Then all the princes, lofty- souled, Of wondrous vigour, strong and bold. Saw Vasudeva2 standing there In Kapil's form he loved to wear, And near the everlasting God The victim charger cropped the sod. They saw with joy and eager eyes The fancied robber and the prize, And on him rushed the furious band Crying aloud, Stand, villain! stand! ' Avaunt! avaunt!' great Kapil criedr His bosom flusht with passion's tide; Then by his might that proud array All scorcht to heaps of ashes lay.3 CANTO XLIL SAGAR'S SACRIFICE.
Then to the prince his grandson, bright With his own fame's unborrowed light, King Sagar thus began to say. Marvelling at his sons' delay: ' Thou art a warrior skilled and bold, Match for the mighty men of old. Now follow on thine uncles' course And tracK the robber of the horse.
1 'The Devas and Asuras (Gods and Titans) fought in the east, the south, the west, and the north, and the Devas were defeated by the Asuras in all these direc- tions. They then fought in the north- eastern direction; there the Devas did not sustain defeat. This direction isapardjitd, i. e. unconquerable. Thence one should do work in this direction, and have it done there: for such a one (alone) is able to c lear off his debts.' H AUG'S Aitareya Brdh- The debts here spoken of are a man's re- ligious obligations to the Gods, the Pitaraa or Manes, and men.
2 Vishnu, 3 ' It appears to me that this mythical story has reference to the volcanic pheno- mena of nature. Kapil may very pos- sibly be that hidden riery force which sud- denly imprisons itself and bursts forth in volcanic effects. Kapil is, moreover, one of the names of Agni the God of Fire.' GORRESIO.
Canto XLIIT.
THE RAMAYAN.
53 To guard thee take thy sword and bow, For huge and strong are beasts below, There to the reverend reverence pay, And kill the foes who check thy way; Then turn successful home and see My sacrifice complete through thee.'
Obedient to the high-souled lord Grasped Ansuman his bow and sword, And hurried forth the way to trace With youth and valour's eager pace. On sped he by the path he found Dug by his uncles underground, The warder elephant he saw Whose size and strength pass Nature's law, Who bears the world's tremendous weight, Whom God, fiend, giant venerate, Bird, serpent, and each flitting shade. To him the honour meet he paid With circling steps and greeting due, And further prayed him, if he knew, To tell him of his uncles' weal, And who had dared the horse to steal. To him in war and council tried The warder elephant replied: * Thou, son of Asamanj, shalt lead In triumph back the rescued steed.'
As to each warder beast he came And questioned all. his words the same, The honoured youth with gentle speech Drew eloquent reply from each, That fortune should his steps attend, And with the horse he home should wend. Cheered with the grateful answer, he Passed on with step more light and free, And reached with careless heart the place Where lay in ashes Sagar's race. Then sank the spirit of the chief Beneath that shock of sudden grief, And with a bitter cry of woe He mourned his kinsmen fallen so. He saw, weighed down by woe and care, The victim charger roaming there. Yet would the pious chieftain fain Oblations offer to the slain: But, needing water for the rite, He looked and there was none insight. His quick eye searching all around The unole of his kinsmen found. King Garud, best beyond compare Of birds who wing the fields of air. Then thus unto the weeping man The son of Vinata1 began: * Grieve not, O hero, for their fall Who died a death approved of all.
Of mighty strength, they met their fate By Kapil's hand whom none can mate. Pour forth for them no earthly wave, 1 Garud was the son of Kasyap and Vinata.
A holier flood their spirits crave. If, daughter of the Lord of Snow, Ganga would turn her stream below, Her waves that cleanse all mortal stain Would wash their ashes pure again. Yea, when her flood whom all revere Rolls o'er the dust that moulders here> The sixty thousand, freed from sin, A home in Indra's heaven shall win. Go, and with ceaseless labour try To draw the Goddess from the sky. Return, and with thee take the steed * So shall thy grandsire's rite succeed.'
Prince Ansuman the strong and braze Followed the rede Suparna1 gave. The glorious hero took the horse, And homeward quickly bent his course. Straight to the anxious king he hied, Whom lustral rites had purified, The mournful story to unfold And all the king of birds had told. The tale of woe the monarch heard, Nor longer was the rite deterred: With care and just observance he Accomplished all. as texts decree. The rites performed, with brighter fame* Mighty in counsel, home he came. He longed to bring the river down, But found no plan his wish to crown. He pondered long with anxious thought, But saw no way to what he sought. Thus thirty thousand years he spent, And then to heaven the monarch went* CANTO XLIIL BHAGIRATH.
When Sagar thus had bowed to fate, The lords and commons of the state Approved with ready heart and will Prince Ansuman his throne to fill. He ruled, a mighty king, unblamed, Sire of Dilipa justly famed. To him. his child and worthy heir, The king resigned his kingdom's care, And on Himalaya's pleasant side His task austere of penance plied. Bright as a God in clear renown He planned to bring pure Ganga down. There on his fruitless hope intent Twice sixteen thousand years he spent, And in the grove of hermits stayed Till bliss in heaven his rites repaid. Dilipa then, the good and great, Soon as he learnt his kinsmen's fate, Bowed down by woe, with troubled mind, « Garud.
54 THE RAM AY AN.
Book I.
Pondering long no cure could find.
' How can I bring,' the mourner sighed, 'To cleanse their dust, the heavenly tide?
How can I give them rest, and save Their spirits with the offered wave?'
Long with this thought his bosom skilled In holy discipline was tilled.
A son was born, Bhagirath named, Above all men for virtue famed.
Dilipa many a rite ordained, And thirty thousand seasons reigned.
But when no hope the king could see His kinsmen from their woe to free, The lord of men, by sickness tried, Obeyed the law of fate, and died; He left the kingdom to his son, And gained the heaven his deeds had won The good Bhagirath, royal sage, Had no fair son to cheer his age.
He, great in glory, pure in will, Longing for sons was childless still.
Then on one wish, one thought intent, Planning the heavenly stream's descent, Leaving his ministers the care And burden of his state to bear, Dwelling in far Gokarna1 he Engaged in long austerity.
With senses checked, with arms upraised, Five tires2 around and o'er him blazed.
Each weary month the hermit passed Breaking but once his awful fast.
In winter's chill the brook his bed, In rain, the clouds to screen his head.
Thousands of years he thus endured lill Brahma's favour was assured, And the high Lord of living things Looked kindly on his sufferings.
With trooping Gods the Sire came near T he king who plied his task austere; * Blest Monarch, of a glorious race, Thy fervent rites have won my grace.
Well hast thou wrought thine awful task: Some boon in turn, O Hermit, ask.'
Bhagirath, rich in glory's light, The hero with the arm of might, Thus to the Lord of earth and sky Raised suppliant hands and made reply: ' If the great God his favour deigns, And my long toil its fruit obtains, Let Sagar's sons receive from me Libations that they long to see. Let Ganga with her holy wave The ashes of the heroes lave, That so my kinsmen may ascend To heavenly bliss that ne'er shall end. And give, I pray, O God, a son, Nor let my house be all undone.
1 A famous and venerated region near the Malabar coast.
2 That is four tires and the sun.
Sire of 'the worlds! be this the grace Bestowed upon Ikshvaku's race.'
The Sire, when thus the king had prayed, In sweet kind words his answer made: ' High, high thy thought arid wishes are, Bhagirath of the mighty car! Ikshvaku's line is blest in thee, And as thou prayest it shall be. Uanga, whose waves in Swarga1 flow, Js daughter of the Lord of 8now. Win Siva that his aid be lent To hold her in her mid descent, B^or earth alone will never bear Those torrents hurled from upper air; And none may hold her weight but He, The Trident wielding deity.' Thus having said, the Lord supreme Addressed him to the heavenly stream; And then with Gods and Maruts* went To heaven above the firmament.
CANTO XLIV.
THE DESCENT OF GANGA'.
The Lord of life the skies regained: he fervent king a year remained With arms upraised, refusing rest While with one toe the earth he pressed, Still as a post, with sleepless eye, The air his food, his roof the sky. The year had past. Then Uma's lord,3 King of creation, world -adored, Thus spoke to great Bhagirath: ' I Well pleased thy wish will gratify, And on my head her waves shall fling The daughter of the Mountains' King! ' He stood upon the lofty crest That crowns the Lord of Snow, And bade the river of the Blest Descend on earth below. Himalaya's child, adored of all, The haughty mandate heard, And her proud bosom, at the call, With furious wrath was stirred. Down from her channel in the skies With awful might she sped With a giant's rush, in a giaut's size, On Diva's holy head. * He calls me,' in her wrath she cried, 'And all my flood shall sweep And whirl him in its whelmingjtide To hell's prof oundest deep. He held the river on his head, And kept her wandering, where, Dense as Himalaya's woods, were spread The tangles of his hair.
Canto XLIV.
THE RAMAYAN.
55 No way to earth she found, ashamed, Though long and sore she strove, Condemned, until her pride were tamed, Amid his locks to rove. There, many lengthening seasons through, The wildered river ran: Bhagirath saw it, and anew His penance dire began. Then £iva, for the hermit's sake, Bade her long wanderings end, And sinking into Vindu's lake Her weary waves descend, From Ganga, by the God set free, Seven noble rivers came; Hladini, Pavarii, and she Called Nalini by name: These rolled their lucid waves along And sought the eastern side. Suchakshu, Sita fair and strong, And Sindhu's mighty tide — * These to the region of the west With joyful waters sped: The seventh, the brightest and the best, Flowed where Bhagirath led. On Diva's head descending first A rest the torrents found; Then down in all their might they burst And roared along the ground. On countless glittering scales the beam Of rosy morning flashed, Where fish and dolphins through the stream Fallen and falling dashed. Then bards who chant celestial lays And nymphs of heavenly birth Flocked round upon that flood to gaze That streamed from sky to earth. The Gods themselves from every sphere, Incomparably bright, Borne in their golden cars drew near To see the wondrous sight. The cloudless sky was all aflame With the light of a hundred suns Where'er the shining chariots came That bore those holy ones. So flashed the air with crested snakes And fish of every hue As when the lightning's glory breaks Through fields of summer blue. And white foam-clouds and silver spray Were wildly tossed on high, Like swans that urge their homeward way Across the autumn sky. Now ran the river calm and clear With current strong and deep: 1 The lake Vindu does not exist. Of the seven rivers here mentioned two only, the Ganges and the Sindhu or Indus, are known to geographers. Hladini means the Oladdener, Pavani the Purifier, Nalini the Lotus -clad, and Suchakshu the Fair-eyed. 5 Now slowly broadened to a mere, Or scarcely seemed to creep. Now o'er a length of sandy plain Her tranquil course she held; Now rose her waves and sank again, By refluent waves repelled. So falling first on Diva's head, Thence rushing to their earthly bed, In ceaseless fall the waters streamed, And pure with holy lustre gleamed. Then every spirit, sage, and bard, Condemned to earth by sentence hard, Pressed eagerly around the tide That Siva's touch had sanctified. Then they whom heavenly doom had hurled, Accursed, to this lower world, Touched the pure wave, and freed from sin Resought the skie.s and entered in. And all the world was glad, whereon The glorious water flowed an! shone, For sin and stain were banished thence By the sweet river's influence. First, in a car of heavenly frame, The royal saint of deathless name, Bhagirath, very glorious rode, And after him fair Ganga flowed. God, sage, and bard, the chief in place Of spirits and the Naga race, Nymph, giant, fiend, in long array Sped where Bhagirath led the way; And all the hosts the flood that swim Followed the stream that followed him. Where'er the great Bhagirath led, There ever glorious Ganga fled, The best of floods, the rivers' queen, Whose waters wash the wicked clean.
It chanced that Jahnu, great and good, Engaged with holy offerings stood; The river spread her waves around Flooding his sacrificial ground. The saint in anger marked her pride, And at one draught her stream he dried. Then God, and sa^e, and bard, afraid, To noble high-souled Jahnu prayed, And begged that he would kindly deem His own dear child that holy stream. Moved by their suit, he soothed their fears And loosed her waters from his ears. Hence Ganga through the world is styled Both Jahnavi and Jahnu's child. Then onward still she followed fast, And reached the great sea bank at last. Thence deep below her way she made To end those rites so long delayed. The monarch reached the Ocean's side, And still behind him Ganga hied. He sought the depths which open lay Where Sagar's sons had dug their way. So leading through earth's nether caves The river's purifying waves, 56 THE RAMADAN.
Book I.
Over his kinsmen's dust the lord His funeral libation poured. Soon as the flood their dust bedewed, Their spirits gained beatitude, And all in heavenly bodies dressed Hose to the skies' eternal rest.
Then thus to King Bhagirath said Brahma, when, coming at the head Of all his bright celestial train, He saw those spirits freed from stain: ' Well done! great Prince of men, well done!
Thy kinsmen bliss and heaven have won. The sons of Sagar mighty-souled, Are with the Blest, as Gods, enrolled. Long as the Ocean's flood shall stand Upon the border of the land, So long shall Sagar's sons remain. And, godlike, rank in heaven retain. Ganga thine eldest child shall be, Called from thy name Bhagirathi; Named also— for her waters fell From heaven and flow through earth and hell— Tripathaga, stream of the skies, Because three paths she glorifies. And, mighty King, 'tis given thee now To free thee and perform thy vow. No longer, happy Prince, delay Drink-offerings to thy kin to pay. For this the holiest Sagar sighed, But mourned the boon he sought denied. Then Ansuman, dear Prince! although No brighter'name the world could show, Strove long the heavenly flood to gain To visit earth, but strove in vain. Nor was she by the sages' peer, Blest with all virtues, most austere, Thy sire Dili pa, hither brought, Though with fierce prayers the boon he sought.
sought.
But thou, O King, earned success, And won high fame which God will bless. Through thee, O victor of thy foes, On earth this heavenly Ganga flows, And thou hast gained the meed divine That waits on virtue such as thine. Now in her ever holy wave Thyself, O best of heroes, lave: So shalt thou, pure from every sin, The blessed fruit of merit win. Now for thy kin who died of;yore The meet libations duly pour. Above the heavens I now ascend: Depart, and bliss thy steps attend.'
Thus to the mighty king who broke His foemens' might, Lord Brahma spoke, Arid with his Gods around him rose To his own heaven of blest repose. The royal sage no more delayed, But, the libation duly paid, Home to his regal city hied With water cleansed and purified. There ruled he his ancestral state, Best of all men, most fortunate. And all the people joyed again In good Bhagirath's gentle reign. Kich, prosperous, and blest were they, And grief and sickness fled away. Thus, Kama, I at length have told How Ganga came from heaven of old. Now, for the evening passes swift, I wish thee each auspicious gift. This story of the flood's descent Will give— for 'tis most excellent- Wealth, purity, fame, length of days, And to the skies its hearers raise.'
CANTO XLV.
THE QUEST OP THE AMRIT.
High and more high their wonder rose As the strange story reached its close, And thus, with Lakshman, Rama, best Of Raghu's sons, the saint addressed: ' Most wondrous is the tale which thou Hast told of heavenly Gan^a, how From realms above descending she Flowed through the land and rilled the sea. In thinking o'er what thou hast said The night has like a moment fled, Whose hours in musing have been spent Upon thy words most excellent: So much, O holy Sage, thy lore Has charmed us with this tale of yore.'
Day da \vned. The morning rites were done And the victorious Raghu's son Addressed the sage in words like these, Rich in his long austerities: ' The night is past: the morn is clear; Told is the tale so good to hear; Now o'er that river let us go, Three-pathed, the best of all that flow. This boat stands ready on the shore To bear the holy hermits o'er. Who of thy coming warned, in haste, The barge upon the bank have placed.'
And Kusik's son approved his speech, And moving to the sandy beach, Placed in the boat the hermit band, And reached the river's farther strand. On the north bank their feet they set, And greeted all the saints they met, On Ganga's shore they lighted down, And saw Visala's lovely town. Thither, the princes by his side, The best of holy hermits hied. It was a town exceeding fair Canto XLV.
THE RAM AY AN.
57 That might with heaven itself compare. Then, suppliant palm to palm applied, Famed Rama asked hia holy guide: ' O best of hermits, say what race Of monarchs rules this lovely place. Dear master, let my prayer prevail, For much I long to hear the tale.' Moved by his words, the saintly man Visala's ancient tale began: 4 List, Rama, list, with closest heed The tale of Indra's wondrous deed, And mark me as I truly tell What here in ancient days befell. Ere Krita's famous Age1 had fled, Strong were the sons of Diti2 bred; And Aditi's brave children too Were very mighty, good, and true. The rival brothers fierce and bold Were sons of Kasyap lofty-souled, Of sister mothers born, they vied, Brood against brood, in jealous pride. Once, as they say, band met with band, And, joined in awful council, planned To live, unharmed by age and time, Immortal in their youthful prime. Then this was, after due debate, The counsel of the wise and great, To churn with might the milky sea3 The life-bestowing drink to free. This pi anned, they seized the Serpent King, Vasuki, for their churning- string, And Mandar's mountain for their pole, And churned with all their heart and soul. As thus, a thousand seasons through, This way and that the snake they drew, Biting the rocks, each tortured head A very deadly venom shed. Thence, bursting like a mighty flame, A pestilential poison came, Consuming, as it onward ran, The home of God, and fiend, and man. Then all the suppliant Gods in fear To $ankar,4 mighty lord, drew near. To Rudra, King of Herds, dismayed, ' Save us, O save us, Lord!' they prayed. Then Vishnu, bearing shell, and mace, And discus, showed his radiant face, And thus addressed in smiling glee The Trident-wielding deity: What treasure first the Gods upturn From troubled Ocean, as they churn, Should— for thou art the eldest— be Conferred, O best of Gods, on thee.
1 The first or Golden Age.
2 Diti and Aditi were wives of Kasyap, and mothers respectively of Titans and Gods.
3 One of the seven seas surrounding as many worlds in concentric rings.
4 &ankar and Rudra are names of Siva, Then come, and for thy birthright's sake, This venom as thy firstfruits take.' He spoke, and vanished from their sight. When £iva saw their wild affright, And heard his speech by whom is born* The mighty bow of bending horn,1 The poisoned flood at once he quaffed As 'twere the Amrit's heavenly draught. Then from the Gods departing went f§iva, the Lord pre-eminent. The host of Gods and Asurs still Kept churning with one heart and will. But Mandar's mountain, whirling round, Pierced to the depths below the ground. Then Gods and bards in terror flew To him who mighty Madhu slew. ' Help of all beings! more than all, The Gods on thee for aid may call. Ward off, 0 mighty- armed! our fate, And bear up Mandar's threatening weight,' Then Vishnu, as their need was sore, The sembla'nce of a tortoise wore, And in the bed of Ocean lay The mountain on his back to stay. Then he, the soul pervading all, Whose locks in radiant tresses fall, One mighty arm extended still, And grasped the summit of the hill. So ranged among the Immortals, he Joined in the churning of the sea.
A thou sand years had reached their close, When calmly from the ocean rose The gentle sage54 with staff and can, Lord of the art of healing man. Then as the waters foamed and boiled, As churning still the Immortals toiled, Of winning face and lovely frame, Forth sixty million fair ones came. Born of the foam and water, these Were a} tly namtd Apsarases.3 1 ' Sdrngin. literally carrying a bow of horn, is a constantly recurring name of Vishnu. The Indians also, therefore, knew* the art of making bows out of the horns of antelopes or wild goats, which Homer ascribes to the Trojans of the heroic age.' SCHLEGEL.
2 Dhanvantari, the physician of the Gods.
3 The poet plays upon the word and fancifully derives it from apsu, the loca- tive case plural of ap, water, and rasa, taste The word is probably derived from ap, water, and sri, to go, and seems to signify inhabitants of the water, nymphs of the stream; or, as Goldstiicker thinks (Diet. s. v.) these divinities were originally personifications of the vapours which are attracted by the sun and form into inist or clouds, 58 THE RAM AY AN.
Boole I.
Each had her maids. The tongue would fail- So vast the throng— to count the tale. But when no God or Titan wooed A wife from all that multitude, Refused by all, they gave their love In common to the Gods above. Then from the sea still vext and wild Rose Sura,1 Varun's maiden child, A fitting match she sought to find: But Diti's sons her love declined, Their kinsmen of the rival brood To the pure maid in honour sued. Hence those who loved that nymph so fair The hallowed name of Suras bear. And Asurs are the Titan crowd Her gentle claims who disallowed. Then from the foamy sea was freed Uchchaihsravas,2 the generous steed, And Kaustubha, of gems the gem,8 And Soma, Moon God, after them.
At length when many a year had tied, Up floated, on her lotus bed, A maiden fair and tender-eyed, In the young tiush of beauty's pride. She shone with pearl and golden sheen, And seals of glory stamped her queen. On each round arm glowed many a gem, On her smooth brows, a diadem. Rolling in waves beneath her crown The glory of her hair flowed down. Pearls on her neck of price untold, The lady shone like burnisht gold. Queen of the Gods, she leapt to land, A lotus in her perfect hand, 1 * Surd, in the feminine comprehends all sorts of intoxicating liquors, many kinds of wnich the Indians from the earliest times distilled and prepared from rice, sugar-cane, the palm tree, and various flowers and plants. Nothing is considered more disgraceful among orthodox Hindus than drunkenness, and the use of wine is forbidden not only to Brahmans but the two other orders as well...So it clearly appears derogatory to the dignity of the Gods to have received a nymph so perni- cious, who ought rather to have been made over to the Titans, However the etymological fancy has prevailed. The word Sura, a God, is derived from the indeclinable Srvar heaven.' SCHLEGEL.
a Literally, high -eared, the horse of Indra. Compare the production of the horse from the sea by Neptune.
3 ' And Kaustubha the best Of gems that burns with living light Upon Lord Vishnu's breast.'
Churning of the Ocean.
And fondly, of the lotus-sprung, To lotus-bearing Vishnu clung.
Her Gods above and men below As Beauty's Queen and Fortune know.1 Gods, Titans, and the minstrel train Still churned and wrought the troubled main.
At length the prize so madly sought, The Amrit, to their sight was brought. For the rich spoil, 'twixt these and those A fratricidal war arose, And, host 'gainst host in battle, set, Aditi's sons and Diti's met. United, with the giants' aid, Their fierce attack the Titans made, And wildly raged for many a day That universe-astounding fray. When wearied arms were faint to strike, And ruin threatened all alike, Vishnu, with art's illusive aid, The Amrit from their sight conveyed. That Best of Beings smote bis foes Who dared his deathless arm oppose: Yea, Vishnu, all-pervading God, Beneath his feet the Titans trod Aditi's race, the sons of light, slew Diti's brood in cruel fight. Then town-destroying2 Indra gained His empire, and in glory reigned O'er the three worlds, with bard and sage Rejoicing in his heritage.
CANTO XLVL DITI'S HOPE.
But Diti, when her sons were slain, Wild with a childless mother's pain, To Kasyap spake, Maricha's son, Her husband: ' O thou glorious one!
1 ' That this story of the birth of Lak- shmi is of considerable antiquity is evident from one of hQTraax^esJS.shifdbdhi-tanaydt daughter of the Milky Sea, which is found in Amarasinha the most ancient of Indian lexicographers. The similarity to the Greek myth of Venus being born from the foam of the sea is remarkable.'
'In this description of Lakshmi one thing only offends me, that she is said to have four arms. Each of Vishnu's arms, single, as far as the elbow, there branches into two; but Lakshmi in all the brass seals that I possess or remember to have seen has two arms only. Nor does this deformity of redundant limbs suit the pat- tern of perfect beauty.' SCHLEGEL. I have omitted the offensive epithet.
z Puraudhar, a common title of ludra, Canto XLVIL THE RAM AY AN.
Dead are the children, mine no more, The mighty sons to thee I bore. Long fervour's meed, I crave a boy Whose arm may Indra's life destroy. The toil and pain my care shall be: To bless my hope depends on thee. Give me a mighty son to slay Fierce Indra, gracious lord 1 I pray.'
Then glorious Kasyap thus replied To Diti, as she wept and sighed: ' Thy prayer is heard, dear saint! Remain Pure from all spot, and thou shalt gain A son whose arm shall take the life Of Indra in the battle strife. For full a thousand years endure Free from all stain, supremely pure; Then shall thy son and mine appear, Whom the three worlds shall serve with fear.'
These words the glorious Kasyap said, Then gently stroked his consort's head, Blessed her, and bade a kind adieu, And turned him to his rites anew. Soon as her lord had left her side, Her bosom swelled with joy and pride. She sought the shade of holy boughs, And there began her awful vows. While yet she wrought her rites austere, Indra, unbidden, hastened near, With sweet observance tending her, A reverential minister. Wood, water, fire, and grass he brought, Sweet roots and woodland fruit he sought, And all her wants, the Thousand-eyed, With never-failing care, supplied, With tender love and soft caress Removing pain and weariness.
When, of the thousand years ordained, Ten only unfulfilled remained, Thus to her son, the Thousand-eyed, The Goddess in her triumph cried: 'Best of the mighty! there remain But ten short years of toil and pain; These years of penance soon will flee, And a new brother thou shalt see. Him for thy sake I '11 nobly breed, And lust of war his soul shall feed; Then free from care and sorrow thou Shalt see the worlds before him bow.'1 CANTO XLVII.
SUM AT I.
Thus to Lord Indra, Thousand-eyed, Softly beseeching Diti sighed.
When but a blighted bud was left, Which Indra's hand in seven had cleft:! No fault. 0 Lord of Gods, is thine; The blame herein is only mine. But for one grace I fain Would pray, As thou hast reft this hope away. This bud, 0 Indra, which a blight Has withered ere it saw the light—* From this may seven fair spirits rise To rule the regions of the skies. Be theirs through heaven's unbounded space On shoulders of the winds to race, My children, drest in heavenly forms, Far-famed as Maruts, Gods of storms. One God to Brahma's sphere assign, Let one. O Indra, watch o'er thine; And ranging through the lower air, The third the name of V^yu54 bear. Gods let the four remaining be, And roam through space, obeying thee.1