Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc383" id="toc383"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf384" id="pdf384"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-CXIV" id="CantoII-CXIV" 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 CXIV. Bharat's Departure.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Deep, pleasant was the chariot's sound</div> <div>As royal Bharat, far renowned,</div> <div>Whirled by his mettled coursers fast</div> <div>Within Ayodhyá's city passed.</div> <div>There dark and drear was every home</div> <div>Where cats and owls had space to roam,</div> <div>As when the shades of midnight fall</div> <div>With blackest gloom, and cover all:</div> <div>As Rohiṇí, dear spouse of him</div> <div>Whom Ráhu hates,<SPAN id="noteref_396" name="noteref_396" href="#note_396"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">396</span></span></SPAN> grows faint and dim,</div> <div>When, as she shines on high alone</div> <div>The demon's shade is o'er her thrown:</div> <div>As burnt by summer's heat a rill</div> <div>Scarce trickling from her parent hill,</div> <div>With dying fish in pools half dried,</div> <div>And fainting birds upon her side:</div> <div>As sacrificial flames arise</div> <div>When holy oil their food supplies,</div> <div>But when no more the fire is fed</div> <div>Sink lustreless and cold and dead:</div> <div>Like some brave host that filled the plain,</div> <div>With harness rent and captains slain,</div> <div>When warrior, elephant, and steed</div> <div>Mingled in wild confusion bleed:</div> <div>As when, all spent her store of worth,</div> <div>Rocks from her base the loosened earth:</div> <div>Like a sad fallen star no more</div> <div>Wearing the lovely light it wore:</div> <div>So mournful in her lost estate</div> <div>Was that sad town disconsolate.</div> <div>Then car-borne Bharat, good and brave,</div> <div>Thus spake to him the steeds who drave:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Why are Ayodhyá's streets so mute?</span></div> <div>Where is the voice of lyre and lute?</div> <div>Why sounds not, as of old, to-day</div> <div>The music of the minstrel's lay?</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page224"></span><SPAN name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Where are the wreaths they used to twine?</div> <div>Where are the blossoms and the wine?</div> <div>Where is the cool refreshing scent</div> <div>Of sandal dust with aloe blent?</div> <div>The elephant's impatient roar,</div> <div>The din of cars, I hear no more:</div> <div>No more the horse's pleasant neigh</div> <div>Rings out to meet me on my way.</div> <div>Ayodhyá's youths, since Ráma's flight,</div> <div>Have lost their relish for delight:</div> <div>Her men roam forth no more, nor care</div> <div>Bright garlands round their necks to wear.</div> <div>All grieve for banished Ráma: feast,</div> <div>And revelry and song have ceased:</div> <div>Like a black night when floods pour down,</div> <div>So dark and gloomy is the town.</div> <div>When will he come to make them gay</div> <div>Like some auspicious holiday?</div> <div>When will my brother, like a cloud</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >At summer's close, make glad the crowd?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then through the streets the hero rode,</div> <div>And passed within his sire's abode,</div> <div>Like some deserted lion's den,</div> <div>Forsaken by the lord of men.</div> <div>Then to the inner bowers he came,</div> <div>Once happy home of many a dame,</div> <div>Now gloomy, sad, and drear,</div> <div>Dark as of old that sunless day</div> <div>When wept the Gods in wild dismay;<SPAN id="noteref_397" name="noteref_397" href="#note_397"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">397</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>There poured he many a tear.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc385" id="toc385"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf386" id="pdf386"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-CXV" id="CantoII-CXV" 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 CXV. Nandigrám.</span><SPAN id="noteref_398" name="noteref_398" href="#note_398"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">398</span></span></SPAN></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then when the pious chief had seen</div> <div>Lodged in her home each widowed queen,</div> <div>Still with his burning grief oppressed</div> <div>His holy guides he thus addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I go to Nandigrám: adieu,</span></div> <div>This day, my lords to all of you:</div> <div>I go, my load of grief to bear,</div> <div>Reft of the son of Raghu, there.</div> <div>The king my sire, alas, is dead,</div> <div>And Ráma to the forest fled;</div> <div>There will I wait till he, restored,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Shall rule the realm, its rightful lord.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>They heard the high-souled prince's speech,</div> <div>And thus with ready answer each</div> <div>Of those great lords their chief addressed,</div> <div>With saint Vaśishṭha and the rest:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Good are the words which thou hast said,</span></div> <div>By brotherly affection led,</div> <div>Like thine own self, a faithful friend,</div> <div>True to thy brother to the end:</div> <div>A heart like thine must all approve,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Which naught from virtue's path can move.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Soon as the words he loved to hear</div> <div>Fell upon Bharat's joyful ear,</div> <div>Thus to the charioteer he spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My car with speed, Sumantra, yoke.”</span></div> <div>Then Bharat with delighted mien</div> <div>Obeisance paid to every queen,</div> <div>And with Śatrughna by his side</div> <div>Mounting the car away he hied.</div> <div>With lords, and priests in long array</div> <div>The brothers hastened on their way.</div> <div>And the great pomp the Bráhmans led</div> <div>With Saint Vaśishṭha at their head.</div> <div>Then every face was eastward bent</div> <div>As on to Nandigrám they went.</div> <div>Behind the army followed, all</div> <div>Unsummoned by their leader's call,</div> <div>And steeds and elephants and men</div> <div>Streamed forth with every citizen.</div> <div>As Bharat in his chariot rode</div> <div>His heart with love fraternal glowed,</div> <div>And with the sandals on his head</div> <div>To Nandigrám he quickly sped.</div> <div>Within the town he swiftly pressed,</div> <div>Alighted, and his guides addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“To me in trust my brother's hand</span></div> <div>Consigned the lordship of the land,</div> <div>When he these gold-wrought sandals gave</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >As emblems to protect and save.”</span></div> <div>Then Bharat bowed, and from his head</div> <div>The sacred pledge deposited,</div> <div>And thus to all the people cried</div> <div>Who ringed him round on every side:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Haste, for these sandals quickly bring</span></div> <div>The canopy that shades the king.</div> <div>Pay ye to them all reverence meet</div> <div>As to my elder brother's feet,</div> <div>For they will right and law maintain</div> <div>Until King Ráma come again.</div> <div>My brother with a loving mind</div> <div>These sandals to my charge consigned:</div> <div>I till he come will guard with care</div> <div>The sacred trust for Raghu's heir.</div> <div>My watchful task will soon be done,</div> <div>The pledge restored to Raghu's son;</div> <div>Then shall I see, his wanderings o'er,</div> <div>These sandals on his feet once more.</div> <div>My brother I shall meet at last,</div> <div>The burthen from my shoulders cast,</div> <div>To Ráma's hand the realm restore</div> <div>And serve my elder as before.</div> <div>When Ráma takes again this pair</div> <div>Of sandals kept with pious care,</div> <div>And here his glorious reign begins,</div> <div>I shall be cleansed from all my sins,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page225"></span><SPAN name="Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>When the glad people's voices ring</div> <div>With welcome to the new-made king,</div> <div>Joy will be mine four-fold as great</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >As if supreme I ruled the state.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus humbly spoke in sad lament</div> <div>The chief in fame preëminent:</div> <div>Thus, by his reverent lords obeyed,</div> <div>At Nandigrám the kingdom swayed.</div> <div>With hermit's dress and matted hair</div> <div>He dwelt with all his army there.</div> <div>The sandals of his brother's feet</div> <div>Installed upon the royal seat,</div> <div>He, all his powers to them referred,</div> <div>Affairs of state administered.</div> <div>In every care, in every task,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">When golden store was brought,</div> <div>He first, as though their rede to ask,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Those royal sandals sought.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc387" id="toc387"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf388" id="pdf388"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-CXVI" id="CantoII-CXVI" 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 CXVI. The Hermit's Speech.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>When Bharat took his homeward road</div> <div>Still Ráma in the wood abode:</div> <div>But soon he marked the fear and care</div> <div>That darkened all the hermits there.</div> <div>For all who dwelt before the hill</div> <div>Were sad with dread of coming ill:</div> <div>Each holy brow was lined by thought,</div> <div>And Ráma's side they often sought.</div> <div>With gathering frowns the prince they eyed,</div> <div>And then withdrew and talked aside.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then Raghu's son with anxious breast</div> <div>The leader of the saints addressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Can aught that I have done displease,</span></div> <div>O reverend Sage, the devotees?</div> <div>Why are their loving looks, O say,</div> <div>Thus sadly changed or turned away?</div> <div>Has Lakshmaṇ through his want of heed</div> <div>Offended with unseemly deed?</div> <div>Or is the gentle Sítá, she</div> <div>Who loved to honour you and me—</div> <div>Is she the cause of this offence,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Failing in lowly reverence?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>One sage, o'er whom, exceeding old,</div> <div>Had many a year of penance rolled,</div> <div>Trembling in every aged limb</div> <div>Thus for the rest replied to him:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“How could we, O beloved, blame</span></div> <div>Thy lofty-souled Videhan dame,</div> <div>Who in the good of all delights,</div> <div>And more than all of anchorites?</div> <div>But yet through thee a numbing dread</div> <div>Of fiends among our band has spread;</div> <div>Obstructed by the demons' art</div> <div>The trembling hermits talk apart.</div> <div>For Rávaṇ's brother, overbold,</div> <div>Named Khara, of gigantic mould,</div> <div>Vexes with fury fierce and fell</div> <div>All those in Janasthán<SPAN id="noteref_399" name="noteref_399" href="#note_399"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">399</span></span></SPAN> who dwell.</div> <div>Resistless in his cruel deeds,</div> <div>On flesh of men the monster feeds:</div> <div>Sinful and arrogant is he,</div> <div>And looks with special hate on thee.</div> <div>Since thou, beloved son, hast made</div> <div>Thy home within this holy shade,</div> <div>The fiends have vexed with wilder rage</div> <div>The dwellers of the hermitage.</div> <div>In many a wild and dreadful form</div> <div>Around the trembling saints they swarm,</div> <div>With hideous shape and foul disguise</div> <div>They terrify our holy eyes.</div> <div>They make our loathing souls endure</div> <div>Insult and scorn and sights impure,</div> <div>And flocking round the altars stay</div> <div>The holy rites we love to pay.</div> <div>In every spot throughout the grove</div> <div>With evil thoughts the monsters rove,</div> <div>Assailing with their secret might</div> <div>Each unsuspecting anchorite.</div> <div>Ladle and dish away they fling,</div> <div>Our fires with floods extinguishing,</div> <div>And when the sacred flame should burn</div> <div>They trample on each water-urn.</div> <div>Now when they see their sacred wood</div> <div>Plagued by this impious brotherhood,</div> <div>The troubled saints away would roam</div> <div>And seek in other shades a home:</div> <div>Hence will we fly, O Ráma, ere</div> <div>The cruel fiends our bodies tear.</div> <div>Not far away a forest lies</div> <div>Rich in the roots and fruit we prize,</div> <div>To this will I and all repair</div> <div>And join the holy hermits there;</div> <div>Be wise, and with us thither flee</div> <div>Before this Khara injure thee.</div> <div>Mighty art thou, O Ráma, yet</div> <div>Each day with peril is beset.</div> <div>If with thy consort by thy side</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thou in this wood wilt still abide.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He ceased: the words the hero spake</div> <div>The hermit's purpose failed to break:</div> <div>To Raghu's son farewell he said,</div> <div>And blessed the chief and comforted;</div> <div>Then with the rest the holy sage</div> <div>Departed from the hermitage.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>So from the wood the saints withdrew,</div> <div>And Ráma bidding all adieu</div> <div>In lowly reverence bent:</div> <div>Instructed by their friendly speech,</div> <div>Blest with the gracious love of each,</div> <div>To his pure home he went.</div> <div>Nor would the son of Raghu stray</div> <div>A moment from that grove away</div> <div>From which the saints had fled.</div> <div>And many a hermit thither came</div> <div>Attracted by his saintly fame</div> <div>And the pure life he led.</div> </div></div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page226"></span><SPAN name="Pg226" id="Pg226" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"> <SPAN name="toc389" id="toc389"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf390" id="pdf390"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-CXVII" id="CantoII-CXVII" 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 CXVII. Anasúyá.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>But dwelling in that lonely spot</div> <div>Left by the hermits pleased him not.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I met the faithful Bharat here,</span></div> <div>The townsmen, and my mother dear:</div> <div>The painful memory lingers yet,</div> <div>And stings me with a vain regret.</div> <div>And here the host of Bharat camped,</div> <div>And many a courser here has stamped,</div> <div>And elephants with ponderous feet</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Have trampled through the calm retreat.”</span></div> <div>So forth to seek a home he hied,</div> <div>His spouse and Lakshmaṇ by his side.</div> <div>He came to Atri's pure retreat,</div> <div>Paid reverence to his holy feet,</div> <div>And from the saint such welcome won</div> <div>As a fond father gives his son.</div> <div>The noble prince with joy unfeigned</div> <div>As a dear guest he entertained,</div> <div>And cheered the glorious Lakshmaṇ too</div> <div>And Sítá with observance due.</div> <div>Then Anasúyá at the call</div> <div>Of him who sought the good of all,</div> <div>His blameless venerable spouse,</div> <div>Delighting in her holy vows,</div> <div>Came from her chamber to his side:</div> <div>To her the virtuous hermit cried:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Receive, I pray, with friendly grace</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >This dame of Maithil monarchs' race:”</span></div> <div>To Ráma next made known his wife,</div> <div>The devotee of saintliest life:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ten thousand years this votaress bent</span></div> <div>On sternest rites of penance spent;</div> <div>She when the clouds withheld their rain,</div> <div>And drought ten years consumed the plain,</div> <div>Caused grateful roots and fruit to grow</div> <div>And ordered Gangá here to flow:</div> <div>So from their cares the saints she freed,</div> <div>Nor let these checks their rites impede,</div> <div>She wrought in Heaven's behalf, and made</div> <div>Ten nights of one, the Gods to aid:<SPAN id="noteref_400" name="noteref_400" href="#note_400"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">400</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Let holy Anasúyá be</div> <div>An honoured mother, Prince, to thee.</div> <div>Let thy Videhan spouse draw near</div> <div>To her whom all that live revere,</div> <div>Stricken in years, whose loving mind</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Is slow to wrath and ever kind.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He ceased: and Ráma gave assent,</div> <div>And said, with eyes on Sítá bent:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Princess, thou hast heard with me</span></div> <div>This counsel of the devotee:</div> <div>Now that her touch thy soul may bless,</div> <div>Approach the saintly votaress:</div> <div>Come to the venerable dame,</div> <div>Far known by Anasúyá's name:</div> <div>The mighty things that she has done</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >High glory in the world have won.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus spoke the son of Raghu: she</div> <div>Approached the saintly devotee,</div> <div>Who with her white locks, old and frail,</div> <div>Shook like a plantain in the gale.</div> <div>To that true spouse she bowed her head,</div> <div>And <span class="tei tei-q" >“Lady, I am Sítá,”</span> said:</div> <div>Raised suppliant hands and prayed her tell</div> <div>That all was prosperous and well.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The aged matron, when she saw</div> <div>Fair Sítá true to duty's law,</div> <div>Addressed her thus: <span class="tei tei-q" >“High fate is thine</span></div> <div>Whose thoughts to virtue still incline.</div> <div>Thou, lady of the noble mind,</div> <div>Hast kin and state and wealth resigned</div> <div>To follow Ráma forced to tread</div> <div>Where solitary woods are spread.</div> <div>Those women gain high spheres above</div> <div>Who still unchanged their husbands love,</div> <div>Whether they dwell in town or wood,</div> <div>Whether their hearts be ill or good.</div> <div>Though wicked, poor, or led away</div> <div>In love's forbidden paths to stray,</div> <div>The noble matron still will deem</div> <div>Her lord a deity supreme.</div> <div>Regarding kin and friendship, I</div> <div>Can see no better, holier tie,</div> <div>And every penance-rite is dim</div> <div>Beside the joy of serving him.</div> <div>But dark is this to her whose mind</div> <div>Promptings of idle fancy blind,</div> <div>Who led by evil thoughts away</div> <div>Makes him who should command obey.</div> <div>Such women, O dear Maithil dame,</div> <div>Their virtue lose and honest fame,</div> <div>Enslaved by sin and folly, led</div> <div>In these unholy paths to tread.</div> <div>But they who good and true like thee</div> <div>The present and the future see,</div> <div>Like men by holy deeds will rise</div> <div>To mansions in the blissful skies.</div> <div>So keep thee pure from taint of sin,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Still to thy lord be true,</div> <div>And fame and merit shalt thou win,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >To thy devotion due.”</span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />