And bowing lowly as is meet

  Paid reverence to the monarch’s feet.

  But soon as Daśaratha viewed

  The prince in humble attitude,

  He raised him by the hand in haste

  And his beloved son embraced,

  Then signed him to a glorious throne,

  Gem-decked and golden, near his own.

  Then Ráma, best of Raghu’s line,

  Made the fair seat with lustre shine

  As when the orient sun upsprings

  And his pure beam on Meru flings.

  The glory flashed on roof and wall,

  And with strange sheen suffused the hall,

  As when the moon’s pure rays are sent

  Through autumn’s star-lit firmament.

  Then swelled his breast with joy and pride

  As his dear son the father eyed,

  E’en as himself more fair arrayed

  In some clear mirror’s face displayed.

  The aged monarch gazed awhile,

  Then thus addressed him with a smile,

  As Kaśyap, whom the worlds revere,

  Speaks for the Lord of Gods to hear:

  “O thou of all my sons most dear,

  In virtue best, thy father’s peer,

  Child of my consort first in place,

  Mine equal in her pride of race,

  Because the people’s hearts are bound

  To thee by graces in thee found,

  Be thou in Pushya’s favouring hour

  Made partner of my royal power.

  I know that thou by nature’s bent

  Both modest art and excellent,

  But though thy gifts no counsel need

  My love suggests the friendly rede.

  Mine own dear son, be modest still,

  And rule each sense with earnest will.

  Keep thou the evils far away

  That spring from love and anger’s sway.

  Thy noble course alike pursue

  In secret as in open view,

  And every nerve, the love to gain

  Of ministers and subjects, strain.

  The happy prince who sees with pride

  His thriving people satisfied;

  Whose arsenals with arms are stored,

  And treasury with golden hoard, —

  His friends rejoice as joyed the Blest

  When Amrit crowned their eager quest.

  So well, my child, thy course maintain,

  And from all ill thy soul refrain.”

  The friends of Ráma, gathered nigh,

  Longing their lord to gratify,

  Ran to Kauśalyá’s bower to tell

  The tidings that would please her well.

  She, host of dames, with many a gem,

  And gold, and kine rewarded them.

  Then Ráma paid the reverence due,

  Mounted the chariot, and withdrew,

  And to his splendid dwelling drove

  While crowds to show him honour strove.

  The people, when the monarch’s speech

  Their willing ears had heard,

  Were wild with joy as though on each

  Great gifts had been conferred.

  With meek and low salute each man

  Turned to his home away,

  And there with happy heart began

  To all the Gods to pray.

  Canto IV. Ráma Summoned.

  THE CROWD DISMISSED, to high debate

  The monarch called his peers of state,

  And, counsel from their lips obtained,

  Firm in his will his will explained:

  “To-morrow with auspicious ray

  The moon in Pushya’s sign will stay;

  Be that the time with happy fate

  Mine eldest son to consecrate,

  And let my Ráma, lotus-eyed,

  As Regent o’er the state preside.”

  He sought, within, his charioteer,

  And cried “Again bring Ráma here.”

  To Ráma’s home Sumantra hied

  Again to be the prince’s guide.

  His coming, told to Ráma’s ear,

  Suggested anxious doubt and fear.

  He bade the messenger be led

  That instant in, and thus he said:

  “Tell me the cause, omitting naught,

  Why thou again my house hast sought.”

  The envoy answered: “Prince, thy sire

  Has sent thy presence to require.

  My sender known, ’tis thine to say

  If thou wilt go or answer nay.”

  Then Ráma, when he heard his speech,

  Made haste the royal court to reach.

  Soon as the monarch was aware

  His dearest son was waiting there,

  Eager the parley to begin

  He bade them lead the prince within,

  Soon as he passed the chamber door

  The hero bent him to the floor,

  And at a distance from his seat

  Raised his joined hands his sire to greet.

  The monarch raised him from the ground,

  And loving arms about him wound,

  Then pointed to a seat that shone

  With gold for him to rest upon.

  “Aged am I,” he said, “and worn;

  In life’s best joys my share have borne;

  Rites to the Gods, in hundreds, paid,

  With gifts of corn and largess made.

  I yearned for sons: my life is blest

  With them and thee of sons the best.

  No debt to saints or Bráhmans, no,

  Nor spirits, Gods, or self I owe.

  One duty now remains alone,

  To set thee on thy father’s throne.

  Now therefore, Ráma, hear my rede,

  And mark my words with duteous heed:

  This day the peoples’ general voice,

  Elects thee king of love and choice,

  And I, consenting to the prayer,

  Will make thee, darling, Regent Heir.

  Dread visions, each returning night,

  With evil omens scare my sight.

  Red meteors with a fearful sound

  Shoot wildly downward to the ground,

  While tempests lash the troubled air;

  And they who read the stars declare

  That, leagued against my natal sign,

  Ráhu,265 the Sun,266 and Mars combine.

  When portents dire as these appear,

  A monarch’s death or woe is near.

  Then while my senses yet are spared,

  And thought and will are unimpaired,

  Be thou, my son, anointed king:

  Men’s fancy is a fickle thing.

  To-day the moon, in order due,

  Entered the sign Punarvasu,267

  To-morrow, as the wise foretell,

  In Pushya’s favouring stars will dwell:

  Then on the throne shalt thou be placed.

  My soul, prophetic, counsels haste:

  Thee, O my son, to-morrow I

  As Regent Heir will sanctify.

  So till the coming night be passed

  Do thou and Sítá strictly fast:

  From worldly thoughts thy soul refrain,

  And couched on holy grass remain.

  And let thy trusted lords attend

  In careful watch upon their friend,

  For, unexpected, check and bar

  Our weightiest counsels often mar.

  While Bharat too is far away

  Making with royal kin his stay,

  I deem the fittest time of all

  Thee, chosen Regent, to install.

  It may be Bharat still has stood

  True to the counsels of the good,

  Faithful to thee with tender trust,

  With governed senses, pure and just.

  But human minds, too well I know,

  Will sudden changes undergo,

  And by their constant deeds alone

  The virtue of the good is shown.

  Now, Ráma, go. My son, good night!

  Fixt is to-morrow for the rite.”

  Then Ráma paid the reverence due,

  And quickly to his home withdrew.

  He passed within, nor lingered there,

  But sought his mother’s mansion, where

  The dame in linen robes arrayed

  Devoutly in the chapel prayed

  To Fortune’s Queen, with utterance checked,

  That she her Ráma would protect.

  There was Sumitrá too, and there

  Was Lakshmaṇ led by loving care:

  And when the royal choice they knew

  Sítá in haste was summoned too.

  Absorbed, with half-shut eyes, the queen

  Attended by the three was seen.

  She knew that Pushya’s lucky hour

  Would raise her son to royal power,

  So fixed with bated breath each thought

  On God supreme, by all men sought.

  To her, as thus she knelt and prayed,

  Ráma drew near, due reverence paid,

  And then to swell his mother’s joy,

  Thus spoke her own beloved boy;

  “O mother dear, my sire’s decree

  Entrusts the people’s weal to me.

  To-morrow I, for so his will,

  Anointed king, the throne shall fill.

  The few last hours till night shall end

  Sítá with me must fasting spend,

  For so my father has decreed,

  And holy priests with him agreed.

  What vows soever thou mayst deem

  My consecration’s eve beseem,

  Do thou, sweet mother, for my sake

  And for beloved Sítá’s make.”

  When the glad news Kauśalyá heard,

  So long desired, so long deferred,

  While tears of joy her utterance broke,

  In answer to her son she spoke:

  “Long be thy life, my darling: now

  Thy prostrate foes before thee bow.

  Live long and with thy bright success

  My friends and dear Sumitrá’s bless.

  Surely the stars were wondrous fair

  When thee, sweet son, thy mother bare,

  That thy good gifts such love inspire

  And win the favour of thy sire.

  With thee I travailed not in vain;

  Those lotus eyes reward my pain,

  And all the glory of the line

  Of old Ikshváku will be thine.”

  He smiled, and on his brother gazed

  Who sate with reverent hands upraised,

  And said: “My brother, thou must be

  Joint-ruler of this land with me.

  My second self thou, Lakshmaṇ, art,

  And in my fortune bearest part.

  Be thine, Sumitrá’s son, to know

  The joys from regal power that flow.

  My life itself, the monarch’s seat,

  For thy dear sake to me are sweet.”

  Thus Ráma to his brother said,

  To both his mothers268 bowed his head,

  And then with Sítá by his side

  To his own house the hero hied.

  Canto V. Ráma’s Fast.

  THEN SAINT VAŚISHṬHA to the king

  Came ready at his summoning.

  “Now go,” exclaimed the monarch, “thou

  Enriched by fervent rite and vow,

  For Ráma and his wife ordain

  The fast, that joy may bless his reign.”

  The best of those who Scripture know

  Said to the king, “My lord, I go.”

  To Ráma’s house Vaśishṭha hied,

  The hero’s fast by rule to guide,

  And skilled in sacred texts to tell

  Each step to him instructed well.

  Straight to Prince Ráma’s high abode,

  That like a cloud pale-tinted showed,

  Borne in his priestly car he rode.

  Two courts he passed, and in the third

  He stayed his car. Then Ráma heard

  The holy sage was come, and flew

  To honour him with honour due.

  He hastened to the car and lent

  His hand to aid the priest’s descent.

  Then spoke Vaśishṭha words like these,

  Pleased with his reverent courtesies,

  With pleasant things his heart to cheer

  Who best deserved glad news to hear:

  “Prince, thou hast won thy father’s grace,

  And thine will be the Regent’s place:

  Now with thy Sítá, as is right,

  In strictest fasting spend the night,

  For when the morrow’s dawn is fair

  The king will consecrate his heir:

  So Nahush,269 as the wise relate,

  Yayáti joyed to consecrate.”

  Thus having said, Vaśishṭha next

  Ordained the fast by rule and text,

  For Ráma faithful to his vows

  And the Videhan dame his spouse.

  Then from the prince’s house he hied

  With courteous honours gratified.

  Round Ráma gathered every friend

  In pleasant talk a while to spend.

  He bade good night to all at last,

  And to his inner chamber passed.

  Then Ráma’s house shone bright and gay

  With men and maids in glad array,

  As in the morning some fair lake

  When all her lotuses awake,

  And every bird that loves the flood

  Flits joyous round each opening bud.

  Forth from the house Vaśishṭha drove,

  That with the king’s in splendour strove,

  And all the royal street he viewed

  Filled with a mighty multitude

  The eager concourse blocked each square,

  Each road and lane and thoroughfare,

  And joyous shouts on every side

  Rose like the roar of Ocean’s tide,

  As streams of men together came

  With loud huzza and glad acclaim.

  The ways were watered, swept and clean,

  And decked with flowers and garlands green

  And all Ayodhyá shone arrayed

  With banners on the roofs that played.

  Men, women, boys with eager eyes,

  Expecting when the sun should rise,

  Stood longing for the herald ray

  Of Ráma’s consecration day,

  To see, a source of joy to all,

  The people-honoured festival.

  The priest advancing slowly through

  The mighty crowd he cleft in two,

  Near to the monarch’s palace drew.

  He sought the terrace, by the stair,

  Like a white cloud-peak high in air,

  The reverend king of men to meet

  Who sate upon his splendid seat:

  Thus will Vṛihaspati arise

  To meet the monarch of the skies.

  But when the king his coming knew,

  He left his throne and near him drew

  Questioned by him Vaśishṭha said

  That all his task was duly sped.

  Then all who sate there, honouring

  Vaśishṭha, rose as rose the king.

  Vaśishṭha bade his lord adieu,

  And all the peers, dismissed, withdrew.

  Then as a royal lion seeks

  His cave beneath the rocky peaks,

  So to the chambers where abode

  His consorts Daśaratha strode.

  Full-thronged were those delightful bowers

  With women richly dressed,

  And splendid as the radiant towers

  Where Indra loves to rest.

  Then brighter flashed a thousand eyes

  With the light his presence lent,

  As, when the moon begins to rise

  The star thronged firmament.

  Canto VI. The City Decorated.

  THEN RÁMA BATHED in order due,

  His mind from worldly thoughts withdrew,

  And with his large-eyed wife besought

  Náráyaṇ, as a votary ought.

  Upon his head the brimming cup

  Of holy oil he lifted up,

  Then placed within the kindled fire

  The offering to that heavenly Sire,

  And as he sipped the remnant prayed

  To Him for blessing and for aid.

  Then with still lips and tranquil mind

  With his Videhan he reclined,

  In Vishṇu’s chapel, on a bed

  Where holy grass was duly spread,

  While still the prince’s every thought

  The God supreme, Náráyaṇ, sought.

  One watch remained the night to close

  When Ráma from his couch arose,

  And bade the men and maids adorn

  His palace for the solemn morn.

  He heard the bards and heralds raise

  Auspicious strains of joy and praise;

  And breathed devout, with voice restrained,

  The hymn for morning rites ordained;

  Then, with his head in reverence bowed,

  Praised Madhu’s conquering foe aloud,

  And, in pure linen robes arrayed,

  The priests to raise their voices prayed.

  Obedient to the summons they

  Proclaimed to all the festal day.

  The Bráhmans’ voices, deep and sweet,

  Resounded through the crowded street,

  And echoed through Ayodhyá went

  By many a loud-toned instrument.

  Then all the people joyed to hear

  That Ráma with his consort dear

  Had fasted till the morning light

  In preparation for the rite.

  Swiftly the joyful tidings through

  Ayodhyá’s crowded city flew,

  And soon as dawn appeared, each man

  To decorate the town began.

  In all the temples bright and fair

  As white clouds towering in the air,

  In streets, and where the cross-ways met,

  Where holy fig-trees had been set,

  In open square, in sacred shade,

  Where merchants’ shops their wealth displayed,

  On all the mansions of the great,

  And householders of wealth and state,

  Where’er the people loved to meet,

  Where’er a tree adorned the street,

  Gay banners floated to the wind,

  And ribands round the staves were twined.

  Then clear the singers’ voices rang,

  As, charming mind and ear, they sang.

  Here players shone in bright attire,

  There dancing women swelled the quire.

  Each with his friend had much to say

  Of Ráma’s consecration-day:

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009