' The prince who well bis days divides, And knows aright the times and tides To follow duty, joy, or gain, He, only he, deserves to reign. But he who wealth and virtue leaves, And every hour to pleasure cleaves, False from his bliss like him who wakes From slumber on a branch that breaks. True king is he who smites his foes, And favour to his servants shows, And of that fruit makes timely use Which virtue, wealth, and joy produce. The hour is come that bids thee rise To aid me in my enterprise. Then call thy nobles to debate, And with their help deliberate.'
' Lost was my power,' the king replied, ' All strength had fled, all hope had died. The Vanars owned another lord, But by thy grace was all restored. All this, O conqueror of the foe, To thee and La k -Oman's aid I owe And his should be the villain's shame Who durst deny the sacred claim. These Vanar chiefs of noblest birth Have at my bidding roamed the earth, And brought from distant regions all Our legions at their monarch's call: Fierce bears with monkey troops combined, And a pea of every varied kind, Terrific in their forms, who dwell In grove and wood and bosky dell: The bright Gandharyas' brood, the seed Of Gods,' they change their shapes at need.
1 See Book I. Canto XVI, Each with his legions in array, Hither, O Prince, they make their way. They come: and teus of millions swell To numbers that no tongue may tell.1 For thee their armies will unite With chiefs, Mahendra's peers in might. From Meru and from Vindhya's chain They come like clouds that bring the rain, These round tbee to the war will go, To smite to earth thy demon foe; Will slay the Rakshas and restore Thy consort when the fight is o'er.'
CANTO *XXXIX.
THE VANAR HOST.
Then Rama, best of all who guide Their steps by duty, thus replied: ' What marvel if Lord Indra send The kindly rain, O faithful friend? If, thousand-rayed, the God of Day Drive every darksome cloud away? Or, rising high, the Lord of Night Flood the broad heaven with silver light T What marvel, King, that one like thee The glory of his friends should be? No marvel, O my lord, that thou Hast shown thy noble nature now. Thy heart, Sugriva, well I know: Naught from thy lips but truth may flow. With thee for friend and champion all My foes beneath my arm will fall. The Rakshas, when my queen he stole. Brought sure destruction on his soul, Like Anuhlada* who beguiled Queen $achi called Puloma's child. Yes, near, Sugriva, is the day When I my demon foe shall slay, As conquering Indra in his ire Slew Queen Paulomi's haughty sire.'3 1 The numbers are unmanageable in English verse. The poet speaks of hund- reds of arbudas; and an arbuda is a hundred millions.
* Anuhlada or Anuhrada is one of the four sons of the niighty Hiranyaka- sipu, an Asur or a Daitya son of Kaayapa and Diti and killed by Vishnu in his in- carnation of the Man-Lion Narasinha. Ac- cording to the Bhagavata Purana the Dait- ya or Asur Hiranyakasipu and Hirany- aksha his brother^ both killed by Vishnu, were born again as Ravan and Kumbha- karna his brother."
3 Puloma, a demon, was the father-in- law of Indra who destroyed him in order to avert an imprecation, Paulomii is a patronymic denoting Sachi the daughter of Canto XL, THE RAM AY AN.
He ceased: thick clouds of dust rose high To every quarter of the sky: The very sun grew faint and pale Behind the darkly -gathering veil. The mighty clouds that hung overhead From east to west thick darkness spread, And earth to her foundations shook With hill and forest, lake and brook. Then hidden was the ground beneath Fierce warriors armed with fearful teeth,, Hosts numberless, each lord in size A match for him who rules the skies: From many a sea and distant hill, From rock and river, lake and rill. Some like the morning sun were bright, Some, like the moon, were silver white: These green as lotus fibres, those White-coated from their native snows.1 Then Satabali came in view Girt by a countless retinue. Like some gold mountain high in air Tara's illustrious sire* was there. There Ruma's father,3 far-renowned, With tens of thousands ranged around. There, tinted like the tender green Of lotus filaments, was seen, Compassed by countless legions, one Whose face was as the morning sun, Hanuman's father good and great, Kesari,4 wisest in debate. There the proud king Gavaksha, feared For his strong warrior arm, appeared. There Dhiimra, mighty lord, the dread Of foes, his ursine legions led. There Panaa, first for warlike fame, With twenty million warriors came.
There glorious Nila, dark of hue, Arrayed his countless troops in view. There moved lord Gavaya brave and bold, Resplendent like a hill of gold, And near him Darimukha stood With millions from the hill and wood. And Dwivid famed for strength and speed, And Mainda, both of Asvin seed. There Gaja, strong.and glorious, led The countless troops around him spread, And Jambav&n5 the king whose sway The bears delighted to obey, 1 " Observe the variety of colours which thepoem attributes to all these inhabitants of the different mountainous regions, some white, others yellow, &c. Such dif- ferent colours were perhaps peculiar and distinctive characteristics of those various races." GORRESSIO.
4 Kesari was the husband of Hanuman's mother, and is here called his father.
* "I here unite under one heading two .animals of very diverse nature and race, With swarming myriads onward pressed True to his lor.d Sugriva's hest; And princely Human, dear to fame, Led millions whom no hosts could tame. All these and many a chief beside1 Came onward fierce in warlike pride. They covered all the plain, and still Pressed forward over wood and hill. In rows for many a league around They rested on the grassy ground; Or to Sugriva made their way, Like clouds about the Lord of Day, And to the king their proud heads bent In power and might preeminent. Sugriva then to Rama sped. And raised his reverent hands, and said That every chief from coast to coast Was present with his warrior host CANTO XL.
THE ARMY OF THE EAST.
With practised eye the king reviewed The Vanars' countless multitude, And, joying that his hest was done, Thus spake to Raghu's mighty son: ' See, all the Vanar hosts who fear My sovereign might are gathered here. Chiefs strong as Indra's self, who speed Wher'er they list, these armies lead. Fierce and terrific to the view As Daityas or the Dariav * crew, but which from some gross resemblances, probably helped by an equivoque in the language, are closely affiliated in the Hindoo myth a reddish colour of the skin, want of symmetry and ungainliness of form, strength in hugging with the fore p&ws or arms, the faculty of climbing, shortness of tail (?), sensuality, capacity of instruction in dancing and in music, are all characteristics which more or less distinguish and meet in bears as well as in monkeys. In the Itdm.dyanam, the wise Jambavant, the Odysseus of the ex- pedition of Lanka, is called now king of the bears (rikshaparthivah), now great monkey ( Mahdtopih). DB GUBERNATIB: Zoological Mythology, Vol. II. p. 97.
1 Gandhamadana, Angad, Tara, Indra- ianu, Rambha, Durmukha, Hanuman, Nala, Darimukha, Sarabha, Kumuda, Vahni.
2 Daityas and Danavas are fiends and enemies of the Gods, like the Titans of Greek mythology.
THE RAM A TAN.
Bool: IV.
Famed in all lands for souls afire With lofty thought?, they never tire, O'er hill and vale they wander free, And islets of the distant sea. And these gathered myriads, all Will serve thee, Rama, at thy call. Whate'er thy heart advises, say: Thy mandates will the host obey.'
Then answered Kama, as he pressed The Vanar monarch to his breast: ' O search for my lost Sita, strive To find her if she still survive: And in thy wondrous wisdom trace • Fierce Ravan to his dwelling-place. And when by toil and search we know Where Sita lies and where the foe, With thee, dear friend, will I devise Fit means to end the enterprise. Not mine, not Lakshman's is the power To guide us in the doubtful hour. Thou, sovereign of the Variars, thou Must be our hope and leader now,' He ceased: at King Sugriva's call Near came a Vanar strong and tall, Huge as a towering mountain, loud As some tremendous thunder cloud, A prince who war like legions led: To him his sovereign turned and said: ' Go. take ten thousand1 of our race Well trained in lore of time and place, And search the eastern region; through Groves, woods, ane hills thy way pursue. There seek for Sita, trace the spot Where Ravan hides, and weary not. Search for the captive in the caves Of mountains, and by woods and waves. To iSurju, * Kausiki,3 repair, BhagirMth's daughter4 fresh and fair. Search mightv Yamun's5 peak, explore Swift Yamuna's6 delightful shore, Sarasvati7 and Sindhu's8 tide, 1 I reduce the unwieldy numbers of the original to more modest figures.
* Saray u now Sarju is the river on whic h Ayodhya was built.
3 Kausiki is a river which flows through Behar, commonly called Kosi.
4 Bhagirath's daughter is Ganga or the Gauges.Tho leirend is told at length in Book I. Canto X.L1V. The Descent of Gang a.
5 A mountain not identified.
6 The Jumna. The river is personified as the twin sister of Yama, and hence regar- ed as the daughter of the hun.
7 The Sarasvati (corruptly called Sur- aooty, is supposed to join the Ganges and •Jumna at Prayag or Allahabad. It rises in the mountains bounding the north-east And rapid Nona's1 pebbly Ri'-3e, Then roam atar by Mahi's2 bed Where Kalamahi's groves are spread.
Go where the silken tissue shines, Go to the land of silver mines.3 Visit each isle and mountain steep And city circled by the deep, And distant villages that high About the peaks of Mandar lie.
Speed over Yavadwipa's land,4 And see Mount £igir5 proudly stand Uplifting to the skies his head By Gods and D&navs visited.
Search each ravine and mountain pass, Each tangled thicket deep in grass.
Search every cave with utmost care If haply Rama's queen be there.
Then pass beyond the sounding sea Where heavenly beings wander free.
And Nona's6 waters swift and strong With ruddy billows foam along.
Search where his shelving banks descend, Search where the hanging woods extend: Try if the pathless thickets screen The robber and the captive queen.
Search where the torrent floods that rend The mountain to the plains descend: Search dark abysses where they rave, Search mountain slope and wood and cave.
Then on with rapid feet, and gain The islands of the fearful main Where, tortured by the tempest's lash, Against rude rocks the billows dash: An ocean like a gable cloud, Whose margent monstrous serpents crowd: part of the province of Dehli, and running in a south -westerly direction becomes lost in the sandd of the great desert.
8 TheSindhuisthe Indus, the Sanskrit t becoming h in Persian and; being in this instance dropped by the Greeks.
1 The Sone which rises in the district of Nagpore and falls into the Ganges above Patna.
* Mahi is a river rising in Malwa and falling into the gulf of Cambay after a westerly course of ^80 miles.
3 There is nothing to show what parts of the country the poet intended to denote aa silk-producing and silver-producing.
4 Yavadwipa means the island of Yava, wherever that may be.
5 Sisir is Raid to be a mountain ridge projecting from the base of Mem on the south. WILSON'S Vishnu Purdna, ed.
6 This appears to be some mythical stream and not the well-known Sone, The name means red-coloured.
'Canto XL.
Till- RAMAYAN.
An ocean rising with a roar To bent upon au iron shore. On, onward still! your feet shall tread Shores of the sea whose waves are red, Where spreading wide your eyes shall see The guilt-tormenting cotton tree ' And the wild spot where Garud* dwells Which gems adorn and ocean shells, High as Kailasa, nobly decked. Wrought by the heavenly architect.5 Huge giants named M and eh as4 there In each foul shape they love to wear, Numbing the soul with terror's chill, Hang from the summit of the hill. When darts the sun his earliest beam They plunge them in the ocean stream, New vigour from his rays obtain, And hang upon the rocks again. Speed onward still: your steps shall be At length beside the Milky Sea Who.se every ripple as it curls Gleams glorious with its wealth of pearls. Amid that sea like pale clouds spread The white Mount Kishabh& rears bis head. About the mountain's glorious waist Woods redolent of bloom are braced. A lake where lotuses unfold Their silver buds with threads of gold, Sudaraan ever bright and fail- Where white swans sport, lies gleaming there, The wandering Kinnar's6 dear resort, Where heavenly nymphs and Yakshas7 1 A fabulous thorny rod of the cotton tree used for torturing the wicked in hell. The tree gives its name, Salmali, to one of the seven Dwipas or great divisions of the known continent: arid also to a hell where the wicked are tormented with the pickles of the tree.
* The king of the feathered creation.
3 Visvakarma, the Mulciber of the In- diau heaven.
4 "The terrific fiends named Mandehas attempt, to devour the sun: for Brahma denounced this curse upon them, that without the power to perish they should die every day (and revive by night) and therefore a fierce contest occurs (daily) between them and the sun."
WILSON'S Vishnu Parana, Vol. II, p. 250.
5 Said in the Vishnu Pur ana to be a ridge projecting from the base of Meru to the north.
6 Kinnars are centaurs reversed, beings with equine heads and human bodies.
7 Yakshas are demi-gods attendant on Kuvera the God of wealth, On! leave the Milky Sea behind: Another flood your search shall lind, A waste of waters, wild and drear. That chills each living heart with fear. There see the horse's awful head, Wrath-born, that flames in Ocean's bed. l There rises up a fearful cry From the sea things that move thereby, When, helpless, powerless for flight, They gaze upon the horrid sight. Past to the northern shore, and then Beyond the flood three leagues and ten Your wondering glances will behold Mount Jatarupa2 bright with gold. There iike the young moon pale of hue The monstrous serpent3 will ye view, The earth's supporter, whose bright eyes Resemble lotus leaves in size. He rests upon the mountain's brow, And all the Gods before him bow. Ananta with a thousand heads His length in robes of azure spreads. A triple-headed palm of gold- Meet standard for the lofty-souled — Springs towering from the mountain's crest Beneath whose shade he loves to rest, So that in eastern realms each God May use it as a measuring-rod. Beyond, with burning gold aglow, The eastern steep hi* peaks will show, Which in unrivalled glory rise A hundred leagues to pierce the skies, And all the neighbouring air is bright With golden trees that clothe the height. A lofty peak uprises there Ten leagues in height and one league squarri Saumanas, wrought of glistering gold, Ne'er to be loosened from its hold. There his first step Lord Vishnu placed When through the universe he* paced. And with his second lightly pressed The loftiest peak of Meru's crest. When north of Jambudwip4 the sun 1 Aurva was one of the descendants of Bhrigu. From his wrath proceeded a flame that threatened to destroy the world, had not Aurva cast it into the ocean where it remained concealed, and having the face of a horse. The legend is told in the Mahabhdrat. I. 6802.
* The word Jatarupa means gold.
3 The celebrated mythological serpent king Sesiia, called also Ananta or the infinite, represented as bearing the earth on one of his thousand heads.
4 Jambudwipa is in the centre of the seven great drvipas or continents into which the world is divided, and in the centre of Jambudwipa ia the golden THE RAM AY AN.
Book IV.
A portion of his course has run, And hangs above this mountain height, Then creatures see the genial light. Vaikhanases,1 saints far renowned, And Balakhilyas* love the ground Where in their glory half divine, Touched by the morning glow, they shine The light that flashes from that steep Illumines all Sudarsandwip,3 And on each creature, as it glows, The sight and strength of life bestows. Search well that mountain's woody side If Ravan there his captive hide. The rising sun, the golden hill Tbe air with growing splendours fill, Till flashes from the east the red Of morning with the light they shed. This, where the sun begins his state, Is earth and heaven's most eastern gate. Through all the mountain forest seek By waterfall and cave and peak. Search every nook and bosky dell, If Ravan there with Sita dwell. There, Vanars, there your steps must stay • No farther eastward can ye stray. Beyond no sun, no moon gives light, But all is sunk in endless night. Thus far, O Vanar lords, may you O'er sea and land your search pursue. But wild and dark and known to none Is the drear space beyond the sun. That mountain whence the sun ascends Your long and weary journey ends.* Now go, and in a month return, And let success my praises earn. He who beyond the month shall stay Will with his life the forfeit pay.'
CANTO XLT.
mountain Meru 84,000 yojans high, and crowned by the great city of Brahma. See WILSON'S Vishnu Pur ana, Vol. II.
1 Vaikhanases are a race of hermit saints said to have sprung from the nails of Prajapati, * "The wife of Kratu, Samnati, brought forth the sixty thousand Valakhilyas, pigmy sages, no bigger than a joint of the thumb, chaste, pious, resplendent as the rays of the Sun," WILSON'S Vishnu JPurdna, 3 The continent in which Sudarsan or Meru stands, i. e. Jambudwip.
4 The names of some historical peoples which occur in this Canto and in the Cantos describing the south and north will be found in the ADDITIONAL NOTES. They are bare lists, not susceptible of a metrical version, THE ARMY OF THE SOUTH.
He gathered next a chosen band For service in the southern land. He summoned Nila son of Fire, And. offspring of the eternal Sire, Jambavan bold and strong- aad tall, And Hanuman, the best of all, And many a valiant lord beside,1 With Angad for their chief and guide. ' Go forth,' he cried, ' with all this host Exploring to the southern coast: The thousand peaks that Vindhya shows Where every tree and creeper grows: Where Narmada's* sweet waters run, And serpents bask them in the sun: Where Krishnavenf 3 currents flee, And sparkles fair Godavari.4 Through Mekhal& pass and Dtkal's6 land: Go where Dasarna s7 cities stand. Avanti8 seek, of 'high renown, And Abravanti's9 glorious town. Search every hill and brook and cave Where Dandak's woods their branches wave Ayomukh's10 woody hill explore Whose sides are bright with richest ore,, Lifting his glorious head on high From bloomy groves that round him lie.
1 Suhotra, £arari, $aragulrna, Ga^a, Gav&ksha, Gavaya, Sushena, Garidhama- dana, Ulkamukha, and Anaiiga.
z The modern Nerbudda.
3 Krishnaveni is mentioned in the Vish- nu Purana as *kthe deep Krishnaveni" out there appears to be no clue to its identification.
* The modern Godavery, 5 The Mekhalas or Mekalas according to the Puranas live in the Vindhya hills but here they appear among the peoples of the south.
6 Utkal is still the native name of Orissa.
7 The land of the people of the * ten forts.' Professor Hall in a note on WIL- SON'S Vighnu Purana,Vo\. II. p. 160 says: «' The oral traditions of the vicinity tothia day assign the name of Dasarn& to a re- gion lying to the east of the District of Chundeyree."
8 Avanti is one of the ancient names of the celebrated Ujjayin or Oujein in Cen- tral India.
9 Not identified.
10 Ayomukh means iron faced. The mountain is not identified, Canto XLI.
THE RAM AY AN.
Search well his forests where the breeze Blows fragrant from the sandal trees. Then will you see Kaveri's1 stream Whose pleasant waters glance and gleam And to the lovely banks entice The sportive maids of Paradise. High on the top of Malaya's2 hill, In holy musing, calm and still, Sits, radiant as the Lord of Light, Agastya,3 noblest anchorite. Soon as that iofty-thoughted lord His high permission shall accord, Pass TamraparniV flood whose isles Are loved by basking crocodiles. The sandal woods that fringe her side Those islets and her waters hide; While, like an amorous matron, she Speeds to her own dear lord the sea. Thence hasting on your way behold The Ptindyas'5 gates of pearl and gold. Then, with your task maturely planned, On ocean's shore your feet will stand. Where, by Agastya's high decree, Mahendra,6 planted in the sea, With tinted peaks against the tide Rises in solitary pride, And glorious in his golden glow {Spurns back the waves that beat below. Fair mountain, bright with creepers' bloom bloom And every tint that trees assume, Where Yaksha, God, and heavenly maid Meet wandering in the lovely shade, At changing moon and solemn tide By Indra's presence glorified. One hundred leagues in fair extent An island7 fronts the continent: No man may tread its glitering shore: With utmost heed that isle explore, For the fair country owns the sway Of Ravan whom we burn to slay.
1 The Kaveri or modern Cauvery is well known and has always borne the same appellation, being the Chaberis of Ptolemy.
55 One of the seven principal mountain chains: the southern portion of the Western Ghat*.
3 Agastya is the great sage who has already frequently appeared as Rama's friend and benefactor.
4 Tamraparni is a river rising in Malaya. 5ThePandyasareapeople of theDeocan.
6 Mahendra is the chain of hills that extends from Orissa and the northern Sircars to Gondwana, part of which near Ganjam ia still called Mahendra Malay or hills of Mahendra.
7 Lanka, Sinhaladvipa, Sarandib, or Ceylon.
A mighty monster stands to keep The passage of the southern deep. Lifting her awful arms on high She grasps e'en shadows as they fly. Speed through that isle, and onward still Where in mid sea the Flowery Hill1 Raises on high his bloomy head By saints and angels visited. There, with a hundred gleaming peaks Bright as the sun, the sky he seeks, One glorious peak the Lord of Day Gilds ever with his loving ray: Thereon ne'er yet the glances fell Of thankless w ret oh or infidel. Bow to that hill in reverence due, And then once more your search pursue. Beyond that glorious mountain hie, And Suryavan,* proud hill is nigh. Your rapid course yet farther bend Where Vaidyut's3 airy peaks ascend, There trees of noblest sort, profuse Of wealth, their kindly gifts produce. Their precious fruits, O Vunars, taste, The honey sip, and onward haste. Next will ye see Mount Kunjar rise, Who cheers with beauty hearts and eyes. There is Agastya's4 mansion, decked By heaven's all moulding architect. Near Bhogavati3 stands, the place Where dwell the hosts of serpent race: A broad- wayed city, walled and barred, Which watchful legions keep and guard, The fiercest of the serpent youth, Each awful for his venomed tooth: And throned in his imperial hall Is Vasuki6 who rules them all.
Explore the serpent city well, Search town and tower and citadel, And scan each field and wood that lies Around it, with your watchful eyes. Beyond that spot your way pursue: A noble mountain shall ye view, Earned Rishabh, like a mighty bull, With gems made bright and beautiful.
1 The Flowery Hill of course is my- hical.
2 The whole of the geography south of ianka is of course mythical, Suryavan means Sunny.
3 Vaidyut means connected with light- ning.
4 Agastya is here placed far to the south Lanka. Earlier in this Canto he was aid to dwell on Malaya.
5 Bhogavati has been frequently men- ioned: it is the capital of the serpent jods or demons, and usually represented as being in the regions under the earth.
6 Vasuki is according to some accounts lie king of the Nugas or serpent Gods.
THE RAM AY AX.
Boole IV Ail trees of sandal flourish there Of heavenly fragrance, rich and rare.
But, though they tempt your longing eyes, Avoid to toucli them, and be wise.
For Kohitas, a guardian hand Of fierce Gandharvas. round them stand, Who five bright sovereign lords' obey, In glory like the God of Bay.
Here by good deeds a home is won, With shapes like tire, the moon, the sun.
Here they who merit heaven by worth Dwell on the confines of the earth.
There stay: beyond it. dark and drear, Lies the departed spirits1 sphere, And, girt with darkness, far from bliss, Is Yama's sad metropolis.2 So far, my lords, o'er land and sea Your destined course is plain and free.
Beyond your steps you may not set, Where living thing ne'er journeyed yet.
With utmost care these realms survey, And all you meet upon the way.
And, when the lady's course is traced, Hack to your king, O Vanars, haste.
And he who tells me he has seen, After long search, the Maithil queen, Shall gain a noble guerdon: he la power and bliss shall equal me.
Dear as my very life, above His fellows in his master's love; I call him, yea though stained with crime, My Uinoman from uiat happy time.'
CANTO XLIL THE ARMY OF THE WEST.
Then to Sushen Sugriva bent, And thus addressed him reverent: ' Two hundred thousand of our best With thee. my lord, shall seek the west, E:cpmre Sur.-'ishtra's3 distant plain, Explore Vahlika's1 wild domain, Ami all the pleasant brooks that fiee Tiirmgh mountains to the western sea. fcdaroh. clustering groves on mountain heights, And woods the whom of anchorites. Si.-ar j!i where the breezy hills are high, Se-an-h where the desert regions lie. ^e:n-j:i ail the western land beset Saiiizsha, Gramini. Siksha, Suka, Ba- bhru.
* The distant south beyond the confines of the earch is the home of departed spirits and the city of Varna the God of Death.
3,Surashtra, the 'good country,' is the modern Surat.
"• A;oiaitry north-wett of Afghanistan, Baikh,