Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc169" id="toc169"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf170" id="pdf170"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-VII" id="CantoII-VII" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto VII. Manthará's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>It chanced a slave-born handmaid, bred</div> <div>With Queen Kaikeyí, fancy-led,</div> <div>Mounted the stair and stood upon</div> <div>The terrace like the moon that shone.</div> <div>Thence Manthará at ease surveyed</div> <div>Ayodhyá to her eyes displayed,</div> <div>Where water cooled the royal street,</div> <div>Where heaps of flowers were fresh and sweet,</div> <div>And costly flags and pennons hung</div> <div>On roof and tower their shadow flung;</div> <div>With covered ways prepared in haste,</div> <div>And many an awning newly placed;</div> <div>With sandal-scented streams bedewed,</div> <div>Thronged by a new bathed multitude:</div> <div>Whose streets were full of Bráhman bands</div> <div>With wreaths and sweetmeats in their hands.</div> <div>Loud instruments their music raised,</div> <div>And through the town, where'er she gazed,</div> <div>The doors of temples glittered white,</div> <div>And the maid marvelled at the sight.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Of Ráma's nurse who, standing by,</div> <div>Gazed with a joy-expanded eye,</div> <div>In robes of purest white attired,</div> <div>The wondering damsel thus inquired:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Does Ráma's mother give away</span></div> <div>Rich largess to the crowds to-day,</div> <div>On some dear object fondly bent,</div> <div>Or blest with measureless content?</div> <div>What mean these signs of rare delight</div> <div>On every side that meet my sight?</div> <div>Say, will the king with joy elate</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Some happy triumph celebrate?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The nurse, with transport uncontrolled,</div> <div>Her glad tale to the hump-back told:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Our lord the king to-morrow morn</span></div> <div>Will consecrate his eldest-born,</div> <div>And raise, in Pushya's favouring hour,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Prince Ráma to the royal power.”</span></div> <div>As thus the nurse her tidings spoke,</div> <div>Rage in the hump-back's breast awoke.</div> <div>Down from the terrace, like the head</div> <div>Of high Kailása's hill, she sped.</div> <div>Sin in her thoughts, her soul aflame,</div> <div>Where Queen Kaikeyí slept, she came:</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page097"></span><SPAN name="Pg097" id="Pg097" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Why sleepest thou?”</span> she cried, <span class="tei tei-q" >“arise,</span></div> <div>Peril is near, unclose thine eyes.</div> <div>Ah, heedless Queen, too blind to know</div> <div>What floods of sin above thee flow!</div> <div>Thy boasts of love and grace are o'er:</div> <div>Thine is the show and nothing more.</div> <div>His favour is an empty cheat,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >A torrent dried by summer's heat.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus by the artful maid addressed</div> <div>In cruel words from raging breast,</div> <div>The queen, sore troubled, spoke in turn;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“What evil news have I to learn?</span></div> <div>That mournful eye, that altered cheek</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Of sudden woe or danger speak.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Such were the words Kaikeyí said:</div> <div>Then Manthará, her eyeballs red</div> <div>With fury, skilled with treacherous art</div> <div>To grieve yet more her lady's heart,</div> <div>From Ráma, in her wicked hate,</div> <div>Kaikeyí's love to alienate,</div> <div>Upon her evil purpose bent</div> <div>Began again most eloquent:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Peril awaits thee swift and sure,</span></div> <div>And utter woe defying cure;</div> <div>King Daśaratha will create</div> <div>Prince Ráma Heir Associate.</div> <div>Plunged in the depths of wild despair,</div> <div>My soul a prey to pain and care,</div> <div>As though the flames consumed me, zeal</div> <div>Has brought me for my lady's weal,</div> <div>Thy grief, my Queen, is grief to me:</div> <div>Thy gain my greatest gain would be.</div> <div>Proud daughter of a princely line,</div> <div>The rights of consort queen are thine.</div> <div>How art thou, born of royal race,</div> <div>Blind to the crimes that kings debase?</div> <div>Thy lord is gracious, to deceive,</div> <div>And flatters, but thy soul to grieve,</div> <div>While thy pure heart that thinks no sin</div> <div>Knows not the snares that hem thee in.</div> <div>Thy husband's lips on thee bestow</div> <div>Soft soothing word, an empty show:</div> <div>The wealth, the substance, and the power</div> <div>This day will be Kauśalyá's dower.</div> <div>With crafty soul thy child he sends</div> <div>To dwell among thy distant friends,</div> <div>And, every rival far from sight,</div> <div>To Ráma gives the power and might.</div> <div>Ah me! for thou, unhappy dame,</div> <div>Deluded by a husband's name,</div> <div>With more than mother's love hast pressed</div> <div>A serpent to thy heedless breast,</div> <div>And cherished him who works thee woe,</div> <div>No husband but a deadly foe.</div> <div>For like a snake, unconscious Queen,</div> <div>Or enemy who stabs unseen,</div> <div>King Daśaratha all untrue</div> <div>Has dealt with thee and Bharat too.</div> <div>Ah, simple lady, long beguiled</div> <div>By his soft words who falsely smiled!</div> <div>Poor victim of the guileless breast,</div> <div>A happier fate thou meritest.</div> <div>For thee and thine destruction waits</div> <div>When he Prince Ráma consecrates.</div> <div>Up, lady, while there yet is time;</div> <div>Preserve thyself, prevent the crime.</div> <div>Up, from thy careless ease, and free</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thyself, O Queen, thy son, and me!”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Delighted at the words she said,</div> <div>Kaikeyí lifted from the bed,</div> <div>Like autumn's moon, her radiant head,</div> <div>And joyous at the tidings gave</div> <div>A jewel to the hump-back slave;</div> <div>And as she gave the precious toy</div> <div>She cried in her exceeding joy:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Take this, dear maiden, for thy news</span></div> <div>Most grateful to mine ear, and choose</div> <div>What grace beside most fitly may</div> <div>The welcome messenger repay.</div> <div>I joy that Ráma gains the throne:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Kauśalyá's son is as mine own.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc171" id="toc171"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf172" id="pdf172"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-VIII" id="CantoII-VIII" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto VIII. Manthará's Speech.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The damsel's breast with fury burned:</div> <div>She answered, as the gift she spurned:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“What time, O simple Queen, is this</span></div> <div>For idle dreams of fancied bliss?</div> <div>Hast thou not sense thy state to know,</div> <div>Engulfed in seas of whelming woe;</div> <div>Sick as I am with grief and pain</div> <div>My lips can scarce a laugh restrain</div> <div>To see thee hail with ill-timed joy</div> <div>A peril mighty to destroy.</div> <div>I mourn for one so fondly blind:</div> <div>What woman of a prudent mind</div> <div>Would welcome, e'en as thou hast done,</div> <div>The lordship of a rival's son,</div> <div>Rejoiced to find her secret foe</div> <div>Empowered, like death, to launch the blow;</div> <div>I see that Ráma still must fear</div> <div>Thy Bharat, to his throne too near.</div> <div>Hence is my heart disquieted,</div> <div>For those who fear are those we dread.</div> <div>Lakshmaṇ, the mighty bow who draws,</div> <div>With all his soul serves Ráma's cause;</div> <div>And chains as strong to Bharat bind</div> <div>Śatrughna, with his heart and mind,</div> <div>Now next to Ráma, lady fair,</div> <div>Thy Bharat is the lawful heir:</div> <div>And far remote, I ween, the chance</div> <div>That might the younger two advance.