Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc235" id="toc235"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf236" id="pdf236"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XL" id="CantoII-XL" 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 XL. Ráma's Departure.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then Ráma, Sítá, Lakshmaṇ bent</div> <div>At the king's feet, and sadly went</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page142"></span><SPAN name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Round him with slow steps reverent.</div> <div>When Ráma of the duteous heart</div> <div>Had gained his sire's consent to part,</div> <div>With Sítá by his side he paid</div> <div>Due reverence to the queen dismayed.</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ, with affection meet,</div> <div>Bowed down and clasped his mother's feet.</div> <div>Sumitrá viewed him as he pressed</div> <div>Her feet, and thus her son addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Neglect not Ráma wandering there,</span></div> <div>But tend him with thy faithful care.</div> <div>In hours of wealth, in time of woe,</div> <div>Him, sinless son, thy refuge know.</div> <div>From this good law the just ne'er swerve,</div> <div>That younger sons the eldest serve,</div> <div>And to this righteous rule incline</div> <div>All children of thine ancient line—</div> <div>Freely to give, reward each rite,</div> <div>Nor spare their bodies in the fight.</div> <div>Let Ráma Daśaratha be,</div> <div>Look upon Sítá as on me,</div> <div>And let the cot wherein you dwell</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Be thine Ayodhyá. Fare thee well.”</span></div> <div>Her blessing thus Sumitrá gave</div> <div>To him whose soul to Ráma clave,</div> <div>Exclaiming, when her speech was done,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Go forth, O Lakshmaṇ, go, my son.</span></div> <div>Go forth, my son to win success,</div> <div>High victory and happiness.</div> <div>Go forth thy foemen to destroy,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And turn again at last with joy.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As Mátali his charioteer</div> <div>Speaks for the Lord of Gods to hear,</div> <div>Sumantra, palm to palm applied,</div> <div>In reverence trained, to Ráma cried:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O famous Prince, my car ascend,—</span></div> <div>May blessings on thy course attend,—</div> <div>And swiftly shall my horses flee</div> <div>And place thee where thou biddest me.</div> <div>The fourteen years thou hast to stay</div> <div>Far in the wilds, begin to-day;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >For Oueen Kaikeyí cries, Away.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then Sítá, best of womankind,</div> <div>Ascended, with a tranquil mind,</div> <div>Soon as her toilet task was done,</div> <div>That chariot brilliant as the sun.</div> <div>Ráma and Lakshmaṇ true and bold</div> <div>Sprang on the car adorned with gold.</div> <div>The king those years had counted o'er,</div> <div>And given Sítá robes and store</div> <div>Of precious ornaments to wear</div> <div>When following her husband there.</div> <div>The brothers in the car found place</div> <div>For nets and weapons of the chase,</div> <div>There warlike arms and mail they laid,</div> <div>A leathern basket and a spade.</div> <div>Soon as Sumantra saw the three</div> <div>Were seated in the chariot, he</div> <div>Urged on each horse of noble breed,</div> <div>Who matched the rushing wind in speed.</div> <div>As thus the son of Raghu went</div> <div>Forth for his dreary banishment,</div> <div>Chill numbing grief the town assailed,</div> <div>All strength grew weak, all spirit failed,</div> <div>Ayodhyá through her wide extent</div> <div>Was filled with tumult and lament:</div> <div>Steeds neighed and shook the bells they bore,</div> <div>Each elephant returned a roar.</div> <div>Then all the city, young and old,</div> <div>Wild with their sorrow uncontrolled,</div> <div>Rushed to the car, as, from the sun</div> <div>The panting herds to water run.</div> <div>Before the car, behind, they clung,</div> <div>And there as eagerly they hung,</div> <div>With torrents streaming from their eyes,</div> <div>Called loudly with repeated cries:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Listen, Sumantra: draw thy rein;</span></div> <div>Drive gently, and thy steeds restrain.</div> <div>Once more on Ráma will we gaze,</div> <div>Now to be lost for many days.</div> <div>The queen his mother has, be sure,</div> <div>A heart of iron, to endure</div> <div>To see her godlike Ráma go,</div> <div>Nor feel it shattered by the blow.</div> <div>Sítá, well done! Videha's pride,</div> <div>Still like his shadow by his side;</div> <div>Rejoicing in thy duty still</div> <div>As sunlight cleaves to Meru's hill.</div> <div>Thou, Lakshmaṇ, too, hast well deserved,</div> <div>Who from thy duty hast not swerved,</div> <div>Tending the peer of Gods above,</div> <div>Whose lips speak naught but words of love.</div> <div>Thy firm resolve is nobly great,</div> <div>And high success on thee shall wait.</div> <div>Yea, thou shalt win a priceless meed—</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thy path with him to heaven shall lead.”</span></div> <div>As thus they spake, they could not hold</div> <div>The tears that down their faces rolled,</div> <div>While still they followed for a space</div> <div>Their darling of Ikshváku's race.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>There stood surrounded by a ring</div> <div>Of mournful wives the mournful king;</div> <div>For, <span class="tei tei-q" >“I will see once more,”</span> he cried,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Mine own dear son,”</span> and forth he hied.</div> <div>As he came near, there rose the sound</div> <div>Of weeping, as the dames stood round.</div> <div>So the she-elephants complain</div> <div>When their great lord and guide is slain.</div> <div>Kakutstha's son, the king of men,</div> <div>The glorious sire, looked troubled then,</div> <div>As the full moon is when dismayed</div> <div>By dark eclipse's threatening shade.</div> <div>Then Daśaratha's son, designed</div> <div>For highest fate of lofty mind,</div> <div>Urged to more speed the charioteer,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Away, away! why linger here?</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Urge on thy horses,”</span> Rama cried,</div> <div>And <span class="tei tei-q" >“Stay, O stay,”</span> the people sighed.</div> <div>Sumantra, urged to speed away,</div> <div>The townsmen's call must disobey,</div> <div>Forth as the long-armed hero went,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page143"></span><SPAN name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The dust his chariot wheels up sent</div> <div>Was laid by streams that ever flowed</div> <div>From their sad eyes who filled the road.</div> <div>Then, sprung of woe, from eyes of all</div> <div>The women drops began to fall,</div> <div>As from each lotus on the lake</div> <div>The darting fish the water shake.</div> <div>When he, the king of high renown,</div> <div>Saw that one thought held all the town,</div> <div>Like some tall tree he fell and lay,</div> <div>Whose root the axe has hewn away.</div> <div>Then straight a mighty cry from those</div> <div>Who followed Ráma's car arose,</div> <div>Who saw their monarch fainting there</div> <div>Beneath that grief too great to bear.</div> <div>Then <span class="tei tei-q" >“Ráma, Ráma!”</span> with the cry</div> <div>Of <span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah, his mother!”</span> sounded high,</div> <div>As all the people wept aloud</div> <div>Around the ladies' sorrowing crowd.</div> <div>When Ráma backward turned his eye,</div> <div>And saw the king his father lie</div> <div>With troubled sense and failing limb,</div> <div>And the sad queen, who followed him,</div> <div>Like some young creature in the net,</div> <div>That will not, in its misery, let</div> <div>Its wild eyes on its mother rest,</div> <div>So, by the bonds of duty pressed,</div> <div>His mother's look he could not meet.</div> <div>He saw them with their weary feet,</div> <div>Who, used to bliss, in cars should ride,</div> <div>Who ne'er by sorrow should be tried,</div> <div>And, as one mournful look he cast,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Drive on,”</span> he cried, <span class="tei tei-q" >“Sumantra, fast.”</span></div> <div>As when the driver's torturing hook</div> <div>Goads on an elephant, the look</div> <div>Of sire and mother in despair</div> <div>Was more than Ráma's heart could bear.</div> <div>As mother kine to stalls return</div> <div>Which hold the calves for whom they yearn,</div> <div>So to the car she tried to run</div> <div>As a cow seeks her little one.</div> <div>Once and again the hero's eyes</div> <div>Looked on his mother, as with cries</div> <div>Of woe she called and gestures wild,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Sítá, Lakshmaṇ, O my child!”</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Stay,”</span> cried the king, <span class="tei tei-q" >“thy chariot stay:”</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“On, on,”</span> cried Ráma, <span class="tei tei-q" >“speed away.”</span></div> <div>As one between two hosts, inclined</div> <div>To neither was Sumantra's mind.</div> <div>But Ráma spake these words again:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“A lengthened woe is bitterest pain.</span></div> <div>On, on; and if his wrath grow hot,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thine answer be, <span class="tei tei-q" >‘I heard thee not.’</span> ”</span></div> <div>Sumantra, at the chief's behest,</div> <div>Dismissed the crowd that toward him pressed,</div> <div>And, as he bade, to swiftest speed</div> <div>Urged on his way each willing steed.</div> <div>The king's attendants parted thence,</div> <div>And paid him heart-felt reverence:</div> <div>In mind, and with the tears he wept,</div> <div>Each still his place near Ráma kept.</div> <div>As swift away the horses sped,</div> <div>His lords to Daśaratha said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“To follow him whom thou again</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Wouldst see returning home is vain.”</span></div> <div>With failing limb and drooping mien</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">He heard their counsel wise:</div> <div>Still on their son the king and queen</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Kept fast their lingering eyes.<SPAN id="noteref_314" name="noteref_314" href="#note_314"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">314</span></span></SPAN></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc237" id="toc237"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf238" id="pdf238"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XLI" id="CantoII-XLI" 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 XLI. The Citizens' Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The lion chief with hands upraised</div> <div>Was born from eyes that fondly gazed.</div> <div>But then the ladies' bower was rent</div> <div>With cries of weeping and lament:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Where goes he now, our lord, the sure</span></div> <div>Protector of the friendless poor,</div> <div>In whom the wretched and the weak</div> <div>Defence and aid were wont to seek?</div> <div>All words of wrath he turned aside,</div> <div>And ne'er, when cursed, in ire replied.</div> <div>He shared his people's woe, and stilled</div> <div>The troubled breast which rage had filled.</div> <div>Our chief, on lofty thoughts intent,</div> <div>In glorious fame preëminent:</div> <div>As on his own dear mother, thus</div> <div>He ever looked on each of us.</div> <div>Where goes he now? His sire's behest,</div> <div>By Queen Kaikeyí's guile distressed,</div> <div>Has banished to the forest hence</div> <div>Him who was all the world's defence.</div> <div>Ah, senseless King, to drive away</div> <div>The hope of men, their guard and stay,</div> <div>To banish to the distant wood</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Ráma the duteous, true, and good!”</span></div> <div>The royal dames, like cows bereaved</div> <div>Of their young calves, thus sadly grieved.</div> <div>The monarch heard them as they wailed,</div> <div>And by the fire of grief assailed</div> <div>For his dear son, he bowed his head,</div> <div>And all his sense and memory fled.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then were no fires of worship fed,</div> <div>Thick darkness o'er the sun was spread.</div> <div>The cows their thirsty calves denied,</div> <div>And elephants flung their food aside.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page144"></span><SPAN name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Triśanku,<SPAN id="noteref_315" name="noteref_315" href="#note_315"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">315</span></span></SPAN> Jupiter looked dread,</div> <div>And Mercury and Mars the red,</div> <div>In direful opposition met,</div> <div>The glory of the moon beset.</div> <div>The lunar stars withheld their light,</div> <div>The planets were no longer bright,</div> <div>But meteors with their horrid glare,</div> <div>And dire Viśákhás<SPAN id="noteref_316" name="noteref_316" href="#note_316"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">316</span></span></SPAN> lit the air.</div> <div>As troubled Ocean heaves and raves</div> <div>When Doom's wild tempest sweeps the waves,</div> <div>Thus all Ayodhyá reeled and bent</div> <div>When Ráma to the forest went.</div> <div>And chilling grief and dark despair</div> <div>Fell suddenly on all men there.</div> <div>Their wonted pastime all forgot,</div> <div>Nor thought of food, or touched it not.</div> <div>Crowds in the royal street were seen</div> <div>With weeping eye and troubled mien:</div> <div>No more a people gay and glad,</div> <div>Each head and heart was sick and sad.</div> <div>No more the cool wind softly blew,</div> <div>The moon no more was fair to view,</div> <div>No more the sun with genial glow</div> <div>Cherished the world now plunged in woe.</div> <div>Sons, brothers, husbands, wedded wives</div> <div>Forgot the ties that joined their lives;</div> <div>No thought for kith and kin was spared,</div> <div>But all for only Ráma cared.</div> <div>And Ráma's friends who loved him best,</div> <div>Their minds disordered and distressed.</div> <div>By the great burthen of their woes</div> <div>Turned not to slumber or repose.</div> <div>Like Earth with all her hills bereft</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Of Indra's guiding care.</div> <div>Ayodhyá in her sorrow left</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">By him, the high souled heir,</div> <div>Was bowed by fear and sorrow's force,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And shook with many a throe,</div> <div>While warrior, elephant, and horse</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Sent up the cry of woe.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc239" id="toc239"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf240" id="pdf240"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XLII" id="CantoII-XLII" 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 XLII. Dasaratha's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>While yet the dust was seen afar</div> <div>That marked the course of Ráma's car,</div> <div>The glory of Ikshváku's race</div> <div>Turned not away his eager face.</div> <div>While yet his duteous son he saw</div> <div>He could not once his gaze withdraw,</div> <div>But rooted to the spot remained</div> <div>With eyes that after Ráma strained.</div> <div>But when that dust no more he viewed,</div> <div>Fainting he fell by grief subdued.</div> <div>To his right hand Kauśalyá went,</div> <div>And ready aid the lady lent,</div> <div>While Bharat's loving mother tried</div> <div>To raise him on the other side.</div> <div>The king, within whose ordered soul</div> <div>Justice and virtue held control,</div> <div>To Queen Kaikeyí turned and said,</div> <div>With every sense disquieted:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Touch me not, thou whose soul can plot</span></div> <div>All sin. Kaikeyí, touch me not.</div> <div>No loving wife, no friend to me,</div> <div>I ne'er again would look on thee;</div> <div>Ne'er from this day have aught to do</div> <div>With thee and all thy retinue;</div> <div>Thee whom no virtuous thoughts restrain,</div> <div>Whose selfish heart seeks only gain.</div> <div>The hand I laid in mine, O dame,</div> <div>The steps we took around the flame,<SPAN id="noteref_317" name="noteref_317" href="#note_317"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">317</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>And all that links thy life to mine</div> <div>Here and hereafter I resign.</div> <div>If Bharat too, thy darling son,</div> <div>Joy in the rule thy art has won,</div> <div>Ne'er may the funeral offerings paid</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >By his false hand approach my shade.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then while the dust upon him hung,</div> <div>The monarch to Kauśalyá clung,</div> <div>And she with mournful steps and slow</div> <div>Turned to the palace, worn with woe.</div> <div>As one whose hand has touched the fire,</div> <div>Or slain a Bráhman in his ire,</div> <div>He felt his heart with sorrow torn</div> <div>Still thinking of his son forlorn.</div> <div>Each step was torture, as the road</div> <div>The traces of the chariot showed,</div> <div>And as the shadowed sun grows dim</div> <div>So care and anguish darkened him.</div> <div>He raised a cry, by woe distraught,</div> <div>As of his son again he thought.</div> <div>And judging that the car had sped</div> <div>Beyond the city, thus he said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I still behold the foot-prints made</span></div> <div>By the good horses that conveyed</div> <div>My son afar: these marks I see,</div> <div>But high-souled Ráma, where is he?</div> <div>Ah me, my son! my first and best,</div> <div>On pleasant couches wont to rest,</div> <div>With limbs perfumed with sandal, fanned</div> <div>By many a beauty's tender hand:</div> <div>Where will he lie with log or stone</div> <div>Beneath him for a pillow thrown,</div> <div>To leave at morn his earthy bed,</div> <div>Neglected, and with dust o'erspread,</div> <div>As from the flood with sigh and pant</div> <div>Comes forth the husband elephant?</div> <div>The men who make the woods their home</div> <div>Shall see the long-armed hero roam</div> <div>Roused from his bed, though lord of all,</div> <div>In semblance of a friendless thrall.</div> <div>Janak's dear child who ne'er has met</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page145"></span><SPAN name="Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>With aught save joy and comfort yet,</div> <div>Will reach to-day the forest, worn</div> <div>And wearied with the brakes of thorn.</div> <div>Ah, gentle girl, of woods unskilled,</div> <div>How will her heart with dread be filled</div> <div>At the wild beasts' deep roaring there,</div> <div>Whose voices lift the shuddering hair!</div> <div>Kaikeyí, glory in thy gain,</div> <div>And, widow queen, begin to reign:</div> <div>No will, no power to live have I</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >When my brave son no more is nigh.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus pouring forth laments, the king</div> <div>Girt by the people's crowded ring,</div> <div>Entered the noble bower like one</div> <div>New-bathed when funeral rites are done.</div> <div>Where'er he looked naught met his gaze</div> <div>But empty houses, courts, and ways.</div> <div>Closed were the temples: countless feet</div> <div>No longer trod the royal street,</div> <div>And thinking of his son he viewed</div> <div>Men weak and worn and woe-subdued.</div> <div>As sinks the sun into a cloud,</div> <div>So passed he on, and wept aloud,</div> <div>Within that house no more to be</div> <div>The dwelling of the banished three,</div> <div>Brave Ráma, his Vedehan bride,</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ by his brother's side:</div> <div>Like broad still waters, when the king</div> <div>Of all the birds that ply the wing</div> <div>Has swooped from heaven and borne away</div> <div>The glittering snakes that made them gay.</div> <div>With choking sobs and voice half spent</div> <div>The king renewed his sad lament:</div> <div>With broken utterance faint and low</div> <div>Scarce could he speak these words of woe:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My steps to Ráma's mother guide,</span></div> <div>And place me by Kauśalyá's side:</div> <div>There, only there my heart may know</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Some little respite from my woe.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The warders of the palace led</div> <div>The monarch, when his words were said,</div> <div>To Queen Kauśalyá's bower, and there</div> <div>Laid him with reverential care.</div> <div>But while he rested on the bed</div> <div>Still was his soul disquieted.</div> <div>In grief he tossed his arms on high</div> <div>Lamenting with a piteous cry:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Ráma, Ráma,”</span> thus said he,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My son, thou hast forsaken me.</span></div> <div>High bliss awaits those favoured men</div> <div>Left living in Ayodhyá then,</div> <div>Whose eyes shall see my son once more</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Returning when the time is o'er.”</span></div> <div>Then came the night, whose hated gloom</div> <div>Fell on him like the night of doom.</div> <div>At midnight Daśaratha cried</div> <div>To Queen Kauśalyá by his side:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I see thee not, Kauśalyá; lay</span></div> <div>Thy gentle hand in mine, I pray.</div> <div>When Ráma left his home my sight</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Went with him, nor returns to-night.”</span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />