He ceased: and in the Vanars' view Forth from his side young pinions grew, And boundless rapture rilled his breast As thus the chieftains he addressed: ' Joy, joy! the pinions, which the Lord Of Day consumed, are now restored Through the dear grace & boundless might Of that illustrious anchorite. The fire of youth within me burns, And all my wonted strength returns. Onward, ye Vanars, toil strive, And you shall find the dame alive, Look on these new-found wings, and hence Be strong in surest confidence.'
riwift from the crag he sprang to try His pinions in his native sky. His words the chief tains' cjoubts had stilled? And every heart with courage filled.1 CANTO THE SEA.
Shouts of triumphant joy outrang As to their feet the Vanars sprang: And, on the mighty task intent, 3wift to the sea their steps they bent.
They sfcood and gazed upon the deep, Whose billows with a roar and leap On the sea banks were wildly hurled,— ?he inirror of the mighty world.
?here on the strand the Vanars stayed And with sad eyes the deep surveyed.
lere, as in play, his billows rose, And there he slumbered in repose.
lere leapt the boisterous waters, high As mountains, menacing the sky, And wild infernal forms between "he ridges of the waves were seen.
1 In the Bengal recension the fourth •ook ends here, the remaining Cantos eiug placed in the fifth.
Canto LXV.
THE RAM AY AN, They saw the billows rave and swjll, And their sad spirits sank and feJ; For ocean in their deep despair {Seemed boundless as the fields of air. Then noble Angad spake to cheer The Vanars and dispel their fear: * Faint not: despair should never find Admittance to a noble mind. JJespair, a serpent's mortal bite, Benumbs the hero's power and might.'
Then passed the weary night, and all Assembled at their prince's call, And every lord of high estate Was gathered round him for debate. Bright was tiie chieftains' glorious band Itound Angad on the ocean strand, As when the mighty Storm-Gods meet Itound Indra on his golden seat. Then princely Angad looked on each, And thus began his prudent speech: * What chief of all our host will leap A hundred leagues across the deep? Who, O illustrious Vanars, who Will make Sugriva's promise true, And from our weight of fear set free The leaders of our band and me? TO whom, O warriors, shall we owe A sweet release from pain and woe, And proud success, and happy lives With our dear children and our wives, Again permitted by his grace To look with joy ou Kama's face, And noble Lakshman, and our lord The king, to our sweet homes restored? ' Thus to the gathered lords he spoke; But no reply the silence broke. Then with a sterner voice he cried: 'O chiefs, the nation's boast and pride, Whom valour strength and power adorn, Of most illustrious lineage born, Where'er you will you force a way, And none your rapid course can stay. Jsow come, your several powers declare, And who this desperate leap will dare { CANTO~LXV, THE COUNCIL.
But none of all the host was found To clear the sea with desperate bound, Though each, as Angad bade, declared His proper power and what he dared. l Then spake good Jambavan the sage, Chief of them all for reverend age; 1 Each chief comes forward and says how far he can leap. Gaja says he can leap ten yojans, Gavaksha can leap twenty, Gavaya tairty, and so on up to ninety.
26 ' I, Vanar chieftains, long ago Limbs light to leap could likewise show, Hut now on frame and spirit weighs The burthen of rny length of days, Still task like this I may not slight, When Kama and our king unite.
So listen while I tell, 0 friends, What lingering strength mine age attends.
If my poor leap may aught avail, Of ninety leagues, I will not fail.
Far other strength in youth's fresh prime I boasted, in the olden time, When, at Prahlada's1 solemn rite, I circled in my rapid flight Lord Vishnu, everlasting God, When through the universe he trod.
But now my limbs are weak and old, My youth is fled, its fire is cold, And these exhausted nerves to strain In such a task were idle pain,' Then Angad due obeisance paid, I And to the chief his answer made: ' Then I, ye noble Vanars, I Myself the mighty leap will try; Although perchance the power I lack To leap from Lanka's island back.'
Thus the impetuous chieftain cried, And Jambavan the sage replied; ' Whate'er thy power and might may be, This task, 0 Prince, is not for thee. Kings go not forth themselves, but send The servants who their best attend, Thou art the darling and the boast, The honoured lord of all the host. In thee the root, O Angad, lies Of our appointed enterprise; And thee, on whom our hopes depend, Our care must cherish and defend.'
Then Bali's noble son replied; ' Needs must I go, whate'er betide, For, if no chief this exploit dare, What waits us all save blank despair,-— Upon the ground again to lie In hopeless misery, fast, and die? For not a hope of life I see If we neglect our king's decree.' Then spoke the aged chief again: ' Nay, our attempt shall not be vain, For to the task will 1 incite A chieftain of sufficient might.'
1 Prahlada, the son of Hirariyakasipu, was a pious Batya remarkable for his devotion to Vishnu, and was on this ac- count persecuted'by his father.
THE RAM AY AN.
Boole IV CANTO LXVI.
HASUMAN.
The chieftain turned his glances where The legions sat in mute despair; And then to Hanuman, the best Of Vanar lord?, these words addressed: ' Why still, and silent, and apart, O hero of the dauntless heart * Thou keepest treasured in thy mind The laws that rule the Vanar kind, Strong as our king Sugriva, brave As Rama's self to slay or save.
Through every land thy praise is heard, Famous as that illustrious bird, Arishtanenii's son,1 the king Of every fowl that plies the wing.
Oft have I seen the monarch sweep With sounding pinions o'er the deep, And in his mighty talons bear Huge serpents struggling through the air.
Thy arms, O hero, match in might The ample wings he spreads for flight; And thou with him mayst well compare In power to do, in heart to dare.
Why, rich in wisdom, power, and skill, O hero, art thou lingering still * An Apsaras,2 the fairest found Of nymphs for heavenly charms renowned, Sweet Punjikasthala, became A noble Vanar's wedded dame.
Her heavenly title heard no more, Anjana was the name she bore, When, cursed by Gods, from heaven she fell In Vanar form on eaith to dwell, New-born in mortal shape the child Of Kunjar monarch of the wild.
In youthful beauty wondrous fair, A crown of flowers about her hair, In silken robes of richest dye She roamed the hills that kiss the sky.
Once in her tinted garments dressed She stood upon the mountain crest, The God of Wind beside her came, And breathed upon the lovely dame.
And as he fanned her robe aside The wondrous beauty that he eyed In rounded lines of breast and limb And neck and shoulder ravished him; And captured by her peerless charms 1 The Bengal recension calls him Arish- tanemi's brother. '• The commentator says «' Arishtanemi is Aruna." Aruna the charioteer of the sun is the son of Kasyapa and Vinata and by consequence brother of Garuda called Vainateya from Vinata his mother." GORKESIO.
* A nvmDh of Paradise.
He strained her in his amorous arms. Then to the eager God she cried In trembling accents, territied: 4 Whose impious love has wronged a spouat So constant to her nuptial vows 1 ' He heard, and thus his answer made: * O, be not troubled, nor afraid. But trust, and thou shalt know ere long My love has done thee, sweet, no wrong. So strong and brave and wise shall be The glorious child 1 give to thee. Might shall be his that naught can tire, And limbs to spring as springs his sire,' Thus spoke the God; the conquered dam Rejoiced in heart nor feared the shame. Down in a cave beneath the earth The happy mother gave thee birth. Once o'er the summit of the wood Before thine eyes the new sun stood. Thou sprangest up in haste to seize What seemed the fruitage of the trees. Up leapt the child, a wondrous bound, Three hundred leagues above the grounc And, though the angered Day -God shot His fierce beams on him, feared him not Then from the hand of Indra came A red bolt winged with wrath and flame The child fell smitten on a rock. His cheek was shattered by the shock, Named Hauuman1 thenceforth by all In memory of the fearful fall, The wandering Wind-God saw thee lie With bleeding cheek and drooping eye, And stirred to anger by thy woe Forbade each scented breeze to blow.
The breath of all the worlds was stilled, And the sad Gods with terror filled Frayed to the Wind, to calm the ire And soothe the sorrow of the sire. His tiery wrath no longer glowed, And Brahma's self the boon bestowed That in the brunt of battle none Should slay with steel the Wind -God's so Lord Indra, sovereign of the skies, Bent on thee all his thousand eyes, And swore that ne'er the bolt which he Hurls from the heaven should injure the Tis thine, O mighty chief, to share The Wind-God's power, his son and he Sprung from that glorious father thou, And thou alone, canst aid us now. This earth of yore, through all her clim< I circled one-and-twenty times, And gathered, as the Gods decreed, Great store ot herbs from hill and mea Which, scattered o'er the troubled wave Tiie Ainrit to the toilers gave.
1 Hanu or Hanu means jaw. Hanunu or Hanuman means properly one with large jaw, Canto LXVII.
THE RAM AY AN.
But now my days are wellnigh told, My strength is gone, my limbs are old, And thou, the bravest and the best, Art the sure hope of all the rest. Now, mighty cnief, the task assay: Thy matchless power and strength display. Rise up, O prince, our second king, And o'er the flood of ocean spring. So shall the glorious exploit vie With his who stepped through earth and sky.'1 He spoke: the younger chieftain heard, His soul to vigorous effort stirred, And stood beiore their joyous eyes luiated in gigantic size.
CANTO LXVIL HANUMAN'S SPEECH.
Soon as his stature they beheld, Their fear and sorrow were dispelled; And joyous praises loud and long Jtlaiig out from all the Vanar throng. On tiie great chief their eyes they bent In rapture and astonishment, As, when his conquering foot he raised, The Gods upon JNarayau2 gazed. He stood amid the joyous crowd, Bent to the chiefs, and cried aloud: * Tue Wind-God, Fire's eternal friend. Whose blasts the mountain summits rend, With boundless force that none may stay, Takes where he lists his viewless way. Sprung from that glorious father, 1 In power and speed with him may vie, A thousand times with airy leap Can circle loftiest Meru's steep: With my tierce arms can stir the sea Till from their bed the waters flee And rush at my command to drown This land with grove and tower and town, I through the nelds of air can spring Far swifter than the feathered King, And leap before him as he flies. On sounding pinions through the skies. I can pursue the Lord of Light Uprising from the eastern height, And reach him ere his course be sped With burning beams engarlanded. 1 will dry up the mighty main, •Shatter the rocks and rend the plain. O'er earth and ocean will I bound, And every flower that grows on ground, 1 Viahnu, the God of the Three Steps, 1 Narayan, * He who moved upon the waters,' is Vishnu. The allusion is to the famous three steps of that God, And bloom of climbing plants shall show Strewn on the ground, the way I go, Bright as the lustrous path that lies Athwart the region of the skies.1 The Maithil lady will I find,— Thus speaks mine own prophetic mind,— And cast in hideous ruin down The shattered walls of Lanka's town.'
Still on the chief in rapt surprise The Vanar legions bent their eyes, And thus again sage Jambavan Addressed the glorious Hanuman: 'Son of the Wind, thy promise cheers The Vanars' hearts, and calms their feara, Who, rescued from their dire distress, With prospering vows thy way will bless. The holy saints their favour lend, And all our chiefs the deed commend Urging thee forward on thy way: Arise then, and the task assay. Thou art our only refuge j we. Our lives and all, depend on thee.'
Thensprangthe Wind-God's son the best Of Vanars, on Mahendra's crest, And the great mountain rocked and swayed By that unusual weight dismayed, As reels an elephant beneath The lion's spring and rending teeth. The shady wood that crowned him shook, The trembling birds the boughs forsook, And ape and pard and lion fled From brake and lair disquieted.
"~i~The Milky Way.
TEE RAM AY AN.
Boole V BOOK V.'
CANTO I.
HANUMAN'S LEAP.
Thus Fran's foe resolved to trace The c> ptive to her hiding-place Thrpi ga airy pathways overhead Which Heavenly minstrels visited. With straining nerve and eager brows, Like some strong husband ot the cows, In ready might he stood prepared For the bold task his soul has dared. O'er gem-like grass that flashed and glowed The Vanar like a lion strode. Housed by the thunder of his tread, The beasts to shady coverts fled. Tall trees he crushed or hurled aside, And every bird was terrified. Around him loveliest lilies grew, Pale pink, and red, and white, and blue, And tints of many a metal lent The light of varied ornament. Gandharvas, changing forms at will, And Yakshas roamed the lovely hill, And countless Serpent-Gods were seen Where flowers and grass were fresh and green.
green.
As some resplendent serpent takes His pastime in the best of lake^, JSo on the mountain's woody height The Vanar wandered with delight. Then, standing on the flowery bod, He paid his vows to saiut and God. iSwayainbhu* and the Sun he prayed, And the swift Wind to lend him aid, And Indra, sovereign of the skies, To bless his hardy enterprise. Then once again the chief addressed The Vanars from the mountain crest: ' Swift as a shaft from Kama's bow 1 This Book is called Sundar or the Beatiful. To a European taste it is the most intolerably tedious of the whole poem, abounding in repetition, overloaded description, and long and useless speeches which impede the action of the poem. Manifest interpolations of whole Cantos also occur. 1 have omitted none of the action of tiie Book, but have occasionally omitted long passages of common-place description, lamentation, and long stories vhich have been again and again repeated.
* Brahma the Self -Existent.
To Ravan's city will I go, And if she be not there will fly And seek the lady in the sky; Or, if in heaven she be not found, Will hither bring the giant bound.'
He ceased; and mustering his might Sprang downward from the mouutair height, While, shattered by each mighty limb, The trees unrooted followed him. The shadow on the ocean cast By his vast form, as ow he passed, Flew like a ship before the gale When the strong breeze has tilled the sail And where his course the Vanar held The sea beneath him raged and swelled. Then Gods and all the heavenly train Poured flowerets down in gentle rain; Their voices glad Gandharvas raised, And saints in heaven the Vanar praised. Fain would the Sea his succour lend And Raghu's noble son befriend. He, moved by zeal for Kama's sake, The hill Mainaka1 thus be^pake; 'O strong Mainaka, heaven's decree In days of old appointed thee To be the Asurs' bar, and keep The rebels in the lowest deep. Thou guardest those whom heaven ha, cursed cursed Lest from their prison-house they burst, And staridest by the gates of hell Their limitary sentinel. To thee is given the power to spread Or spring above thy watery bed. Now, best of noble mountains, rise And do the thing that I advise. E'en now above thy buried crest Flies mighty Hanuman, the best Of Vanars, moved for Rama's sake A wondrous deed to undertake. Lift up thy head that he may stay And rest him on his weary way.'
He heard, and from his watery shroud As bursts the sun from autumn cloud, Rose swiftly, crowned with plant and tree And stood above the foamy sea.* There with his lofty peaks upraised Bright as a hundred suns he blazed, And crest and crag of burnished gold Flashed on the flood that round him rolled 1 Mainaka was the son of Himalay* and Mena or Menaka.
* Thus Milton makes the hills of heavei self-moving at command: 4 At his cornmad the uprooted hills retiree Each to his place, they heard his voic< and went Obsequious.'
C'CLUtO L THE RAMAYAN.
The V&nar thought the mountain rose A hostile bar to interpose, And, like a wind-swept cloud, o'erthrew The glittering mountain as he flew.
Then from the falling hill rang out A warning voice and joyful shout.
Again he raised him high in air To meet the flying Vanar there, And standing on his topmost peak In human form began to speak:l * Best of the Vanars' noblest line, A mighty task, O chief, is fhine.
Here for a while, I pray thee, light And rest upon the breezy height.
A prince of Raghu's line was he Who gave his glory to the Sea,* Who now to Kama's envoy shows High honour for the debt'he owes, He bade me lift my buried head Uprising from my watery bed, And woo the Vanar chief to rest A moment on my glittering crest.
Refresh thy weary limbs, and eat My mountain fruits for they are sweet.
I too, O chieftain, know thee well; Three worlds thy famous virtues tell; And none, I ween, with thee may vie Who spring impetuous through the sky.
To every guest, though mean and low, The wise respect and honour show; And how shall I neglect thee, how Slight the great guest so near me now?
Son of the Wind, 'tis thine to share The might of him who shakes the air; And, — for he loves his offspring, — he Is honoured when I honour thee.
Of yore, when Krita's age3 was new, The little hills and mountains flew Where'er they listed, borne on wings More rapid the feathered king's.* But mighty terror came on all The Gods and saints who feared their fall, 1 The spirit of the mountain is separ- able from the mountain. Himalaya has also been represented as standing inhuman on one of his own peaks.
2 Sagar or the Sea is said to have de- rived its name from Sagar. The story is fully told in Book I. Cantos XLIL, XLJIL, and XL1V.
3 Kritu is the first of the four ages of the world, the golden age, also called Satya, 4 Parvata means a mountain and in the Vedas a cloud. Hence in later mytholo- gy the mountain have taken the place of the clouds as the objects of the attacks of ndra the Sun-God. The feathered king Garuda.
And Indra in his anger rent Their pinions with the bolts he sent. When in his ruthless fury he Levelled his flashing bolt at me, The great-souled Wind inclined to save, And laid me neath the ocean's wave. Thus by the favour of the sire I kept my cherished wings entire; And for this deed of kindness done I honour thee his noble son. O come, thy weary limbs relieve, And honour due from me receive.' I may not rest,' the Yanar cried;' * I must not stay or turn aside. Yet pleased am* I, thou noblest hill, And as the deed accept thy will.'
Thus as he spoke he lightly pressed With his broad hand the mountain's crest, Then bounded upward to the height Of heaven, rejoicing in his might, And through the fields of boundless blue, The pathway of his father, flew. Gods, saints, and heavenly bards beheld That flight that none had paralleled, Then to the Nagas' mother1 came And thus addressed the sun-bright dame: 'See, Hanuman with venturous leap Would spring across the mighty deep,— A Vanar prince, the Wind-God's seed: Come, Surasa. his course impede. In Rakshas form thy shape disguise, Terrific, like a hill in size: Let thy red eyes with fury glow, And high as heaven thy body grow. With fearful tusks the chief defy, That we his power and strength may try. He will with guile thy hold elude, Or own thy might, by thee subdued.'
Pleased with the grateful honours paid, The godlike dame their words obeyed, Clad in a shape of terror she Sprang from the middle of the sea, And, with tierce accents that appalled All creatures, to the Vanar called: ' Come, prince of Vanars, doomed to be My food this day by heaven's decree. Such boon from 'ages long ago To Brahma's favouring will I owe.'
She ceased, and Hanuman replied, By shape and threat unterrified: 1 Brave Rama with his Maithil spouse Lodged in the shade of Dandak's boughs. Thence Kavan king of giants stole Sita the joy of Rama's soul.
i " The children of Surasa were a thou- sand mighty many-headed serpents, traversing the sky."
WILSON'S Vishnu Purdna, THE RAMAYAN.
Book V.
By Bama's high behest to her I go a willing messenger; And never shouldst thou hinder one Who toils for Dasaratha's son. First captive Sita will I see, And him who sent and waits for me, Then come and to thy will submit, Yea, by my truth I promise it.' 4 Nay, hope not thus thy life to save; Not such the boon that Brahma gave. Enter my mouth,' was her reply, * Then forward on thy journey hie! n •Stretch, wider stretch thy jaws,' exclaimed The Vanar chief, to ire inflamed; And, as the Bakshas near him drew, Ten leagues in height his stature grew. Then straight, her threatening jaws bet- ween, A gulf of twenty leagues was seen. To fifty leagues he waxed, and still Her mouth grew wider at her will. Then smaller than a thumb became, Shrunk by his power, the Vanar 's frame. * He leaped within, and turning round Sprang through the portal at a bound, Then hung in air a moment, while He thus addressed her with a smile: « O Daksha's child,3 farewell at last! For I within thy mouth have passed. Thou hast the gift of Brahma's grace: I go, the Maithil queen to trace.' Then, to her former shape restored, She thus addressed the Vanar lord: 4 Then forward to the task, and may Success and joy attend thy way! Go, and the rescued lady bring In triumph to her lord and king.'
1 She means, says the Commentator, pursue thy journey if thou can.
2 If Milton's spirits are allowed the power of infinite self -extension and com- pression the same must be conceded to valmiki's supernatural beings. Given the power as in Milton the result in Valmiki is perfectly consistent.
3 " Daksha is the son of Brahma, and one of the Prajapatis or divine progenitors. He had sixty daughters, twenty-seven of whom married to Kasyapa produced, according to one of the Indian cosmogo- nies, all mundane beings. Does the epithet, Descendent of Daksha, given to Surasa, mean that she is one of those daughters? I think not. This epithet is perhaps an appellation common to all created beings as having sprung from Daksha.".GORRESio, Then hosts of spirits as they gazed The daring of the Vanar praised. Through the broad fields of ether, fast Garud's royal self, he passed, The region of the cloud and rain, Loved by the gay Gandharva train, Where mid the birds that came and went Shone Indra's glorious bow unbent, And like a host of wandering stars Flashed the high Gods' celestial cars. Fierce Sinhika1 who joyed in ill And changed her form to work her will, Descried him on his airy way And marked the Vanar for her prey.
* This day at length,' the demon cried, * My hunger shall be satisfied,' And at his passing shadow caught Delighted with the cheering thought. The Vanar felt the power that stayed And held him as she grasped his shade, Like some tall ship upon the main That struggles with the wind in vain. Below, above, his eye he bent And scanned the sea and firmament. High from the briny deep upreared The monster's hideous form appeared, 4 8ugriva's tale,' he cried, ' is true: This is the demon dire to view Of whom the Vanar monarch told, Whose grasp a passing shade can hold.' Then, as a cloud in rain-time grows, His form, dilating, swelled and rose. Wide as the space from heaven to hell Her jaws she opened with a yell, And rushed upon her fancied prey With cloud-like roar to seize and slay. The Vanar swift as thought compressed His borrowed bulk of limb and chest, And stood with one quick bound inside The monstrous mouth she opened wide. Hid like the moon when Rahu2 draws The orb within his ravening jaws. Within that ample cavern pent The demon's form he tore and rent, And, from the mangled carcass freed, Came forth again with thought-like speed.* J Sinhika is the mother of &£,hu the dragon's head or ascending node, the chief agent in eclipses.
2 Bahu is the demon who causes eclipses by attempting to swallow the sun and moon.
3 According to De Gubernatis, the au- thor of the very learned, ingenious, and interesting though too fanciful Zoological Mythology. Hanuman here represents the sun entering into and escaping from a cloud. The biblical Jonah, according to him. tvoines the same nhenomenon. SjfLVH-.
Canto II.
THE RAM AY AN.
Thus with his skill the fiend he slew, Then to his wonted stature grew. The spirits saw the demon die, And hailed the Vanar from the sky: ' Well hast thou fought a wondrous fight Nor spared the fiend's terrific might. On, on! perform the blameless deed, And in thine every wish succeed. Ke'ercan they fail in whom combine Such valour, thought, and skill as thine.' Pleased with their praises as they sang, Again through fields of air he sprang, And now, his travail wellnigh done, The distant shore was almost won. Before him on the m argent stood Jn long dark line a waving wood, And the fair island, bright and green With flowers and trees, was clearly seen, And every babbling brook that gave Her lord the sea a tribute wave. He lighted down on Lamba's peak Which tinted metals stain and streak, And looked where Lanka's splendid town Shone on the mountain like a crown.
CANTO II.
LANKA'.
The glorious sight a while he viewed, Then to the town his way pursued. Around the Vanar as he went Breathed from the wood delicious scent, And the soft grass beneath his feet With gem-like flowers was bright and sweet.
Still as the Vanar nearer drew More clearly rose the town to view. The palm her fan-like leaves displayed, Priyalas* lent their pleasant shade, And mid the lower greenery far Conspicuous rose the Koviddr.* A thousand trees mid flowers that glowed Hung down their fruit's delicious load,3 And in their crests that rocked and swayed Sweet birds delightful music made. And there were pleasant pools whereon The glories of the lotus shone; And gleams of sparkling fountains, stirred By many a joyous water-bird.
speaking of sunset, says Yitnas andar-i- dihdn-i mdJii shud: Jonas was within the fish's mouth. See ADDITIONAL NOTES.
1 The Buchanania Latifolia, 2 The Bauhinia Variegata.
3 Through the power that Ravan's stern mortifications had won for him his trees bore flowers and fruit simultaneously.
Around, in lovely gardens grew Blooms sweet of scent and bright of hue, And Lanka, seat of Ravan's sway, Before the wondering Vaiiarlay: With stately domes and turrets tall, Encircled by a golden wall, And moats whose waters were aglow With lily blossoms bright below: For Sita's sake defended well With bolt and bar and sentinel, And R&kshases who roamed in bands With ready bows in eager hands.
He saw the stately mansions rise Like pale-hued clouds in autumn skies: Where noble streets were broad and bright, And banners waved on every height.
Her gates were glorious to behold, Rich with the shine of burnished gold: A lovely city planned and decked By heaven's creative arhitect,1 Fairest of earthly cities meet To be the Gods' celestial seat.
The Vanar by the northern gate Thus in his heart began debate: * Our mightiest host would strive in vain To take this city on the main: A city that may well defy The chosen warriors of tue sky; A city never to be won E'en by the arm of Raghu's son.
Here is no hope by guile to win The hostile hearts of those within.
'Twere vain to war, or bribe, or sow Dissension mid the Vanar foe.
But now my search must I pursue Until the Maithil queen 1 view; And, when I find the captive dame, Make victory mine only aim.
But, if i wear my present shape, How shall I enter and escape The Rakshas troops, their guards and spies, And sleepless watch of cruel eyes? The fiends of giant race who hold This mighty town are strong and bold; And 1 must labour to elude The fiercely watchful multitude. I in a shape to mock their sight Must steal within the town by night, Blind with my art the demons' eyes, And thus achieve my enterprise. How may I see, myself unseen Of the fierce king, the captive queen, And meet her in some lonely place, With none beside her, face to face? ' When the bright sun had left the skies The Vanar dwarfed his mighty size, 1 Visvakarma is the architect of the Gods.
THE RJLMAYAN.
Book V.
And, in the straitest bounds restrained, The bigness of a cat retained.'
Then, when the moon's soft light was spread, Within the city's walls he sped.
CANTO III.
THE GUARDIAN GODDESS.
There from the circling rampart's height He gazed upon the wondrous sight; Broad gates with burnished gold dis- played, And courts with turkises inlaid; With gleaming silver, gems, and rows Of crystal stairs and porticoes. In semblance of a Rakshas dame The city's guardian Goddess came, — For she with glances sure and keen The entrance of a foe had seen,— And thus with fury in her eye Addressed him with an angry cry: ' Who art thou? what has led thee, say, Within these walls to find thy way? Thou mayst not enter here in spite Of Ravan and his warriors' might.' ' And who art thou?' the Vanar cried, By form and frown unterrified; ' Why hast thou met me by the gate, And chid me thus infuriate?'
He ceased: and Lanka made reply: 'The guardian of the town am I, Who watch for ever to fulfil My lord the Rakshas monarch's will. But thou slialt fall this hour, and deep Shall be thy never-ending sl^ep.'