</div> <div>Yes, Queen, 'tis Ráma that I dread,</div> <div>Wise, prompt, in warlike science bred;</div> <div>And oh, I tremble when I think</div> <div>Of thy dear child on ruin's brink.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page098"></span><SPAN name="Pg098" id="Pg098" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Blest with a lofty fate is she,</div> <div>Kauśalyá; for her son will be</div> <div>Placed, when the moon and Pushya meet,</div> <div>By Bráhmans on the royal seat,</div> <div>Thou as a slave in suppliant guise</div> <div>Must wait upon Kauśalyá's eyes,</div> <div>With all her wealth and bliss secured</div> <div>And glorious from her foes assured.</div> <div>Her slave with us who serve thee, thou</div> <div>Wilt see thy son to Ráma bow,</div> <div>And Sítá's friends exult o'er all,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >While Bharat's wife shares Bharat's fall.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As thus the maid in wrath complained,</div> <div>Kaikeyí saw her heart was pained,</div> <div>And answered eager in defence</div> <div>Of Ráma's worth and excellence:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Nay, Ráma, born the monarch's heir,</span></div> <div>By holy fathers trained with care,</div> <div>Virtuous, grateful, pure, and true,</div> <div>Claims royal sway as rightly due.</div> <div>He, like a sire, will long defend</div> <div>Each brother, minister, and friend.</div> <div>Then why, O hump-back, art thou pained</div> <div>To hear that he the throne has gained?</div> <div>Be sure when Ráma's empire ends,</div> <div>The kingdom to my son descends,</div> <div>Who, when a hundred years are flown,</div> <div>Shall sit upon his fathers' throne.</div> <div>Why is thine heart thus sad to see</div> <div>The joy that is and long shall be,</div> <div>This fortune by possession sure</div> <div>And hopes which we may count secure?</div> <div>Dear as the darling son I bore</div> <div>Is Ráma, yea, or even more.</div> <div>Most duteous to Kauśalyá, he</div> <div>Is yet more dutiful to me.</div> <div>What though he rule, we need not fear:</div> <div>His brethren to his soul are dear.</div> <div>And if the throne Prince Ráma fill</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Bharat will share the empire still.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>She ceased. The troubled damsel sighed</div> <div>Sighs long and hot, and thus replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“What madness has possessed thy mind,</span></div> <div>To warnings deaf, to dangers blind?</div> <div>Canst thou not see the floods of woe</div> <div>That threaten o'er thine head to flow:</div> <div>First Ráma will the throne acquire,</div> <div>Then Ráma's son succeed his sire,</div> <div>While Bharat will neglected pine</div> <div>Excluded from the royal line.</div> <div>Not all his sons, O lady fair,</div> <div>The kingdom of a monarch share:</div> <div>All ruling when a sovereign dies</div> <div>Wild tumult in the state would rise.</div> <div>The eldest, be he good or ill,</div> <div>Is ruler by the father's will.</div> <div>Know, tender mother, that thy son</div> <div>Without a friend and all undone,</div> <div>Far from the joyous ease of home</div> <div>An alien from his race will roam.</div> <div>I sped to thee for whom I feel,</div> <div>But thy fond heart mistakes my zeal,</div> <div>Thy hand a present would bestow</div> <div>Because thy rival triumphs so.</div> <div>When Ráma once begins his sway</div> <div>Without a foe his will to stay,</div> <div>Thy darling Bharat he will drive</div> <div>To distant lands if left alive.</div> <div>By thee the child was sent away</div> <div>Beneath his grandsire's roof to stay.</div> <div>Even in stocks and stones perforce</div> <div>Will friendship spring from intercourse.</div> <div>The young Śatrughna too would go</div> <div>With Bharat, for he loved him so.</div> <div>As Lakshmaṇ still to Ráma cleaves,</div> <div>He his dear Bharat never leaves.</div> <div>There is an ancient tale they tell:</div> <div>A tree the foresters would fell</div> <div>Was saved by reeds that round it stood,</div> <div>For love that sprang of neighbourhood.</div> <div>So Lakshmaṇ Ráma will defend,</div> <div>And each on each for aid depend.</div> <div>Such fame on earth their friendship wins</div> <div>As that which binds the Heavenly Twins.</div> <div>And Ráma ne'er will purpose wrong</div> <div>To Lakshmaṇ, for their love is strong.</div> <div>But Bharat, Oh, of this be sure,</div> <div>Must evil at his hands endure.</div> <div>Come, Ráma from his home expel</div> <div>An exile in the woods to dwell.</div> <div>The plan, O Queen, which I advise</div> <div>Secures thy weal if thou be wise.</div> <div>So we and all thy kith and kin</div> <div>Advantage from thy gain shall win.</div> <div>Shall Bharat, meet for happier fate,</div> <div>Born to endure his rival's hate,</div> <div>With all his fortune ruined cower</div> <div>And dread his brother's mightier power!</div> <div>Up, Queen, to save thy son, arise;</div> <div>Prostrate at Ráma's feet he lies.</div> <div>So the proud elephant who leads</div> <div>His trooping consorts through the reeds</div> <div>Falls in the forest shade beneath</div> <div>The lion's spring and murderous teeth.</div> <div>Scorned by thee in thy bliss and pride</div> <div>Kauśalyá was of old defied,</div> <div>And will she now forbear to show</div> <div>The vengeful rancour of a foe?</div> <div>O Queen, thy darling is undone</div> <div>When Ráma's hand has once begun</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Ayodhyá's realm to sway,</div> <div>Come, win the kingdom for thy child</div> <div>And drive the alien to the wild</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >In banishment to-day.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc173" id="toc173"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf174" id="pdf174"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-IX" id="CantoII-IX" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto IX. The Plot.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As fury lit Kaikeyí's eyes</div> <div>She spoke with long and burning sighs:</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page099"></span><SPAN name="Pg099" id="Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“This day my son enthroned shall see,</span></div> <div>And Ráma to the woods shall flee.</div> <div>But tell me, damsel, if thou can,</div> <div>A certain way, a skilful plan</div> <div>That Bharat may the empire gain,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And Ráma's hopes be nursed in vain.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The lady ceased. The wicked maid</div> <div>The mandate of her queen obeyed,</div> <div>And darkly plotting Ráma's fall</div> <div>Responded to Kaikeyí's call.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I will declare, do thou attend,</span></div> <div>How Bharat may his throne ascend.</div> <div>Dost thou forget what things befell?</div> <div>Or dost thou feign, remembering well?</div> <div>Or wouldst thou hear my tongue repeat</div> <div>A story for thy need so meet?</div> <div>Gay lady, if thy will be so,</div> <div>Now hear the tale of long ago,</div> <div>And when my tongue has done its part</div> <div>Ponder the story in thine heart.</div> <div>When Gods and demons fought of old,</div> <div>Thy lord, with royal saints enrolled,</div> <div>Sped to the war with thee to bring</div> <div>His might to aid the Immortals' King.</div> <div>Far to the southern land he sped</div> <div>Where Daṇḍak's mighty wilds are spread,</div> <div>To Vaijayanta's city swayed</div> <div>By Śambara, whose flag displayd</div> <div>The hugest monster of the sea.</div> <div>Lord of a hundred wiles was be;</div> <div>With might which Gods could never blame</div> <div>Against the King of Heaven he came.</div> <div>Then raged the battle wild and dread,</div> <div>And mortal warriors fought and bled;</div> <div>The fiends by night with strength renewed</div> <div>Charged, slew the sleeping multitude.</div> <div>Thy lord, King Daśaratha, long</div> <div>Stood fighting with the demon throng,</div> <div>But long of arm, unmatched in strength,</div> <div>Fell wounded by their darts at length.</div> <div>Thy husband, senseless, by thine aid</div> <div>Was from the battle field conveyed,</div> <div>And wounded nigh to death thy lord</div> <div>Was by thy care to health restored.</div> <div>Well pleased the grateful monarch sware</div> <div>To grant thy first and second prayer.</div> <div>Thou for no favour then wouldst sue,</div> <div>The gifts reserved for season due;</div> <div>And he, thy high-souled lord, agreed</div> <div>To give the boons when thou shouldst need.</div> <div>Myself I knew not what befell,</div> <div>But oft the tale have heard thee tell,</div> <div>And close to thee in friendship knit</div> <div>Deep in my heart have treasured it.</div> <div>Remind thy husband of his oath,</div> <div>Recall the boons and claim them both,</div> <div>That Bharat on the throne be placed</div> <div>With rites of consecration graced,</div> <div>And Ráma to the woods be sent</div> <div>For twice seven years of banishment.</div> <div>Go, Queen, the mourner's chamber<SPAN id="noteref_270" name="noteref_270" href="#note_270"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">270</span></span></SPAN> seek,</div> <div>With angry eye and burning cheek;</div> <div>And with disordered robes and hair</div> <div>On the cold earth lie prostrate there.</div> <div>When the king comes still mournful lie,</div> <div>Speak not a word nor meet his eye,</div> <div>But let thy tears in torrent flow,</div> <div>And lie enamoured of thy woe.</div> <div>Well do I know thou long hast been,</div> <div>And ever art, his darling queen.</div> <div>For thy dear sake, O well-loved dame,</div> <div>The mighty king would brave the flame,</div> <div>But ne'er would anger thee, or brook</div> <div>To meet his favourite's wrathful look.</div> <div>Thy loving lord would even die</div> <div>Thy fancy, Queen, to gratify,</div> <div>And never could he arm his breast</div> <div>To answer nay to thy request.</div> <div>Listen and learn, O dull of sense,</div> <div>Thine all-resistless influence.</div> <div>Gems he will offer, pearls and gold:</div> <div>Refuse his gifts, be stern and cold.</div> <div>Those proffered boons at length recall,</div> <div>And claim them till he grants thee all.</div> <div>And O my lady, high in bliss,</div> <div>With heedful thought forget not this.</div> <div>When from the ground his queen he lifts</div> <div>And grants again the promised gifts,</div> <div>Bind him with oaths he cannot break</div> <div>And thy demands unflnching, make.</div> <div>That Ráma travel to the wild</div> <div>Five years and nine from home exiled,</div> <div>And Bharat, best of all who reign,</div> <div>The empire of the land obtain.</div> <div>For when this term of years has fled</div> <div>Over the banished Ráma's head,</div> <div>Thy royal son to vigour grown</div> <div>And rooted firm will stand alone.</div> <div>The king, I know, is well inclined,</div> <div>And this the hour to move his mind.</div> <div>Be bold: the threatened rite prevent,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And force the king from his intent.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>She ceased. So counselled to her bane</div> <div>Disguised beneath a show of gain,</div> <div>Kaikeyí in her joy and pride</div> <div>To Manthará again replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thy sense I envy, prudent maid;</span></div> <div>With sagest lore thy lids persuade.</div> <div>No hump-back maid in all the earth,</div> <div>For wise resolve, can match thy worth.</div> <div>Thou art alone with constant zeal</div> <div>Devoted to thy lady's weal.</div> <div>Dear girl, without thy faithful aid</div> <div>I had not marked the plot he laid.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page100"></span><SPAN name="Pg100" id="Pg100" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Full of all guile and sin and spite</div> <div>Misshapen hump-backs shock the sight:</div> <div>But thou art fair and formed to please,</div> <div>Bent like a lily by the breeze.</div> <div>I look thee o'er with watchful eye,</div> <div>And in thy frame no fault can spy;</div> <div>The chest so deep, the waist so trim,</div> <div>So round the lines of breast and limb.<SPAN id="noteref_271" name="noteref_271" href="#note_271"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">271</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Thy cheeks with moonlike beauty shine,</div> <div>And the warm wealth of youth is thine.</div> <div>Thy legs, my girl, are long and neat,</div> <div>And somewhat long thy dainty feet,</div> <div>While stepping out before my face</div> <div>Thou seemest like a crane to pace.</div> <div>The thousand wiles are in thy breast</div> <div>Which Śambara the fiend possessed,</div> <div>And countless others all thine own,</div> <div>O damsel sage, to thee are known.</div> <div>Thy very hump becomes thee too,</div> <div>O thou whose face is fair to view,</div> <div>For there reside in endless store</div> <div>Plots, wizard wiles, and warrior lore.</div> <div>A golden chain I'll round it fling</div> <div>When Ráma's flight makes Bharat king:</div> <div>Yea, polished links of finest gold,</div> <div>When once the wished for prize I hold</div> <div>With naught to fear and none to hate,</div> <div>Thy hump, dear maid, shall decorate.</div> <div>A golden frontlet wrought with care,</div> <div>And precious jewels shalt thou wear:</div> <div>Two lovely robes around thee fold,</div> <div>And walk a Goddess to behold,</div> <div>Bidding the moon himself compare</div> <div>His beauty with a face so fair.</div> <div>With scent of precious sandal sweet</div> <div>Down to the nails upon thy feet,</div> <div>First of the household thou shalt go</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And pay with scorn each battled foe.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Kaikeyí's praise the damsel heard,</div> <div>And thus again her lady stirred,</div> <div>Who lay upon her beauteous bed</div> <div>Like fire upon the altar fed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Dear Queen, they build the bridge in vain</span></div> <div>When swollen streams are dry again.</div> <div>Arise, thy glorious task complete,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And draw the king to thy retreat.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The large-eyed lady left her bower</div> <div>Exulting in her pride of power,</div> <div>And with the hump-back sought the gloom</div> <div>And silence of the mourner's room.</div> <div>The string of priceless pearls that hung</div> <div>Around her neck to earth she flung,</div> <div>With all the wealth and lustre lent</div> <div>By precious gem and ornament.</div> <div>Then, listening to her slave's advice,</div> <div>Lay, like a nymph from Paradise.</div> <div>As on the ground her limbs she laid</div> <div>Once more she cried unto the maid:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Soon must thou to the monarch say</span></div> <div>Kaikeyí's soul has past away,</div> <div>Or, Ráma banished as we planned,</div> <div>My son made king shall rule the land.</div> <div>No more for gold and gems I care,</div> <div>For brave attire or dainty fare.</div> <div>If Ráma should the throne ascend,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >That very hour my life will end.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The royal lady wounded through</div> <div>The bosom with the darts that flew</div> <div>Launched from the hump-back's tongue</div> <div>Pressed both her hands upon her side,</div> <div>And o'er and o'er again she cried</div> <div>With wildering fury stung:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Yes, it shall be thy task to tell</span></div> <div>That I have hurried hence to dwell</div> <div>In Yáma's realms of woe,</div> <div>Or happy Bharat shall be king,</div> <div>And doomed to years of wandering</div> <div>Kauśalyá's son shall go.</div> <div>I heed not dainty viands now</div> <div>Fair wreaths of flowers to twine my brow,</div> <div>Soft balm or precious scent:</div> <div>My very life I count as naught,</div> <div>Nothing on earth can claim my thought</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >But Ráma's banishment.”</span></div> <div>She spoke these words of cruel ire;</div> <div>Then stripping off her gay attire,</div> <div>The cold bare floor she pressed.</div> <div>So, falling from her home on high,</div> <div>Some lovely daughter of the sky</div> <div>Upon the ground might rest.</div> <div>With darkened brow and furious mien,</div> <div>Stripped of her gems and wreath, the queen</div> <div>In spotless beauty lay,</div> <div>Like heaven obscured with gathering cloud,</div> <div>When shades of midnight darkness shroud</div> <div>Each star's expiring ray.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />