3 A comprehensive term for foreign or outcast races of different faith and language from the Hindus.
4 The Kiratas and Haritas are savage aborigines of India who occupy hills and jungles and are altogether different in race and character from the Hindus. Dr. Muir remarks in his Sanskrit Texts, Vol. I. p. 488 (second edition) that it does not appear that it is the object of this legend to represent this miraculous creation as the origin of these tribes, and that nothing more may have been intended than that the cow called into existence large armies, of the same stock with particular tribe* previously existing, Canto LVI.
THE RAM AY AN.
67 Or as in swift eclipse the Sun Dark witli the doom he cannot shun: Or a poor bird with mangled wing — So, reft of sons and host, the king.
No longer, hy ambition fired.
The pride of war his breast inspired.
He gave his empire to his son— Of all he had, the only one: And bade him rule as kings are taught Then straight a hermit-grove he sought.
Far to Himalaya's side he fled, Which bards and Nagas visited, And, Mahadeva's1 grace to earn, He gave his life to penance stern.
A lengthened season thus passed by, When Diva's self, the Lord most High, Whose banner shows the pictured bull,2 Appeared, the God most bountiful: 'Why fervent thus in toil and pain? What brings thee here/ what boon to gain? Thy heart's desire, O Monarch, speak: I grant the boons which mortals seek.' The king, his adoration paid, To Mahadeva answer made: ' If thou hast deemed me fit to win Thy favour. O thou void of sin, On me, 0 mighty God, bestow The wondrous science of the bow, All mine, complete in every part, With secret spell and mystic art. To me be all the arms revealed That Gods, and saints, and Titans wield, And every dart that arms the hands Of spirits, fiends and minstrel bands. Be mine, O Lord supreme in place, This token of thy boundless grace.'
The Lord of Gods then gave consent, And to his heavenly mansion went. Triumphant in the arms he held, The monarch's breast with glory swelled. So swells the ocean, when upon His breast the full moon's beams have shone.
Already in his niind he viewed Vasishtha at his feet subdued. He sought that hermit's grove,*and there Launched his dire weapons through the air, Till scorched by might that none could stay The hermitage in ashes lay. Where'er the inmates saw, aghast, The dart that Visvamitra cast. To every side they turned and fled In hundreds forth disquieted. Vasishtha's pupils caught the fear, And- every bird and every deer, And fled in wild confusion forth 1 The Great God, $iva.
2 Nandi, the snow-white bull, the atten cUnt and favourite vehicle of £iva.
Eastward and westward, south and north, And so Vasishtha's holy shade A solitary wild was made.
Silent awhile, for not a sound disturbed the hush that was around. Vasishtha then, with eager cry, tailed, 'Fear not, friends, nor seek to fly. This son of Gadhi dies to-day, like hoar-frost in the morning's ray.' Thus having said, the glorious sage Spoke to the king in words of rage: Because thou hast destroyed this grove Which long in holy quiet throve, By folly urged to senseless crime, tfow shalt thou die before thy time.'
CANTO LVL VI&VAMITRA'S VOW.
But Visvamitra, at the threat Of that illustrious anchoret, Cried, as he launched with ready hand A fiery weapon, * Stand, 0 Stand! ' Vasishtha, wild with rage and hate, Raising, as ' twere the Rod of Fate, His mighty Brahman wand on high, To Visvamitra made reply: * Nay, stand. 0 Warrior thou, and show What soldier can, ' gainst Brahman foe. 0 Gadhi's son, thy days are told; Thy pride is tamed, thy dart is cold. How shall a warrior's puissance dare With Brahman's awful strength compare? To-day, base Warrior, shalt thou feel That God-sent might is more than steel.' He raised his Brahman staff, nor missed ri'he fiery dart that near him hissed: And quenched the fearful weapon fell, As flame beneath the billow's swell.
Then Gadhi's son in fury threw Lord Varun's arm and Rudra's too: Tndra's tierce bolt that all destroys; That which the Lord of Herds employs: The Human, that which minstrels keep, The deadly Lure, the endless Sleep: The Yawner, and the dart which charms; Lament and Torture, fearful arms: The Terrible, the dart which dries, The Thunderbolt which quenchless flies, And Fate's dread net, and Brahma's noose, And that which waits for Varun's use: The dart he loves who wields the bow Pinaka, and twin bolts that glow With fury as they flash and fly, The quenchless Liquid and the Dry: The dart of Vengeance, swift to kill: The Goblins' durt, the Curlew's Bill: THE RAM AY AN.
Boolt L The discus both of Fate and "Right, And Vishnu's, of unerring flight: The Wind-God's dart, the Troubler dread, The weapon named the Horse's Head. From his fierce hand two spears were thrown, And the great mace that smashes bone: The dart of spirits of the air, And that which Fate exults to bear: The Trident dart which slaughters foes, And that which hanging skulls compose:! These fearful darts in fiery rain He hurled upon the sain$ amain, An awful miracle to view. But as the ceaseless tempest flew, The sage with wand of God- sent power Still swallowed up that fiery shower.
Then Gadhi's son, when these had failed, With Brahma's dart his foe assailed. The Gods, with Indra at their head, And Nagas, quailed disquieted, And saints and minstrels, when they saw The king that awful weapon draw; Arid the three worlds were filled with dread, And trembled as the missile sped.
The saint, with Brahman wand, em- powered By lore divine that dart devoured. Nor could the triple world withdraw Rapt gazes from that sight of awe: For as he swallowed down the dart Of Brahma, sparks from every part, From finest pore and hair-cell, broke Enveloped in a veil of smoke. The staff he waved was all aglow Like Yarna's ceptre, King below, Or like the lurid fire of Fate Whose rage the worlds will desolate.
The hermits, whom that sight had awed, Extolled the saint with hymn and laud: ' Thy power, O Sage, is ne'er in vain: Now with thy might thy might restrain. Be gracious, Master, and allow 1 'The names of many of these weapons which are mythical and partly allegorical have occurred in Canto XXIX. The gene- ral signification of the story is clear enough. It is a contest for supremacy between the regal or military order and Brabmanical or priestly authority, like one of those struggles which our own Europe saw in the middle ages when without employing warlike weapons the priesthood frequently gained the victory.' SCHLEGEL.
For a full account of the early contests between the Brahmans and the Kshattri- yas, see Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts (second edition) Vol. I. Ch, IV.
The worlds to rest from trouble now; For Visvamitra, strong and dread, By thee has been discomfited.' Then, thus addressed, the saint, well pleased, The fury of his wrath appeased. The king, o'erpowered and ashamed. With many a deep-drawn sigh exclaimed: * Ah! Warriors' strength is poor and slight: A Brahman's power is truly might. This Brahman staff the hermit held The fury of my darts has quelled. This truth within my heart impressed, With senses ruled and tranquil breast My task austere will I begin, And Brahmanhood will strive to win.* CANTO LVII.
TRlgANKU.
Then with his heart consumed with woe, Still brooding on his overthrow By the great saint he had defied. At every breath the monarch sighed Forth from his home his queen he led, And to a land far southward fled. There, fruit and roots his only food, He practised penance, sense -subdued, And in that solitary spot Four virtuous sons the king begot: Havishyand. from the offering named, And Madhushyand, for sweetness famed, Maharath, chariot- borne in fight, And Dridhanetra strong of sight.
A thousand years had passed away, When BrahmS,, Sire whom all obey, Addressed in pleasant words like these Him rich in long austerities: 'Thou by the penance, Kusik's son, A place 'mid royal saints hast won. Pleased with thy constant penance, we This lofty rank assign to thee.'
Thus spoke the glorious Lord most High Father of earth and air and sky, And with the Gods around him spread Home to his changeless sphere he sped. But Visvamitra scorned the grace, And bent in shame his angry face. Burning with rage, o'erwhelmed with grief, Thus in his heart exclaimed the chief: 'No fruit, I ween, have I secured By strictest penance long endured, If Gods and all the saints decree To make but royal saint of me.' Thus pondering, he with sense subdued, With sternest zeal his vows renewed.
Ganto LVIIL THE RAM AY AN.
Then reigned a"monarch, true of soul, Who kept each sense in firm control; Of old Ikshvaku's line became, That glories in Trisanku's1 name. Within his breast, O Kaghu's child, Arose a longing, strong and wild, Great offerings to the Gods to pay, And win, alive, to heaven his way. His priest Vasishtha's aid he sought, And told him of his secret thought. But wise Vasishtha showed the hope Was far beyond the monarch's scope. Trisanku then, his suit denied, Far to the southern region hied, To beg Vasishtha's sons to aid The mighty plan his soul had made. There King Trisanku, far renowned, Vasishtha's hundred children found, Each on his fervent vows intent, For mind and fame preeminent. To these the famous king applied, Wise children of his holy guide. Saluting each in order due, His eyes, for shame, he downward threw, And reverent hands together pressed, The glorious company addressed: 1 1 as a humble suppliant seek Succour of you who aid the weak. A mighty offering I would pay, But sage Vasishtha answered, Nay. Be yours permission to accord, And to my rites your help afford. Sons of my guide, to each of you With lowly reverence here I sue; To each, intent on penance-vow, O Brahmans, low my head I bow, And pray you each with ready heart In my great rite to bear a part, That in the body I may rise And dwell with Gods within the skies. Sons of my guide, none else I see Can give what he refuses me. Ikflhvaku's children still depend Upon their guide most reverend; And you, as nearest in degree. To him, my deities shall be 1' 1 * Trisanku, king of Ayodhya, was seventh in descent from Ikshvaku, and Dasaratha holds the thirty-fourth place in the same genealogy. See Canto LXX. We are thrown back, therefore, to very ancient times, and it occasions some sur- prise to find Vasishtha and Visvamitra, actors in these occurrences, still alive in Rama's time.'
CANTO LVIIL TKI^ANKU CURSED.
Trisanku's speech the hundred heard, And thus replied, to anger stirred: 1 Why foolish King, by him denied, Whose truthful lips have never lied, Dost thou transgress his prudent rule, And seek, for aid, another school? 1 Ikshvaku's sons have aye relied Most surely on their holy guide: Then how dost thou, fond Monarch, dare Transgress the rule his lips declare? ' Thy wish is vain,' the saint replied, And bade thee cast the plan aside. Then how can we, his sons, pretend In such a rite our aid to lend? O Monarch, of the childish heart, Home to thy royal town depart. That mighty saint, thy priest and guide, At noblest rites may well preside: The worlds for sacrifice combined A worthier priest could never find.'
Such speech of theirs the monarch heard. Though rage distorted every word, And to the hermits made reply: ' You, like your sire, my suit deny, For other aid I turn from you: So, rich in penance, Saints, adieu! ' Vasishtha's children heard, and guessed His evil purpose scarce expressed, And cried, while rage their bosoms burned, ' Be to a vile Chandala2 turned! ' 1 " It does not appear how Trisanku, in asking the aid of Vasishtha's sons after applying in vain to their father, could be charged with resorting to another sdkhd (School) in the ordinary sense of that word; as it is not conceivable that the sons should have been of another 6akh& from the father, whose cause they espouse with so much warmth. The commentator in the Bombay edition explains the word Sdlthdntaram as Yajanadina raksbantar- am, 'one who by sacrificing for thee, etc., will be another protector.' Gorresio'a Gauda text, which may often be used as a commentary on the older one, has the following paraphrase of the words in question, ch. 60, 3. Mulam utsrijya kasinat tvam sakhasv ichhasi lambitum. * Why, forsaking the root, dost thou desire to hang upon the branches?'" MuiR, Sans- krit Texts Vol. I., p. 401.
2 ' A Chandala was a man born of the illegal and impure union of a Sftdra with a woman of one of the three higher castes.
70 THE RAMAYAN.
Boole I.
This said, with lofty thoughts inspired, Each to his own retreat retired.
That night Trisanku underwent Sad change in shape and lineament. Next morn, an outcast swart of hue, His dusky cloth he round him drew. His hair had fallen from his head, And roughness o'er his skin was spread. Such wreaths adorned him as are found To flourish on the funeral ground. Each armlet was an iron ring: Such was the figure of the king, That every counsellor and peer, And following townsman, fled in fear.
Alone, unyielding to dismay, Though burnt by anguish night and day, Great Visvamitra's side he sought, Whose treasures were by penance bought.
The hermit \yith his tender eyes Looked on Trisanku's altered guise, And grieving at his ruined state Addressed him thus, compassionate: * Great King,' the pious hermit said, ' What cause thy steps has hither led, Ayodhya's mighty Sovereign, whom A curse has plagued with outcast's doom?' In vile Chandala's shape, the king Heard Visvamitra's questioning, And. suppliant palm to palm applied, With answering eloquence he cried: ' My priest and all his sons refused To aid the plan on which I mused. Failing to win the boon I sought, To this condition I was brought. I, in the body, Saint, would fain A mansion in the skies obtain. I planned a hundred rites for this, But still was doomed the fruit to miss. Pure are my lips from falsehood's stain, And pure they ever shall remain, — Yea, by a Warrior's faith I swear, — Though I be tried with grief and care. Unnumbered rites to Heaven I paid, With righteous care the sceptre swayed; And holy priest and high-souled guide My modest conduct gratified. Put, O thou best of hermits, they Oppose my wish these rites to pay; They one and all refuse consent, Nor aid me in my high intent. Fate is, I ween, the power supreme, Man's effort but an idle dream. Fate whirls our plans, our all away; The Chandala was regarded as the vilest and most abject of the men sprung from wedlock forbidden by the law (Manava- dharmasastra, Lib. X. 12.); a kind of so- cial malediction weighed upon his head and rejected him from human society.'
GOKRESIO.
Fate is pur only hope and stay; Now deign, O blessed Saint, to aid Me, even me by Fate betrayed, Who come, a suppliant, sore distressed, One grace, O Hermit, to request.
No other hope or way I see; No other refuge waits for me.
Oh, aid me in my fallen state, And human will shall conquer Fate.'
CANTO LIX.
THE SONS OF VA^ISHTHA, Then Kusik's son, by pity warmed, Spoke sweetly to the king transformed: ' Hail! glory of Ikshvaku's line: I know how bright thy virtues shine. Dismiss thy fear, O noblest Chief, For 1 myself will bring relief. The holiest saints will I invite To celebrate thy purposed rite: So shall thy vow, O King, succeed, And from thy cares shalt thou be freed. Thou in the form which now thou bast, Transfigured by the curse they cast, — Yea, in the body, King, shalt flee, Transported, where thou fain wouldst be. O Lord of men. I ween that thou Hast heaven within thy hand e'en now, For very wisely hast thou done, And refuge sought with Kusik's son.'
Thus having said, the sage addressed His sons, of men the holiest, And bade the prudent saints whate'er Was needed for the rite prepare. The pupils he was wont to teach He summoned next, and spoke this speech: 'Go bid Vasishtha's sons appear, And all the saints be gathered here. And what they one and all reply When summoned by this mandate high, To me with faithful care report, Omit no word and none distort.'
The pupils heard, and prompt obeyed, To every side their way they made. Then swift from every quarter sped The sages in the Vedas read. Back to that saint the envoys came, Whose glory shone like burning flame, And told him in their faithful speech The answer that they bore from each: ' Submissive to thy word, O Seer, The holy men are gathering here. By all was meet obedience shown: Mahodaya1 refused alone.
1 This appellation, occuring nowhere else in the poem except as the name of a city, appears twice in this Canto as a name of Vasishtha.
Canto LX.
THE RAM AY AN.
71 And now, O Chief of hermits, hear What answer, chilling us with fear, Vasishtha's hundred sons returned, Thick-speaking as with rage they burned: * How will the Gods and saints partake The offerings that the prince would make, And he a vile and outcast thing, His ministrant one born a king? Can we, great Brahmans, eat his food, Arid think to win beatitude, By Visvamitra purified? ' Thus sire and sons in scorn replied, And as these bitter words they said, Wild fury made their eyeballs red.' Their answer when the arch-hermit heard, His tranquil eyes with rage were blurred; Great fury in his bosom woke, And thus unto the youths he spoke: * Me. blameless me they dare to blame, And disallow the righteous claim My tierce austerities have earned: To ashes be the sinners turned. Caught in the noose of Fate shall they To Varna's kingdom sink to-day. Seven hundred times shall they be born To wear the clothes the dead have worn. Dregs of the dregs, too vile to iiate. The flesh of dogs their maws shall sate. In hideous form, in loathsome weed, A sad existence each shall lead, Mahodaya too, the fool who fain My stainless life would try to stain, Stained in the world with long disgrace Shall sink into a fowler's place. Itejoicing guiltless blood to spill, No pity through his breast shall thrill. Cursed, by my wrath for many a day, His wretched life for sin shall pay.
Thus, girt with hermit, saint, and priest. Great Visvamitra spoke — and ceased.
CANTO LX.
TRI^ANKU'S ASCENSION.
So with ascetic might, in ire, He smote the children and the sire.
Then Visvamitra, far-renowned, Addressed the saints who gathered round; * See by my side Trisauku stand, Ikshvaku's son, of liberal hand.
Most virtuous and gentle, he Seeks refuge in his woe with me.
Now, holy men, with me unite, And order so his purposed rite That in the body he may rise And win a mansion in the skies.'
They heard his specs h with ready ear And, every bosom tilled with f car Of Visvamitra, wise and great.
Spoke each to each in brief debate: ' The breast of Kusik's son, we know, With furious wrath is quick to glow.
Whate'er the words he wills to say, We must, be very sure, obey.
Fierce is our lord as fire, and straight May curse us all infuriate.
So let us in these rites engage, As ordered by the holy sage, And with our best endeavour strive That King Ikshvaku's son, alive, In body to the skies may go By his great might who wills it so.'
Then was the rite begun with care: All requisites and means were there: And glorious Visvamitra lent His willing aid as president. And all the sacred rit *s were d /ne By rule and use. omit:ing none, By chaplain-priest, the hymns who knew In decent form and order due. Some time in sacrifice had past, And Visvamitra made, at last, The solemn offering with the prayer That all the Gods might come and share. But the Immortals, one and all, Refused to hear the hermit's call.
Then red with rage his eyeballs blazed: The sacred ladle high Vie raised, And cried to King Ikshvaku's son: ' Behold my power, by penance won: Now by the might my merits lend, Ikshvaku's child, to heaven ascend. In living frame the skies attain, Which mortals thus can scarcely gain, My vows austere, so long endured, Have, as 1 ween, some fruit assured. Upon its virtue, King, rely, And in thy body reach the sky.'
His speech had scarcely reached its close, When, as he stood, the sovereign rose, And mounted swiftly to the skies Before the wondering hermits' eyes.
But Indra, when he saw the king His blissful regions entering, With all the army of the Blest Thus cried unto the unbidden guest: ' With thy best speed, Tris-inku. flee: Here is no home prepared for thee. By thy great master's curse brought low, Go, falling headlong, earthward go.'
Tims by the Lord of Gods addressed, Trisanku fell from fancied rest, And screaming in his swift descent, • O, save me, Hermit? ' down he went. And Visvamitra heard his cry, And marked him falling from the sky, And giving all his passion sway. Cried out in fury, ' Stay, O stay!'
72 THE RAMAYAN.
Boole I.
By penance-power and holy lore, Like Him who framed the worlds of yore, SSeven other saints he fixed on high To star with light the southern sky. Girt with his sage.* forth he went, And southward in the firmament New wreathed stars prepared to set In many a sparkling coronet. He threatened, blind with rage and hate, Another Iridra to create, Or, from his throne the ruler hurled, All Indraless to leave the world. Yea, borne away by passion's storm, The sage began new Gods to form. But then each Titan, God, and saint. Confused with terror, sick and faint, To high souled Visvamitra hied, And with soft words to soothe him tried: * Lord of high destiny, this king, To whom his master's curses cling, No heavenly home deserves to gain, Unpurified from curse and stain.'
The son of Kusik, underterred, The pleading of the Immortals heard, And thus in haughty words expressed The changeless purpose of his breast: * Content ye, Gods: I soothly sware Trisanku to the skies to bear Clothed in his body, nor can I My promise cancel or deny. Embodied let the king ascend To life in heaven that ne'er shall end. And let these new-made stars of mine Firm and secure for ever shine. Let these, my work, remain secure Long as the earth and heaven endure. This, all ye Gods, I crave: do you Allow the boon for which I sue.' Then all the Gods their answer made: * So be it, Saint, as thou hast prayed. Beyond the sun's diurnal way Thy countless stars in heaven shall stay: And 'mid them hung, as one divine, Head downward shall Trisanku shine: And all thy stars shall ever fling Their rays attendant on the king.'1 1 * The seven ancient risk-is or saints, as has been said before, were the seven stars of Ursa Major. The seven other new saints •which are here said to have been created by Visvamitra. should be seven new south- ern stars, a sort of new Ursa. Von Schlegel thinks that this mythical fiction of new stars created by Visvamitra may signify that these southern stars, unknown to the Indians as long as they remained in the neighbourhood of the Ganges, became known to them at a later date when they polonized the southern regions of Indra.' GORRESIO.
The mighty saint, with glory crowned, With all the sages compassed round, Praised by the Gods, gave full assent, And Gods and sages homeward went.
CANTO LXL SUNAHgEPHA.
Then Visvamitra, when the Blest Had sought their homes of heavenly rest, Thus, mighty Prince, his counsel laid Before the dwellers of the shade: * The southern land where now we are Offers this check our rites to bar:1 To other regions let us speed, And ply our tasks from trouble freed.
Now turn we to the distant west.
To Pushkar's2 wood where hermits rest, And there to rites austere apply, For not a grove with that can vie.'
The saint, in glory's light arrayed, In Pushkar's wood his dwelling made, And living there on roots and fruit Did penance stern and resolute.
The king who filled Ayodhya's throne, By Ambarisha s name far known, At that same time, it chanced, began A sacrificial rite to plan. But Indra took by force away The charger that the king would slay. The victim lost, the Brahman sped To Ambarisha's side, and said: 'Gone is the steed, O King, and this Is due to thee, in care remiss.
1 ' This cannot refer to the events just related: for Visvamitra was successful in the sacrifice performed for Trisanku. And yet no other impediment is mentioned. Still his restless mind would not allow him to remain longer^ in the same spot. So the character of Visvamitra is ingeni- ously and skilfully shadowed forth; as he had been formerly a most warlike king, loving battle and glory, bold, active, sometimes unjust, and more frequently magnanimous, such also he always shows himself in his character of anchorite and ascetic.' SCHLEGEL.
2 Near the modern city of Ajmere. The place is sacred still, and the name is pre- served in the Hindi. Lassen, however, says that this Pushkala or Pushkara, called by the Grecian writers HtvKtXaiTic;, the earliest place of pilgrimage mentioned by name, is not to be confounded with the modern Pushkara in Ajmere, Canto LXII.
THE RAM AY AN.
Such heedless faults will kings destroy Who fail to guard what they enjoy. The flaw is desperate: we need The charger, or a man to bleed. Quick! bring a man if not the horse, That so the rite may have its course.'
The glory of Ikshvaku's line Made offer of a thousand kine, And sought to buy at lordly price A victim for the sacrifice. To many a distant land he drove, To many a people, town, and grove, And holy shades where hermits rest, Pursuing still his eager quest. At length on Bhrigu's sacred height The saint Kichika met his sight Sitting beneath the holy boughs. His children near him, and his spouse.
The mighty lord drew near, assayed To win his grace, and reverence paid; And then the sainted king addressed The Brahman saint with this request: « Bought with a hundred thousand kine, Give me, O 6age, a son of thine To be a victim in the rite, And thanks the favour shall requite. For I have roamed all countries round, Nor sacrificial victim found. Then, gentle Hermit, deign to spare One child amid the number there.'
Then to the monarch's speech replied The hermit, penance-glorified: * For countless kine, tor hills of gold, Mine eldest son shall ne'er be sold.' But, when she heard the saint's reply, The children's mother, standing nigh, Words such as these in answer said To Ambarisha, monarch dread: ' My lord, the saint, has spoken well: His eldest child he will not sell. And know, great Monarch, that above The rest my youngest born I love. 'Tis ever thus: the father's joy Is centred in his eldest boy. The mother loves her darling best Whom last she rocked upon her breast: My youngest I will ne'er forsake.'
As thus the sire and mother spake, Young &unahsepba, of the three The midmost, cried unurged and free: ' My sire withholds his eldest son, My mother keeps her youngest one: Then take me with thee, King: I ween The son is sold who comes between.' The king with joy his home resought, And took the prize his kine had bought. He bade the youth his car ascend, And hastened back the rites to end.1 1 * Ambarisha is the twenty-ninth in CANTO LXII. AMBARrSHA'S SACRIFICE.
As thus the king that youth conveyed, His weary steeds at length he stayed At height of noon their rest to take Upon the bank of Pushkar's lake. There while rhe king enjoyed repose The captive ^unahsepha rose, And hasting to the water's side His uncle Visvamitra spied, With many a hermit 'neath the trees Engaged in stern austerities.
Distracted with the toil and thirst, With woeful mien, away he burst, Swift to the hermit's breast he flew, And weeping thus began to sue: *No sire have I. no mother dear, No kith or kin my heart to cheer: As justice bids, O Hermit, deign To save me from the threatened pain. O thou to whom the wretched flee, And find a saviour, Saint, in thee, Now let the king obtain his will, And me my length of days fulfil, That rites austere I too may share, May rise to heaven and rest me there. With tender soul and gentle brow Be guardian of the orphan thou, And as a father pities, so Preserve me from my fear and woe.'
When Visvamitra, glorious saint, Had heard the boy's heart-rending plaint, He soothed his grief, his tears he dried, descent from Ikshvaku, and is therefore separated by an immense space of time from Trisanku in whose story Visvamitra bad played so important a part. Yet Richika, who is represented as having young sons while Ambarisha was yet reign- ing being himself the son of Bhrigu and to be numbered with the most ancient sages, is said to have married the younger sister of Visvamitra. But I need not again remark that there is a perpetual anachro- nism in Indian mythology.' SCHLEGEL.
'In the mythical story related in this and the following Canto we may discover, I think, some indication of the epoch at which the immolation of lower animals was substituted for human sacrifice...So when Iphigenia was about to be sacri- ficed at Aulis, one legend tells us that a hind was substituted for the virgin.'
GORRESIO, So the ram caught in the thicket took the place of Isaac, or, as the Musalmani say, of Ishmael.
THE RAM AY AN.
Book 7.
Then called his sons to him, and cried: 'The time is come for you to show The duty and the aid hestow For which, regarding future life, A man gives children to his wife. This hermit's son, whom here you see A suppliant, refuge seeks with me. O sons, the friendless youth befriend, And, pleasing me, his life defend. For holy works you all have wrought, True to the virtuous life I taught. Go, and as victims doomed to bleed, Die, and Lord Agni's hunger feed. So shall the rite cjmplete.d end, This orphan gain a saving friend, Due offerings to the Gods be paid, And your own father's voice obeyed.'
Then Madhushyand and all the rest Answered their sire with scorn and jest: ' What! aid to others' sons afford, And leave thine own to die. my lord! To us it seems a horrid deed, As 'twere on one's own flesh to feed.'