Then Bharat to gatrughna showed The spot, and eager onward strode, First bidding Saint Vasiahtha bring The widowed consorts of the king, As by fraternal love impelled His onward course the hero held, jiumantra followed close behind batrughna with an anxious mind: Not Bharat's self more fain could be To look on Kama's face than he. A.S, speeding on, the spot he neared, imid the hermits' homes appeared His brother's cot with leaves o'erspread, And by its side a lowly shed. Before the shed great heaps were left Of gathered flowers and billets cleft, And on the trees hung grass and bark Rama and Lakshmaa 's path to mark: And heaps of fuel to provide Against the cold stood ready dried. The long-armed chief, as on he went In glory's light preeminent, With joyous words like these addressed The brave $atrughna and the rest: 1 This is the place, I little doubt, Which Bharadvaja pointed out, Not far from where we stand must be The woodland stream, Mandakini. Here on the mountain's woody side Roam elephants in tusked pride, And ever with a roar and cry Each other, as they meet, defy. And see those smoke-wreaths thick and dark: dark: The presence of the flame they mark, Which hermits in the forest strive By every art to keep alive. O happy me! my task is done, And I shall look on Raghu's son, Like some great saint, who loves to treat His elders with all reverence meet.'
Thus Bharat reached that forest rill, Thus roamed on Chitrakuta's hill; Then pity in his breast awoke, And to his friends the hero spoke: * Woe, woe upon my life and birth! The prince of men, the lord of earth Has sought the lonely wood to dwell Sequestered in a hermit's cell. Through me, through me these sorrows fall On him the splendid lord of all: • Through me resigning earthly bliss He hides him in a home like this. Now will I, by the world abhorred, Fall at the dear feet of my lord, And at fair Site's too, to win His pardon for my heinous sin,' As thus he sadly mourned and sighed, The son of Dasaratha spied A bower of leafy branches made, Sacred and lovely in the shade, Of fair proportions large and tall, Well roofed with boughs of palm and Sal, Arranged in order due o'erhead Like grass upon an altar spread. Two glorious bows were gleaming there, Like Indra's1 in the rainy air, Terror of foemen, backed with gold, Meet for the mightiest hand to hold: And quivered arrows cast a blaze Bright gleaming like the Day-God's rays: Thus serpents with their eyes aglow Adorn their capital below.2 Great swords adorned the cottage, laid Each in a case of gold brocade; There hung the trusty shields, whereon With purest gold the bosses shone. The brace to bind the bowman's arm, The glove to shield his hand from harm, A lustre to the cottage lent From many a golden ornament: Safe was the cot from fear of men As from wild beasts the lion's den. The tire upon the altar burned, That to the north and east was turned. Bharat his eager glances bent And gazed within the cot intent; In deerskin dress, with matted hair, Kama his chief was sitting there: With lion-shoulders broad and strong, With lotus eyes, arms thick and long, The righteous sovereign, who should be Lord paramount from sea to sea, High-minded, born to lofty fate, Like Brahma's self supremely great; With Lakshman by his side, and her, Fair Sita, for hi's minister. And Bharat gazing, overcome By sorrow for a while was dumb, Then, yielding to his woe, he ran To Rama and with sobs began: * He who a royal seat should till With subjects round to do his will. My elder brother, — see him here, With silvan creatures waiting near. The high-souled hero, wont to wear The costliest robes exceeding fair, Now banished, in a deerskin dress, Here keeps the path of righteousness. How brooks the son of Raghu now The matted locks which load his brow, Around whose princely head were twined Sweet blossoms of the rarest kind? The prince whose merits grew, acquired 1 The rainbow is called the bow of Indra. a Bhogavati, the abode of the N&gas or Serpent race.
THE RAMAYAN.
tioolc 11 By rites performed as he desired, Would now a store of merit gain Bought by his body's toil and pain. Those limbs to which pure sandal lent The freshness of its fragrant scent, Exposed to sun. and dust, and rain, Are now defiled with many a stain. And I the wretched cause why this Falls on the prince whose right is bliss? Ah me, that ever I was born To be the people's hate and scorn! ' Thus Bharat cried: of anguish sprung, Great drops upon his forehead hung. He fell o'erpowered — his grief was such—- Ere he is brother's feet could touch. As on the glorious prince he gazed In vain his broken voice he raised: • Dear lord '—through tears and sobbing came, The only words his lips could frame. And brave ^atrughna wept aloud, As low at Rama's feet he bowed. Then Rama, while his tears ran fast, His arms around his brothers cast. Guha, Sumantra came to meet The princes in their wild retreat. Vrihaspati and Bukra bright Their greeting thus rejoice to pay To the dear Lord who brings the night, And the great God who rules the day. Then wept the dwellers of the shade, Whose eyes the princes, meet to ride On mighty elephants, surveyed; And cast all thought of joy aside.
CANTO CI.
BHARAT QUESTIONED, Then Rama gazed, and scarcely knew Bharat so worn and changed in hue. He raised him, kissed him on the head, Embraced him, and thus kindly said: ' Where was thy father, brother dear, That thou art come to seek me here? Unmeet, if he be living yet, Thy feet within the wood to set. I pray thee now the cause declare Why thou hast left the kingdom there. With matted locks and deerskin dress To roam the distant wilderness.'
Thus questioned by the prince, at length Kaikeyi's son regained his strength, And hand to hand in reverence laid, To Rama thus his answer made: ' The great-armed monarch, O my lard, Has dared to do a thing abhorred, Left us, and grieving for his son, A home among the Gods has won.
My mother Queen Kaikeyi gave The order to the king her slave, And at the bidding of the dame He wrought the sin which mars his fame Athirst for sway, her hopes are crossed, She mourns her son, her husband lost, And through her impious crime will go For punishment to hell below.
Now 0 my lord, forgive me all; Be gracious to thy lowly thrall: Anointed king, accept to-day Like Indra's self, the royal sway.
Be gracious, Prince, to lord and peer, And widowed queens who seek thee here.
Accept the kingdom thine by right, And so thy faithful friends delight.
Let the broad land no longer be All widowed and forlorn of thee: Let the full moon of autumn reign Triumphant o'er the night again.
These lords and I before thee bend: O Rama, to our prayer attend.
O do not thou this grace den,?: Thy brother, pupil, slave am I.
Look on this venerable ring, Advisers of our sire the king, From age to age so honoured: thou Shouldst grant their supplication now.1 As weeping thus the hero prayed, His head at Rarna's feet he laid. Like a mad elephant he sighed: And Rama gazed and thus replied: ' How, brother, can a man of worth, True to his vows, of noble birth— A man like me, commit a sin The lordship of the land to win? No slightest shade of fault I see, O tamer of thy foes, in thee. But ne'er shouldst thou in childish thought The queen thy mother blame in aught. O brother wise and sinless, know The sacred laws would have it so, That from good wife and son require Obedience to their lord and sire. And we are all the king's, for thus The virtuous ever reckon us: Yea brother, be it known to thee, His wives, and sons, and pupils we. His is the right, if he deem fit, To bid me, throned as monarch, sit, Or in a coat of bark expel, And deerskin, in the wood to dwell. And O remember, best of all Who act as claims of duty call, As to a virtuous sire is due, Such honour claims a mother too. So they whose lives have ever been By duty led, the king and queen, Said, * Rama, seek the forest shade:* And I (what could I else?) obeyed. Thou must the royal power retain, Janto CHI.
Janto CHI.
THE RAM AY AN.
^nd o'er the famed Ayodhya reign: : dressed in bark my days will spent iiVhere Dandak's forest wilds extend. Jo Dasaratha spoke, our king, Us share to each apportioning before his honoured servants, eyes: jT hen, heir of bliss, he sought the skies, the righteous monarch's honoured will, kYhom all revered, must guide thee still, &.nd thou must still enjoy the share Assigned thee by our father's care, So I till twice seven years are spent Will roam this wood in banishment, Contented with the lot which he, My high-souled sire, has given me. I'he charge the monarch gave, endeared l?o all mankind, by all revered, Peer of the Lord Supreme, Far better, richer far in gain Of every blessing than to reign O'er all the worlds I deem,' CANTO GIL BHABAT'S TIDINGS.
He spoke: and Bharat thus replied: If, false to every claim beside, [ ne'er in kingly duties fail, What will my royal life avail? Still should the custom be observed, From which our line has never swerved, Which to the younger son ne'er gives rhe kingdom while the elder lives. Now to Ayodhya rich and fair With me, O Raghu's son, repair, &nd to protect and gladden all Our house, thyself as king install. A. king the world's opinion deems (V man: to me a God he seems, Whose life in virtuous thoughts and deeds rhe lives of other men exceeds. When I in distant Kekaya stayed, A.nd thou hadst sought the forest shade, Our father died, the saints' delight, So constant in each holy rite. Scarce with thy wife and Lakshman thou Hadst journeyed forth to keep the vow, When mourning for his son, forspent, Po heavenly rest the monarch went. Then up, O lord of men, away 1 His funeral rites of water pay: t and $atrughna, ere we came, Neglected not the sacred claim. But in the spirit-world, they say, That gift alone is fresh for aye Which best beloved hands have poured; And thou his dearest art, my lord, For thee he longed, for thee he grieved, His every thought on thee was bent, And crushed by woe, of thee bereaved, He thought of thee as henoe he went,1 CANTO GUI.
THE FUNERAL LIBATION.
When Rama heard from Bharat each Dark sorrow of his mournful speech, And tidings of his father dead, His spirits fell, his senses fled. For the sad words his brother spoke Struck on him like a thunder stroke, Fierce as the bolt which Indra throws, The victor of his Daitya foes. Raising his arms in anguish, he, As when the woodman hews a tree With its fair flowery branches crowned, Fainted and fell upon the ground. Lord of the earth to earth he sank, Helpless, as when a towering bank With sudden ruin buries deep An elephant who lay asleep. Then swift his wife and brothers flew, And water, weeping, o'er him threw. As slowly sense and strength he gained, Fast from his eyes the tears he rained, And then in accents sad and weak Kakutstha's son began to speak, And mourning for the monarch dead, With righteous words to Bharat said: ' What calls me home, when he, alas, Has gone the way which all must pass? Of him, the best of kings bereft What guardian has Ayodhya left? How may I please his spirit? how Delight the high-souled monarch now, Who wept for me and went above By me ungraced with mourning love? Ah, happy brothers! you have paid Due offerings to his parting shade. E'en when my banishment is o'er, Back to my home I go no more, To look upon the widowed state Reft of her king, disconsolate. E'en then, O tamer of the foe, If to Ayodhya's town I go, Who will direct me as of old, Now other worlds our father hold? From whom, my brother, shall I hear Those words which ever charmed mine ear And filled my bosom with delight Whene'er he saw me act aright? ' Thus Rama spoke: then nearer came And looking on his moonbright dame, ' Sita, the king is gone,' he said: * And Lakshman, know thy sire is dead, THE RAM AY AH.
Book II.
And with the Gods on high enrolled: This mournful news has Bharat told.1 He spoke; the noble youths with sighs Eained down the torrents from their eyes, And then the brothers of the chief With words of comfort soothed his grief: ' Now to the king our sire who swayed The earth be due libations paid,' Soon as the monarch's fate she knew, Sharp pangs of grief smote Sita through: Nor could she look upon her lord With eyes from which the torrents poured. And Rama strove with tender care To soothe the weeping dame's despair, And then, with piercing woe distressed, The mournful Lakshman thus addressed: ' Brother, I pray thee bring for me The pressed fruit of the Ingndi, And a bark mantle fresh and new, That I may pay this offering due. First of the three shall Sita go, Next thou, and I the last: for so Moves the funereal pomp of woe.'1 Sumantra of the noble mind, Gentle and modest, meek and kind, Who, follower of each princely youth, To Rama clung with constant truth, Now with the royal brothers' aid The grief of Rama soothed and stayed, And lent his arm his lord to guide Down to the river's holy side. That lovely stream the heroes found, With woods that ever blossomed crowned, And there in bitter sorrow bent Their footsteps down the fair descent. Then where the stream that swiftly flowed A pure pellucid shallow showed, The funeral drops they duly shed, And ' Father, this be thine,' they said. But he, the lord who ruled the land, Filled from the stream his hollowed hand, And turning to the southern side Stretched out his arm and weeping cried: 'This sacred water clear and pure, An offering which shall aye endure, To thee, 0 lord of kings, I give: Accept it where the spirits live! ' Then, when the solemn rite was o'er, Came Rama to the river shore, And offered, with his brothers' aid, Fresh tribute to his father's shade.
1 'The order of the procession on these occasions is that the children precede ac- cording to age, then the women and after that the men according to age, the youngest first and the eldest last: when they descend into the water this is reversed and resumed when they come out of it,' CAREY AND MAESHMAN, With jujube fruit he mixed the seed Of Ingudis from moisture freed, And placed it on a spot o'erspread With sacred grass, and weeping said: Enjoy, great King, the cake which we Thy children eat and offer thee! For ne'er do blessed Gods refuse To share the food which mortals use.1 Then Rama turned him to retrace The path that brought him to the place, And up the mountain's pleasant side Where lovely lawns lay fair, he hied. Soon as his cottage door he gained, His brothers to his breast he strained, From them and Sita in their woes So loud the cry of weeping rose, That like the roar of lions round The mountain rolled the echoing sound. And Bharat's army shook with fear The weeping of the chiefs to hear. 1 Bharat, the soldiers cried, "tis plain, His brother Rama meets again, And with th^se cries that round us ring They sorrow for their sire the king.' Then leaving car and wain behind, One eager thought in every mind, Swift toward the weeping, every man, As each could find a passage, ran. Some thither bent their eager course With car, and elephant, and horse, And youthful captains on their feet With longing sped their lord to meet, As though the new-come prince had been An exile for long years unseen. Earth beaten in their frantic zeal By clattering hoof and rumbling wheel, Sent forth a deafening noise as loud As heaven when black with many a cloud Then, with their consorts gathered near, Wild elephants in sudden fear Rushed to a distant wood, and shed An odour round them as they fled. And every silvan thing that dwelt Within those shades the terror felt, Deer, lion, tiger, boar and roe, Bison, wild-cow, and buffalo. And when the tumult wild they heard, With trembling pinions flew each bird, From tree, from thicket, and from lake, Swan, koil, curlew, crane, and drake. With men the ground was overspread, With startled birds the sky o'erhead. Then on his sacrificial ground The sinless, glorious chief was found. Loading with curses deep and loud The hump-back and the queen, the crow< Whose cheeks were wet, whose eyes wei dim, In fond affection ran to him. While the big tears their eyes bedewed, He looked upon the inultitud e, Canto CIV.
THE RAM AY AN.
And then as sire and mother do, His arms about his loved ones threw. Some to his feet with reverence pressed, Some in his arms he strained: Ea3h friend, with kindly words addressed, Due share of honour gained. Then, by their mighty woe o'ercome, The weeping heroes' cry Filled, like the roar of many a drum, "ill, cavern, earth, and sky.
CANTO CIV.
THE MEETING WITH THE QUEENS, Vasishtha with his soul athirst To look again on Kama, first In line the royal widows placed, And then the way behind them traced.
The ladies moving, faint and slow, Saw the fair stream before them flow, And by the bank their steps were led Which the two brothers visited.
Kausalya with her faded cheek And weeping eyes began to speak, And thus in mournful tones addressed The queen Sumitra and the rest: ' See in the wood the bank's descent, Which the two orphan youths frequent, Whose noble spirits never fall, Though woes surround them, reft of all.
Thy son with love that never tires Draws water hence which mine requires.
This day, for lowly toil unfit, His pious task thy son should quit.'
As on the long-eyed lady strayed, On holy grass, whose points were laid Directed to the southern sky, The funeral offering met her eye. When Rama's humble gift she spied Thus to the queens Kausalya cried: ' The gift of Rama's hand behold, His tribute to the king high-souled, Offered to him, as texts require, Lord of Ikshvaku's line, his sire! Not such I deem the funeral food Of kings with godlike might endued. Can he who knew all pleasures, he Who ruled the earth from sea to sea, The mighty lord of monarchs, feed On Ingudi's extracted seed? In all the world there cannot be A woe. I ween, more sad to see, Than that my glorious son should make His funeral gift of such a cake. The ancient text 1 oft have heard This day is true in every word: 'Ne'er do the blessed Gods refuse To eat the food their children use.'
The ladies soothed the weeping dame: To Rama's hermitage they came, And there the hero met their eyes Like a God fallen from the skies. Him joyless, reft of all, they viewed, And tears their mournful eyes bedewed. The truthful hero left his seat, And clasped the ladies' lotus feet, And they with soft hands brushed away The dust that on his shoulders lay. Then Lakshman, when he saw each queen With weeping e'yes and troubled mien, Near to the royal ladies drew And paid them gentle reverence too. He, Dasaratha's offspring, signed The heir of bliss by Fortune kind, Received from every dame no less Each mark of love and tenderness. And Sita came and bent before The widows, while her eyes ran o'er, And pressed their feet with many a tear. They when they saw the lady dear Pale, worn with dwelling in the wild, Embraced her as a darling child: Daughter of royal Janak, bride Of Dasaratha's'son,'they cried, ' How couldst thou, offspring of a king, Endure this woe and suffering In the wild forest? When I trace Each sign of trouble on thy face — That lotus which the sun has dried, That lily by the tempest tried, That gold whereon the dust is spread, That moon whence all the light is fled—- Sorrow assails my heart, alas! As fire consumes the wood and grass.' Then Rama, as she spoke distressed, The feet of Saint Vasishtha pressed, Touched them with reverential love, Then near him took his seat: Thus Indra clasps in realms above The Heavenly Teacher's1 feet. Then with each counsellor and peer, Bharat of duteous mind, With citizens and captains near, Sat humbly down behind. When with his hands to him upraised, In devotee's attire, Bharat upon his brother gazed Whose glory shone like tire, As when the pure Mahendra bends To the great Lord of Life, Among his noble crowd of friends This anxious thought was rife: 4 What words to Raghu's son to-day Will royal Bharat speak, Whose heart has been so prompt to pay Obeisance fond and meek? ' Then steadfast Rama, Lakshman wise, Bharat for truth renowned, Vrihaspati, the preceptor of the Gods.
THE RAMAYAN.
Book II.
Shone like three fires that heavenward rise With holy priests around.
CANTO CT.
RAMA'S SPEECH.
A while they sat, each lip compressed, Then Bharat thus his chief addressed; 'My mother here was made content; To me was given the government. This now, my lord, I yield to thee: Enjoy it, from all trouble free. Like a great bridge the floods have rent, Impetuous in their wild descent, AH other hands but thine in vain Would strive the burthen to maintain. In vain the ass with steeds would vie, With Tarkshya,1 birds that wing the sky; So, lord of men, my power is slight To rival thine imperial might. Great joys his happy days attend On whom the hopes of men depend, But wretched is the life he leads Who still the aid of others needs. And if the seed a man has sown, With care and kindly nurture grown, Rear its huge trunk and spring in time Too bulky for a dwarf to climb, Yet, with perpetual blossom gay, No fruit upon its boughs display, [Ne'er can that tree, thus nursed in vain, Approval of the virtuous gain. The simile is meant to be Applied, O mighty-armed, to thee, Because, our lord and leader, thou Protect est not thy people now. O, be the longing wish fulfilled Of every chief of house and guild, To see again their sun-bright lord Victorious to his realm restored! As thou returnest through the crowd Let roars of elephants be loud, And each fair woman lift her voice And in her new-found king rejoice.'
The people all with longing moved, The words that Bharat spoke approved, And crowding near to Rama pressed The hero with the same request. The steadfast Rama, when he viewed His glorious brother's mournful mood, With each ambitious thought controlled; Thus the lamenting prince consoled: 4 I cannot do the things I will, For Rama is but mortal still. Fate with supreme, resistless law This way and that its slave will draw. All gathered heaps must waste away, AH lofty lore and powers decay.
* Garud, the king of birds, Death is the end of life, and all, Now firmly joined, apart must fall.
One fear the ripened fruit must know, To fall upon the earth below; So every man who draws his breath Must fear inevitable death.
The pillared mansion, high, compact, Must fall by Time's strong hand attacked; So mortal men, the gradual prey Of eld and ruthless death, decay.
The night that flies no more returns: Yamuna for the Ocean yearns: Swift her impetuous waters flee, But roll not backward from the sea.
The days and nights pass swiftly by And steal our moments as they fry, E'en as the sun's unpitying rays Drink up the floods in summer blaze.
Then for thyself lament and leave For death of other men to grieve, For if thou go or if thou stay, Thy life is shorter day by day.
Death travels with us: death attends Our steps until our journey ends, Death, when the traveller wins the goal, Returns with the returning soul.
The flowing hair grow* white and thin, And wrinkles mark the altered skin.
The ills of age man's strength assail: Ah, what can mortal power avail?
Men joy to see the sun arise, They watch him set with joyful eyes: But ne'er reflect, too blind to see, How fast their own brief moments flee.
With lovely change for ever new The seasons' sweet return they view, Nor think with heedless hearts the while That lives decay as seasons smile.
As haply on the boundless main Meet drifting logs and part again, So wives and children, friends and gold, Ours for a little time we hold: Soon by resistless laws of fate To meet no more we separate.
In all this changing world not one The common lot of all can shun: Then why with useless tears deplore The dead whom tears can bring no more!
As one might stand upon the way And to a troop of travellers say: ' If ye allow it, sirs, J too Will travel on the road with you: ' So why should mortal man lament When on that path his feet are bent Which all men living needs must tread, Where sire and ancestors have led?
Life flies as torrents downward fall Speeding away without recall, So virtue should our thoughts engage, For bliss1 is mortals' heritage, 1 To be won by virtue.
Canto CVI.
THE RAMAYAN.
By ceaseless care and earnest zeal For servants and for people's weal, By gifts, by duty nobly done, Our glorious sire the skies lias won. Our lord the king, o'er earth who reigned, A blissful home in heaven has gained By wealth in ample largess spent, And many a rite magnificent; With constant joy from first to last A long and noble life he passed, Praised by the good, no tears should dim Our eyes, O brother dear, for him. His human body, worn and tried By length of days, he cast aside, And gained the godlike bliss to stray In Brahma's heavenly home for aye. For such the wise as we are, deep In Veda lore, should never weep. Those who are firm and ever wise Spurn vain lament and idle sighs. Be self-possessed: thy grief restrain: Go, in tuat city dwell again. Keturn, O best of men, and be Obedient to our sire's decree, While I with every care fulfil Our holy father's righteous will, Observing in the lonely wood His charge approved by all the good,' Thus Rama of the lofty mind To Bharat spoke his righteous speech, By every argument designed Obedience to his sire to teach, CANTO CVI.
BHARAT'S SPEECH.
Good Bharat, by the river side, To virtuous Kama's speech replied, And thus with varied lore addressed The prince, while nobles round him pressed: ' In all this world whom e'er can we Find equal, scourge of foes, to thee? No ill upon thy bosom weighs, No thoughts of joy thy spirit raise. Approved art thou of sages old, To whom thy doubts are ever told. Alike in death and life, to thee The same to be and not to be. The man who such a soul can gain Can ne'er be crushed by woe or pain. Pure as the Gods, high-minded, wise, Concealed from thee no secret lies. Such glorious gifts are all thine own, And birth and death to thee are known, That ill can ne'er thy soul depress With all-subduing bitterness. O let my prayer, dear brother, win Thy pardon for my mother's sin, Wrought for my sake who willed it not When absent in a distant spot. 15