Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc271" id="toc271"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf272" id="pdf272"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LVIII" id="CantoII-LVIII" 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 LVIII. Ráma's Message.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The king a while had senseless lain,</div> <div>When care brought memory back again.</div> <div>Then straight he called, the news to hear</div> <div>Of Ráma, for the charioteer,</div> <div>With reverent hand to hand applied</div> <div>He waited by the old man's side,</div> <div>Whose mind with anguish was distraught</div> <div>Like a great elephant newly caught.</div> <div>The king with bitter pain distressed</div> <div>The faithful charioteer addressed,</div> <div>Who, sad of mien, with flooded eye,</div> <div>And dust upon his limbs, stood by:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Where will be Ráma's dwelling now</span></div> <div>At some tree's foot, beneath the bough;</div> <div>Ah, what will be the exile's food,</div> <div>Bred up with kind solicitude?</div> <div>Can he, long lapped in pleasant rest,</div> <div>Unmeet for pain, by pain oppressed,</div> <div>Son of earth's king, his sad night spend</div> <div>Earth-couched, as one that has no friend?</div> <div>Behind him, when abroad he sped,</div> <div>Cars, elephant, and foot were led:</div> <div>Then how shall Ráma dwell afar</div> <div>In the wild woods where no men are?</div> <div>How, tell me, did the princes there,</div> <div>With Sítá good and soft and fair,</div> <div>Alighting from the chariot, tread</div> <div>The forest wilds around them spread?</div> <div>A happy lot is thine, I ween,</div> <div>Whose eyes my two dear sons have seen</div> <div>Seeking on foot the forest shade,</div> <div>Like the bright Twins to view displayed,</div> <div>The heavenly Aśvins, when they seek</div> <div>The woods that hang 'neath Mandar's peak.</div> <div>What words, Sumantra, quickly tell,</div> <div>From Ráma, Lakshmaṇ, Sítá fell?</div> <div>How in the wood did Ráma eat?</div> <div>What was his bed, and what his seat?</div> <div>Full answer to my questions give,</div> <div>For I on thy replies shall live,</div> <div>As with the saints Yayáti held</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Sweet converse, from the skies expelled.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Urged by the lord of men to speak,</div> <div>Whose sobbing voice came faint and weak,</div> <div>Thus he, while tears his utterance broke,</div> <div>In answer to the monarch spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hear then the words that Ráma said,</span></div> <div>Resolved in duty's path to tread.</div> <div>Joining his hands, his head he bent,</div> <div>And gave this message, reverent:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Sumantra, to my father go,</span></div> <div>Whose lofty mind all people know:</div> <div>Bow down before him, as is meet,</div> <div>And in my stead salute his feet.</div> <div>Then to the queen my mother bend,</div> <div>And give the greeting that I send:</div> <div>Ne'er may her steps from duty err,</div> <div>And may it still be well with her.</div> <div>And add this word: <span class="tei tei-q" >“O Queen, pursue</span></div> <div>Thy vows with faithful heart and true;</div> <div>And ever at due season turn</div> <div>Where holy fires of worship burn.</div> <div>And, lady, on our lord bestow</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page164"></span><SPAN name="Pg164" id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Such honour as to Gods we owe.</div> <div>Be kind to every queen: let pride</div> <div>And thought of self be cast aside.</div> <div>In the king's fond opinion raise</div> <div>Kaikeyí, by respect and praise.</div> <div>Let the young Bharat ever be</div> <div>Loved, honoured as the king by thee:</div> <div>Thy king-ward duty ne'er forget:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >High over all are monarchs set.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>And Bharat, too, for me address:</div> <div>Pray that all health his life may bless.</div> <div>Let every royal lady share,</div> <div>As justice bids, his love and care.</div> <div>Say to the strong-armed chief who brings</div> <div>Joy to Iksváku's line of kings:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“As ruling prince thy care be shown</span></div> <div>Of him, our sire, who holds the throne.</div> <div>Stricken in years he feels their weight;</div> <div>But leave him in his royal state.</div> <div>As regent heir content thee still,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" ><span class="tei tei-q" >Submissive to thy father's will.’</span> ”</span></div> <div>Ráma again his charge renewed,</div> <div>As the hot flood his cheek bedewed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hold as thine own my mother dear</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Who drops for me the longing tear.”</span></div> <div>Then Lakshmaṇ, with his soul on fire,</div> <div>Spake breathing fast these words of ire:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Say, for what sin, for what offence</span></div> <div>Was royal Ráma banished thence?</div> <div>He is the cause, the king: poor slave</div> <div>To the light charge Kaikeyí gave.</div> <div>Let right or wrong the motive be,</div> <div>The author of our woe is he.</div> <div>Whether the exile were decreed</div> <div>Through foolish faith or guilty greed,</div> <div>For promises or empire, still</div> <div>The king has wrought a grievous ill.</div> <div>Grant that the Lord of all saw fit</div> <div>To prompt the deed and sanction it,</div> <div>In Ráma's life no cause I see</div> <div>For which the king should bid him flee.</div> <div>His blinded eyes refused to scan</div> <div>The guilt and folly of the plan,</div> <div>And from the weakness of the king</div> <div>Here and hereafter woe shall spring.</div> <div>No more my sire: the ties that used</div> <div>To bind me to the king are loosed.</div> <div>My brother Ráma, Raghu's son,</div> <div>To me is lord, friend, sire in one.</div> <div>The love of men how can he win,</div> <div>Deserting, by the cruel sin,</div> <div>Their joy, whose heart is swift to feel</div> <div>A pleasure in the people's weal?</div> <div>Shall he whose mandate could expel</div> <div>The virtuous Ráma, loved so well,</div> <div>To whom his subjects' fond hearts cling—</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Shall he in spite of them be king?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>But Janak's child, my lord, stood by,</div> <div>And oft the votaress heaved a sigh.</div> <div>She seemed with dull and wandering sense,</div> <div>Beneath a spirit's influence.</div> <div>The noble princess, pained with woe</div> <div>Which till that hour she ne'er could know,</div> <div>Tears in her heavy trouble shed,</div> <div>But not a word to me she said.</div> <div>She raised her face which grief had dried</div> <div>And tenderly her husband eyed,</div> <div>Gazed on him as he turned to go</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >While tear chased tear in rapid flow.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc273" id="toc273"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf274" id="pdf274"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LIX" id="CantoII-LIX" 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 LIX. Dasaratha's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As thus Sumantra, best of peers,</div> <div>Told his sad tale with many tears,</div> <div>The monarch cried, <span class="tei tei-q" >“I pray thee, tell</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >At length again what there befell.”</span></div> <div>Sumantra, at the king's behest,</div> <div>Striving with sobs he scarce repressed,</div> <div>His trembling voice at last controlled,</div> <div>And thus his further tidings told:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Their locks in votive coils they wound,</span></div> <div>Their coats of bark upon them bound,</div> <div>To Gangá's farther shore they went,</div> <div>Thence to Prayág their steps were bent.</div> <div>I saw that Lakshmaṇ walked ahead</div> <div>To guard the path the two should tread.</div> <div>So far I saw, no more could learn,</div> <div>Forced by the hero to return.</div> <div>Retracing slow my homeward course,</div> <div>Scarce could I move each stubborn horse:</div> <div>Shedding hot tears of grief he stood</div> <div>When Ráma turned him to the wood.<SPAN id="noteref_333" name="noteref_333" href="#note_333"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">333</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>As the two princes parted thence</div> <div>I raised my hands in reverence,</div> <div>Mounted my ready car, and bore</div> <div>The grief that stung me to the core.</div> <div>With Guha all that day I stayed,</div> <div>Still by the earnest hope delayed</div> <div>That Ráma, ere the time should end,</div> <div>Some message from the wood might send.</div> <div>Thy realms, great Monarch, mourn the blow,</div> <div>And sympathize with Ráma's woe.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page165"></span><SPAN name="Pg165" id="Pg165" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Each withering tree hangs low his head,</div> <div>And shoot, and bud, and flower are dead.</div> <div>Dried are the floods that wont to fill</div> <div>The lake, the river, and the rill.</div> <div>Drear is each grove and garden now,</div> <div>Dry every blossom on the bough.</div> <div>Each beast is still, no serpents crawl:</div> <div>A lethargy of woe on all.</div> <div>The very wood is silent: crushed</div> <div>With grief for Ráma, all is hushed.</div> <div>Fair blossoms from the water born,</div> <div>Gay garlands that the earth adorn,</div> <div>And every fruit that gleams like gold,</div> <div>Have lost the scent that charmed of old.</div> <div>Empty is every grove I see,</div> <div>Or birds sit pensive on the tree.</div> <div>Where'er I look, its beauty o'er,</div> <div>The pleasance charms not as before.</div> <div>I drove through fair Ayodhyá's street:</div> <div>None flew with joy the car to meet.</div> <div>They saw that Ráma was not there,</div> <div>And turned them sighing in despair.</div> <div>The people in the royal way</div> <div>Wept tears of bitter grief, when they</div> <div>Beheld me coming, from afar,</div> <div>No Ráma with me in the car.</div> <div>From palace roof and turret high</div> <div>Each woman bent her eager eye;</div> <div>She looked for Ráma, but in vain;</div> <div>Gazed on the car and shrieked for pain.</div> <div>Their long clear eyes with sorrow drowned</div> <div>They, when this common grief was found,</div> <div>Looked each on other, friend and foe,</div> <div>In sympathy of levelling woe:</div> <div>No shade of difference between</div> <div>Foe, friend, or neutral, there was seen.</div> <div>Without a joy, her bosom rent</div> <div>With grief for Ráma's banishment,</div> <div>Ayodhyá like the queen appears</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Who mourns her son with many tears.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He ended: and the king, distressed.</div> <div>With sobbing voice that lord addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah me, by false Kaikeyí led,</span></div> <div>Of evil race, to evil bred,</div> <div>I took no counsel of the sage,</div> <div>Nor sought advice from skill and age,</div> <div>I asked no lord his aid to lend,</div> <div>I called no citizen or friend.</div> <div>Rash was my deed, bereft of sense</div> <div>Slave to a woman's influence.</div> <div>Surely, my lord, a woe so great</div> <div>Falls on us by the will of Fate;</div> <div>It lays the house of Raghu low,</div> <div>For Destiny will have it so.</div> <div>I pray thee, if I e'er have done</div> <div>An act to please thee, yea, but one,</div> <div>Fly, fly, and Ráma homeward lead:</div> <div>My life, departing, counsels speed.</div> <div>Fly, ere the power to bid I lack,</div> <div>Fly to the wood: bring Ráma back.</div> <div>I cannot live for even one</div> <div>Short hour bereaved of my son.</div> <div>But ah, the prince, whose arms are strong,</div> <div>Has journeyed far: the way is long:</div> <div>Me, me upon the chariot place,</div> <div>And let me look on Ráma's face.</div> <div>Ah me, my son, mine eldest-born,</div> <div>Where roams he in the wood forlorn,</div> <div>The wielder of the mighty bow,</div> <div>Whose shoulders like the lion's show?</div> <div>O, ere the light of life be dim,</div> <div>Take me to Sítá and to him.</div> <div>O Ráma, Lakshmaṇ, and O thou</div> <div>Dear Sítá, constant to thy vow,</div> <div>Beloved ones, you cannot know</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >That I am dying of my woe.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The king to bitter grief a prey,</div> <div>That drove each wandering sense away,</div> <div>Sunk in affliction's sea, too wide</div> <div>To traverse, in his anguish cried:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hard, hard to pass, my Queen, this sea</span></div> <div>Of sorrow raging over me:</div> <div>No Ráma near to soothe mine eye,</div> <div>Plunged in its lowest deeps I lie.</div> <div>Sorrow for Ráma swells the tide,</div> <div>And Sítá's absence makes it wide:</div> <div>My tears its foamy flood distain,</div> <div>Made billowy by my sighs of pain:</div> <div>My cries its roar, the arms I throw</div> <div>About me are the fish below,</div> <div>Kaikeyí is the fire that feeds</div> <div>Beneath: my hair the tangled weeds:</div> <div>Its source the tears for Ráma shed:</div> <div>The hump-back's words its monsters dread:</div> <div>The boon I gave the wretch its shore,</div> <div>Till Ráma's banishment be o'er.<SPAN id="noteref_334" name="noteref_334" href="#note_334"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">334</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Ah me, that I should long to set</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">My eager eyes to-day</div> <div>On Raghu's son, and he be yet</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >With Lakshmaṇ far away!”</span></div> <div>Thus he of lofty glory wailed,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And sank upon the bed.</div> <div>Beneath the woe his spirit failed,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And all his senses fled.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc275" id="toc275"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf276" id="pdf276"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-LX" id="CantoII-LX" 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 LX. Kausalyá Consoled.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As Queen Kauśalyá, trembling much,</div> <div>As blighted by a goblin's touch,</div> <div>Still lying prostrate, half awoke</div> <div>To consciousness, 'twas thus she spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Bear me away, Sumantra, far,</span></div> <div>Where Ráma, Sítá, Lakshmaṇ are.</div> <div>Bereft of them I have no power</div> <div>To linger on a single hour.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page166"></span><SPAN name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Again, I pray, thy steps retrace,</div> <div>And me in Daṇḍak forest place,</div> <div>For after them I needs must go,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Or sink to Yama's realms below.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>His utterance choked by tears that rolled</div> <div>Down from their fountains uncontrolled,</div> <div>With suppliant hands the charioteer</div> <div>Thus spake, the lady's heart to cheer:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Dismiss thy grief, despair, and dread</span></div> <div>That fills thy soul, of sorrow bred,</div> <div>For pain and anguish thrown aside,</div> <div>Will Ráma in the wood abide.</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ, with unfailing care</div> <div>Will guard the feet of Ráma there,</div> <div>Earning, with governed sense, the prize</div> <div>That waits on duty in the skies.</div> <div>And Sítá in the wild as well</div> <div>As in her own dear home will dwell;</div> <div>To Ráma all her heart she gives,</div> <div>And free from doubt and terror lives.</div> <div>No faintest sign of care or woe</div> <div>The features of the lady show:</div> <div>Methinks Videha's pride was made</div> <div>For exile in the forest shade.</div> <div>E'en as of old she used to rove</div> <div>Delighted in the city's grove,</div> <div>Thus, even thus she joys to tread</div> <div>The woodlands uninhabited.</div> <div>Like a young child, her face as fair</div> <div>As the young moon, she wanders there.</div> <div>What though in lonely woods she stray</div> <div>Still Ráma is her joy and stay:</div> <div>All his the heart no sorrow bends,</div> <div>Her very life on him depends.</div> <div>For, if her lord she might not see,</div> <div>Ayodhyá like the wood would be.</div> <div>She bids him, as she roams, declare</div> <div>The names of towns and hamlets there,</div> <div>Marks various trees that meet her eye,</div> <div>And many a brook that hurries by,</div> <div>And Janak's daughter seems to roam</div> <div>One little league away from home</div> <div>When Ráma or his brother speaks</div> <div>And gives the answer that she seeks.</div> <div>This, Lady, I remember well,</div> <div>Nor angry words have I to tell:</div> <div>Reproaches at Kaikeyí shot,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Such, Queen, my mind remembers not.”</span></div> <div>The speech when Sítá's wrath was high,</div> <div>Sumantra passed in silence by,</div> <div>That so his pleasant words might cheer</div> <div>With sweet report Kauśalyá's ear.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Her moonlike beauty suffers not</span></div> <div>Though winds be rude and suns be hot:</div> <div>The way, the danger, and the toil</div> <div>Her gentle lustre may not soil.</div> <div>Like the red lily's leafy crown</div> <div>Or as the fair full moon looks down,</div> <div>So the Videhan lady's face</div> <div>Still shines with undiminished grace.</div> <div>What if the borrowed colours throw</div> <div>O'er her fine feet no rosy glow,</div> <div>Still with their natural tints they spread</div> <div>A lotus glory where they tread.</div> <div>In sportive grace she walks the ground</div> <div>And sweet her chiming anklets sound.</div> <div>No jewels clasp the faultless limb:</div> <div>She leaves them all for love of him.</div> <div>If in the woods her gentle eye</div> <div>A lion sees, or tiger nigh,</div> <div>Or elephant, she fears no ill</div> <div>For Ráma's arm supports her still.</div> <div>No longer be their fate deplored,</div> <div>Nor thine, nor that of Kośal's lord,</div> <div>For conduct such as theirs shall buy</div> <div>Wide glory that can never die.</div> <div>For casting grief and care away,</div> <div>Delighting in the forest, they</div> <div>With joyful spirits, blithe and gay,</div> <div>Set forward on the ancient way</div> <div>Where mighty saints have led:</div> <div>Their highest aim, their dearest care</div> <div>To keep their father's honour fair,</div> <div>Observing still the oath he sware,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >They roam, on wild fruit fed.”</span></div> <div>Thus with persuasive art he tried</div> <div>To turn her from her grief aside,</div> <div>By soothing fancies won.</div> <div>But still she gave her sorrow vent:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah Ráma,”</span> was her shrill lament,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My love, my son, my son!”</span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />