare—</div> <div>The sending of the brave and good</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >By sire and mother to the wood.'”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He heard the monarch, and obeyed,</div> <div>With ready feet that ne'er delayed,</div> <div>And brought before the palace gate</div> <div>The horses and the car of state.</div> <div>Then to the monarch's son he sped,</div> <div>And raising hands of reverence said</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page141"></span><SPAN name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>That the light car which gold made fair,</div> <div>With best of steeds, was standing there.</div> <div>King Daśaratha called in haste</div> <div>The lord o'er all his treasures placed.</div> <div>And spoke, well skilled in place and time,</div> <div>His will to him devoid of crime:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Count all the years she has to live</span></div> <div>Afar in forest wilds, and give</div> <div>To Sítá robes and gems of price</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >As for the time may well suffice.”</span></div> <div>Quick to the treasure-room he went,</div> <div>Charged by that king most excellent,</div> <div>Brought the rich stores, and gave them all</div> <div>To Sítá in the monarch's hall.</div> <div>The Maithil dame of high descent</div> <div>Received each robe and ornament,</div> <div>And tricked those limbs, whose lines foretold</div> <div>High destiny, with gems and gold.</div> <div>So well adorned, so fair to view,</div> <div>A glory through the hall she threw:</div> <div>So, when the Lord of Light upsprings,</div> <div>His radiance o'er the sky he flings.</div> <div>Then Queen Kauśalyá spake at last,</div> <div>With loving arms about her cast,</div> <div>Pressed lingering kisses on her head,</div> <div>And to the high-souled lady said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah, in this faithless world below</span></div> <div>When dark misfortune comes and woe,</div> <div>Wives, loved and cherished every day,</div> <div>Neglect their lords and disobey.</div> <div>Yes, woman's nature still is this:—</div> <div>After long days of calm and bliss</div> <div>When some light grief her spirit tries,</div> <div>She changes all her love, or flies.</div> <div>Young wives are thankless, false in soul,</div> <div>With roving hearts that spurn control.</div> <div>Brooding on sin and quickly changed,</div> <div>In one short hour their love estranged.</div> <div>Not glorious deed or lineage fair,</div> <div>Not knowledge, gift, or tender care</div> <div>In chains of lasting love can bind</div> <div>A woman's light inconstant mind.</div> <div>But those good dames who still maintain</div> <div>What right, truth, Scripture, rule ordain—</div> <div>No holy thing in their pure eyes</div> <div>With one beloved husband vies.</div> <div>Nor let thy lord my son, condemned</div> <div>To exile, be by thee contemned,</div> <div>For be he poor or wealthy, he</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Is as a God, dear child, to thee.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>When Sítá heard Kauśalyá's speech</div> <div>Her duty and her gain to teach,</div> <div>She joined her palms with reverent grace</div> <div>And gave her answer face to face:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“All will I do, forgetting naught,</span></div> <div>Which thou, O honoured Queen, hast taught.</div> <div>I know, have heard, and deep have stored</div> <div>The rules of duty to my lord.</div> <div>Not me, good Queen, shouldst thou include</div> <div>Among the faithless multitude.</div> <div>Its own sweet light the moon shall leave</div> <div>Ere I to duty cease to cleave.</div> <div>The stringless lute gives forth no strain,</div> <div>The wheelless car is urged in vain;</div> <div>No joy a lordless dame, although</div> <div>Blest with a hundred sons, can know.</div> <div>From father, brother, and from son</div> <div>A measured share of joy is won:</div> <div>Who would not honour, love, and bless</div> <div>Her lord, whose gifts are measureless?</div> <div>Thus trained to think, I hold in awe</div> <div>Scripture's command and duty's law.</div> <div>Him can I hold in slight esteem?</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Her lord is woman's God, I deem.”</span></div> <div>Kauśalyá heard the lady's speech,</div> <div>Nor failed those words her heart to reach.</div> <div>Then, pure in mind, she gave to flow</div> <div>The tear that sprang of joy and woe.</div> <div>Then duteous Ráma forward came</div> <div>And stood before the honoured dame,</div> <div>And joining reverent hands addressed</div> <div>The queen in rank above the rest:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O mother, from these tears refrain;</span></div> <div>Look on my sire and still thy pain.</div> <div>To thee my days afar shall fly</div> <div>As if sweet slumber closed thine eye,</div> <div>And fourteen years of exile seem</div> <div>To thee, dear mother, like a dream.</div> <div>On me returning safe and well,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Girt by my friends, thine eyes shall dwell.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus for their deep affection's sake</div> <div>The hero to his mother spake,</div> <div>Then to the half seven hundred too,</div> <div>Wives of his sire, paid reverence due.</div> <div>Thus Daśaratha's son addressed</div> <div>That crowd of matrons sore distressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“If from these lips, while here I dwelt,</span></div> <div>One heedless taunt you e'er have felt,</div> <div>Forgive me, pray. And now adieu,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >I bid good-bye to all of you.”</span></div> <div>Then straight, like curlews' cries, upwent</div> <div>The voices of their wild lament,</div> <div>While, as he bade farewell, the crowd</div> <div>Of royal women wept aloud,</div> <div>And through the ample hall's extent.</div> <div>Where erst the sound of tabour, blent</div> <div>With drum and shrill-toned instrument,</div> <div>In joyous concert rose,</div> <div>Now rang the sound of wailing high,</div> <div>The lamentation and the cry,</div> <div>The shriek, the choking sob, the sigh</div> <div>That told the ladies' woes.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />