Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc247" id="toc247"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf248" id="pdf248"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XLVI" id="CantoII-XLVI" 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 XLVI. The Halt.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>When Ráma, chief of Raghu's race,</div> <div>Arrived at that delightful place,</div> <div>He looked on Sítá first, and then</div> <div>To Lakshmaṇ spake the lord of men:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Now first the shades of night descend</span></div> <div>Since to the wilds our steps we bend.</div> <div>Joy to thee, brother! do not grieve</div> <div>For our dear home and all we leave.</div> <div>The woods unpeopled seem to weep</div> <div>Around us, as their tenants creep</div> <div>Or fly to lair and den and nest,</div> <div>Both bird and beast, to seek their rest.</div> <div>Methinks Ayodhyá's royal town</div> <div>Where dwells my sire of high renown,</div> <div>With all her men and dames to-night</div> <div>Will mourn us vanished from their sight.</div> <div>For, by his virtues won, they cling</div> <div>In fond affection to their king,</div> <div>And thee and me, O brave and true,</div> <div>And Bharat and Śatrughna too.</div> <div>I for my sire and mother feel</div> <div>Deep sorrow o'er my bosom steal,</div> <div>Lest mourning us, oppressed with fears,</div> <div>They blind their eyes with endless tears.</div> <div>Yet Bharat's duteous love will show</div> <div>Sweet comfort in their hours of woe,</div> <div>And with kind words their hearts sustain,</div> <div>Suggesting duty, bliss, and gain.</div> <div>I mourn my parents now no more:</div> <div>I count dear Bharat's virtues o'er,</div> <div>And his kind love and care dispel</div> <div>The doubts I had, and all is well.</div> <div>And thou thy duty wouldst not shun,</div> <div>And, following me, hast nobly done;</div> <div>Else, bravest, I should need a band</div> <div>Around my wife as guard to stand.</div> <div>On this first night, my thirst to slake,</div> <div>Some water only will I take:</div> <div>Thus, brother, thus my will decides,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Though varied store the wood provides.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus having said to Lakshmaṇ, he</div> <div>Addressed in turn Sumantra: <span class="tei tei-q" >“Be</span></div> <div>Most diligent to-night, my friend,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And with due care thy horses tend.”</span></div> <div>The sun had set: Sumantra tied</div> <div>His noble horses side by side,</div> <div>Gave store of grass with liberal hand,</div> <div>And rested near them on the strand.</div> <div>Each paid the holy evening rite,</div> <div>And when around them fell the night,</div> <div>The charioteer, with Lakshmaṇ's aid,</div> <div>A lowly bed for Ráma laid.</div> <div>To Lakshmaṇ Ráma bade adieu,</div> <div>And then by Sítá's side he threw</div> <div>His limbs upon the leafy bed</div> <div>Their care upon the bank had spread.</div> <div>When Lakshmaṇ saw the couple slept,</div> <div>Still on the strand his watch he kept,</div> <div>Still with Sumantra there conversed,</div> <div>And Ráma's varied gifts rehearsed.</div> <div>All night he watched, nor sought repose,</div> <div>Till on the earth the sun arose:</div> <div>With him Sumantra stayed awake,</div> <div>And still of Ráma's virtues spake.</div> <div>Thus, near the river's grassy shore</div> <div>Which herds unnumbered wandered o'er,</div> <div>Repose, untroubled, Ráma found,</div> <div>And all the people lay around.</div> <div>The glorious hero left his bed,</div> <div>Looked on the sleeping crowd, and said</div> <div>To Lakshmaṇ, whom each lucky line</div> <div>Marked out for bliss with surest sign:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O brother Lakshmaṇ, look on these</span></div> <div>Reclining at the roots of trees;</div> <div>All care of house and home resigned,</div> <div>Caring for us with heart and mind,</div> <div>These people of the city yearn</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page149"></span><SPAN name="Pg149" id="Pg149" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>To see us to our home return:</div> <div>To quit their lives will they consent,</div> <div>But never leave their firm intent.</div> <div>Come, while they all unconscious sleep,</div> <div>Let us upon the chariot leap,</div> <div>And swiftly on our journey speed</div> <div>Where naught our progress may impede,</div> <div>That these fond citizens who roam</div> <div>Far from Ikshváku's ancient home,</div> <div>No more may sleep 'neath bush and tree,</div> <div>Following still for love of me.</div> <div>A prince with tender care should heal</div> <div>The self-brought woes his people feel,</div> <div>And never let his subjects share</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The burthen he is forced to bear.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then Lakshmaṇ to the chief replied,</div> <div>Who stood like Justice by his side:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thy rede, O sage, I well commend:</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Without delay the car ascend.”</span></div> <div>Then Ráma to Sumantra spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thy rapid steeds, I pray thee, yoke.</span></div> <div>Hence to the forest will I go:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Away, my lord, and be not slow.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra, urged to utmost speed,</div> <div>Yoked to the car each generous steed,</div> <div>And then, with hand to hand applied,</div> <div>He came before the chief and cried:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hail, Prince, whom mighty arms adorn,</span></div> <div>Hail, bravest of the chariot-borne!</div> <div>With Sítá and thy brother thou</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Mayst mount: the car is ready now.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The hero clomb the car with haste:</div> <div>His bow and gear within were placed,</div> <div>And quick the eddying flood he passed</div> <div>Of Tamasá whose waves run fast.</div> <div>Soon as he touched the farther side,</div> <div>That strong-armed hero, glorified,</div> <div>He found a road both wide and clear,</div> <div>Where e'en the timid naught could fear.</div> <div>Then, that the crowd might be misled,</div> <div>Thus Ráma to Sumantra said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Speed north a while, then hasten back,</span></div> <div>Returning in thy former track,</div> <div>That so the people may not learn</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The course I follow: drive and turn.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra, at the chief's behest,</div> <div>Quick to the task himself addressed;</div> <div>Then near to Ráma came, and showed</div> <div>The chariot ready for the road.</div> <div>With Sítá, then, the princely two,</div> <div>Who o'er the line of Raghu threw</div> <div>A glory ever bright and new,</div> <div>Upon the chariot stood.</div> <div>Sumantra fast and faster drove</div> <div>His horses, who in fleetness strove</div> <div>Still onward to the distant grove,</div> <div>The hermit-haunted wood.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc249" id="toc249"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf250" id="pdf250"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XLVII" id="CantoII-XLVII" 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 XLVII. The Citizens' Return.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The people, when the morn shone fair,</div> <div>Arose to find no Ráma there.</div> <div>Then fear and numbing grief subdued</div> <div>The senses of the multitude.</div> <div>The woe-born tears were running fast</div> <div>As all around their eyes they cast,</div> <div>And sadly looked, but found no trace</div> <div>Of Ráma, searching every place.</div> <div>Bereft of Ráma good and wise,</div> <div>With drooping cheer and weeping eyes,</div> <div>Each woe-distracted sage gave vent</div> <div>To sorrow in his wild lament:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Woe worth the sleep that stole our sense</span></div> <div>With its beguiling influence,</div> <div>That now we look in vain for him</div> <div>Of the broad chest and stalwart limb!</div> <div>How could the strong-armed hero, thus</div> <div>Deceiving all, abandon us?</div> <div>His people so devoted see,</div> <div>Yet to the woods, a hermit, flee?</div> <div>How can he, wont our hearts to cheer,</div> <div>As a fond sire his children dear,—</div> <div>How can the pride of Raghu's race</div> <div>Fly from us to some desert place!</div> <div>Here let us all for death prepare,</div> <div>Or on the last great journey fare;<SPAN id="noteref_320" name="noteref_320" href="#note_320"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">320</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Of Ráma our dear lord bereft,</div> <div>What profit in our lives is left?</div> <div>Huge trunks of trees around us lie,</div> <div>With roots and branches sere and dry,</div> <div>Come let us set these logs on fire</div> <div>And throw our bodies on the pyre.</div> <div>What shall we speak? How can we say</div> <div>We followed Ráma on his way,</div> <div>The mighty chief whose arm is strong,</div> <div>Who sweetly speaks, who thinks no wrong?</div> <div>Ayodhyá's town with sorrow dumb,</div> <div>Without our lord will see us come,</div> <div>And hopeless misery will strike</div> <div>Elder, and child, and dame alike.</div> <div>Forth with that peerless chief we came,</div> <div>Whose mighty heart is aye the same:</div> <div>How, reft of him we love, shall we</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Returning dare that town to see?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Complaining thus with varied cry</div> <div>They tossed their aged arms on high,</div> <div>And their sad hearts with grief were wrung,</div> <div>Like cows who sorrow for their young.</div> <div>A while they followed on the road</div> <div>Which traces of his chariot showed,</div> <div>But when at length those traces failed,</div> <div>A deep despair their hearts assailed.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page150"></span><SPAN name="Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The chariot marks no more discerned,</div> <div>The hopeless sages backward turned:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah, what is this? What can we more?</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Fate stops the way, and all is o'er.”</span></div> <div>With wearied hearts, in grief and shame</div> <div>They took the road by which they came,</div> <div>And reached Ayodhyá's city, where</div> <div>From side to side was naught but care.</div> <div>With troubled spirits quite cast down</div> <div>They looked upon the royal town,</div> <div>And from their eyes, oppressed with woe,</div> <div>Their tears again began to flow.</div> <div>Of Ráma reft, the city wore</div> <div>No look of beauty as before,</div> <div>Like a dull river or a lake</div> <div>By Garuḍ robbed of every snake.</div> <div>Dark, dismal as the moonless sky,</div> <div>Or as a sea whose bed is dry,</div> <div>So sad, to every pleasure dead,</div> <div>They saw the town, disquieted.</div> <div>On to their houses, high and vast,</div> <div>Where stores of precious wealth were massed,</div> <div>The melancholy Bráhmans passed,</div> <div>Their hearts with anguish cleft:</div> <div>Aloof from all, they came not near</div> <div>To stranger or to kinsman dear,</div> <div>Showing in faces blank and drear</div> <div>That not one joy was left.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc251" id="toc251"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf252" id="pdf252"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XLVIII" id="CantoII-XLVIII" 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 XLVIII. The Women's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>When those who forth with Ráma went</div> <div>Back to the town their steps had bent,</div> <div>It seemed that death had touched and chilled</div> <div>Those hearts which piercing sorrow filled.</div> <div>Each to his several mansion came,</div> <div>And girt by children and his dame,</div> <div>From his sad eyes the water shed</div> <div>That o'er his cheek in torrents spread.</div> <div>All joy was fled: oppressed with cares</div> <div>No bustling trader showed his wares.</div> <div>Each shop had lost its brilliant look,</div> <div>Each householder forbore to cook.</div> <div>No hand with joy its earnings told,</div> <div>None cared to win a wealth of gold,</div> <div>And scarce the youthful mother smiled</div> <div>To see her first, her new-born child.</div> <div>In every house a woman wailed,</div> <div>And her returning lord assailed</div> <div>With keen taunt piercing like the steel</div> <div>That bids the tusked monster kneel:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“What now to them is wedded dame,</span></div> <div>What house and home and dearest aim,</div> <div>Or son, or bliss, or gathered store,</div> <div>Whose eyes on Ráma look no more!</div> <div>There is but one in all the earth,</div> <div>One man alone of real worth,</div> <div>Lakshmaṇ, who follows, true and good,</div> <div>Ráma, with Sítá, through the wood.</div> <div>Made holy for all time we deem</div> <div>Each pool and fountain, lake and stream,</div> <div>If great Kakutstha's son shall choose</div> <div>Their water for his bath to use.</div> <div>Each forest, dark with lovely trees,</div> <div>Shall yearn Kakutstha's son to please;</div> <div>Each mountain peak and woody hill,</div> <div>Each mighty flood and mazy rill,</div> <div>Each rocky height, each shady grove</div> <div>Where the blest feet of Ráma rove,</div> <div>Shall gladly welcome with the best</div> <div>Of all they have their honoured guest.</div> <div>The trees that clustering blossoms bear,</div> <div>And bright-hued buds to gem their hair,</div> <div>The heart of Ráma shall delight,</div> <div>And cheer him on the breezy height.</div> <div>For him the upland slopes will show</div> <div>The fairest roots and fruit that grow,</div> <div>And all their wealth before him fling</div> <div>Ere the due hour of ripening.</div> <div>For him each earth-upholding hill</div> <div>Its crystal water shall distil,</div> <div>And all its floods shall be displayed</div> <div>In many a thousand-hued cascade.</div> <div>Where Ráma stands is naught to fear,</div> <div>No danger comes if he be near;</div> <div>For all who live on him depend,</div> <div>The world's support, and lord, and friend.</div> <div>Ere in too distant wilds he stray,</div> <div>Let us to Ráma speed away,</div> <div>For rich reward on those will wait</div> <div>Who serve a prince of soul so great.</div> <div>We will attend on Sítá there;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Be Raghu's son your special care.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The city dames, with grief distressed,</div> <div>Thus once again their lords addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ráma shall be your guard and guide,</span></div> <div>And Sítá will for us provide.</div> <div>For who would care to linger here,</div> <div>Where all is sad and dark and drear?</div> <div>Who, mid the mourners, hope for bliss</div> <div>In a poor soulless town like this?</div> <div>If Queen Kaikeyí's treacherous sin,</div> <div>Our lord expelled, the kingdom win,</div> <div>We heed not sons or golden store,</div> <div>Our life itself we prize no more.</div> <div>If she, seduced by lust of sway,</div> <div>Her lord and son could cast away,</div> <div>Whom would she leave unharmed, the base</div> <div>Defiler of her royal race?</div> <div>We swear it by our children dear,</div> <div>We will not dwell as servants here;</div> <div>If Queen Kaikeyí live to reign,</div> <div>We will not in her realm remain.</div> <div>Bowed down by her oppressive hand,</div> <div>The helpless, lordless, godless land,</div> <div>Cursed for Kaikeyí's guilt will fall,</div> <div>And swift destruction seize it all.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page151"></span><SPAN name="Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>For, Ráma forced from home to fly,</div> <div>The king his sire will surely die,</div> <div>And when the king has breathed his last</div> <div>Ruin will doubtless follow fast.</div> <div>Sad, robbed of merits, drug the cup</div> <div>And drink the poisoned mixture up,</div> <div>Or share the exiled Ráma's lot,</div> <div>Or seek some land that knows her not.</div> <div>No reason, but a false pretence</div> <div>Drove Ráma, Sítá, Lakshmaṇ hence,</div> <div>And we to Bharat have been given</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Like cattle to the shambles driven.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>While in each house the women, pained</div> <div>At loss of Ráma, still complained,</div> <div>Sank to his rest the Lord of Day,</div> <div>And night through all the sky held sway.</div> <div>The fires of worship all were cold,</div> <div>No text was hummed, no tale was told,</div> <div>And shades of midnight gloom came down</div> <div>Enveloping the mournful town.</div> <div>Still, sick at heart, the women shed,</div> <div>As for a son or husband fled,</div> <div>For Ráma tears, disquieted:</div> <div>No child was loved as he.</div> <div>And all Ayodhyá, where the feast,</div> <div>Music, and song, and dance had ceased,</div> <div>And merriment and glee,</div> <div>Where every merchant's store was closed</div> <div>That erst its glittering wares exposed,</div> <div>Was like a dried up sea.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />