Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc175" id="toc175"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf176" id="pdf176"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-X" id="CantoII-X" 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 X. Dasaratha's Speech.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As Queen Kaikeyí thus obeyed</div> <div>The sinful counsel of her maid</div> <div>She sank upon the chamber floor,</div> <div>As sinks in anguish, wounded sore,</div> <div>An elephant beneath the smart</div> <div>Of the wild hunter's venomed dart.</div> <div>The lovely lady in her mind</div> <div>Revolved the plot her maid designed,</div> <div>And prompt the gain and risk to scan</div> <div>She step by step approved the plan.</div> <div>Misguided by the hump-back's guile</div> <div>She pondered her resolve awhile,</div> <div>As the fair path that bliss secured</div> <div>The miserable lady lured,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page101"></span><SPAN name="Pg101" id="Pg101" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Devoted to her queen, and swayed</div> <div>By hopes of gain and bliss, the maid</div> <div>Rejoiced, her lady's purpose known,</div> <div>And deemed the prize she sought her own.</div> <div>Then bent upon her purpose dire,</div> <div>Kaikeyí with her soul on fire,</div> <div>Upon the floor lay, languid, down,</div> <div>Her brows contracted in a frown.</div> <div>The bright-hued wreath that bound her hair,</div> <div>Chains, necklets, jewels rich and rare,</div> <div>Stripped off by her own fingers lay</div> <div>Spread on the ground in disarray,</div> <div>And to the floor a lustre lent</div> <div>As stars light up the firmament.</div> <div>Thus prostrate in the mourner's cell,</div> <div>In garb of woe the lady fell,</div> <div>Her long hair in a single braid,</div> <div>Like some fair nymph of heaven dismayed.<SPAN id="noteref_272" name="noteref_272" href="#note_272"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">272</span></span></SPAN></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The monarch, Ráma to install,</div> <div>With thoughtful care had ordered all,</div> <div>And now within his home withdrew,</div> <div>Dismissing first his retinue.</div> <div>Now all the town has heard, thought he,</div> <div>What joyful rite the morn will see.</div> <div>So turned he to her bower to cheer</div> <div>With the glad news his darling's ear.</div> <div>Majestic, as the Lord of Night,</div> <div>When threatened by the Dragon's might,</div> <div>Bursts radiant on the evening sky</div> <div>Pale with the clouds that wander by,</div> <div>So Daśaratha, great in fame,</div> <div>To Queen Kaikeyí's palace came.</div> <div>There parrots flew from tree to tree,</div> <div>And gorgeous peacocks wandered free,</div> <div>While ever and anon was heard</div> <div>The note of some glad water-bird.</div> <div>Here loitered dwarf and hump-backed maid,</div> <div>There lute and lyre sweet music played.</div> <div>Here, rich in blossom, creepers twined</div> <div>O'er grots with wondrous art designed,</div> <div>There Champac and Aśoka flowers</div> <div>Hung glorious o'er the summer bowers,</div> <div>And mid the waving verdure rose</div> <div>Gold, silver, ivory porticoes.</div> <div>Through all the months in ceaseless store</div> <div>The trees both fruit and blossom bore.</div> <div>With many a lake the grounds were graced;</div> <div>Seats gold and silver, here were placed;</div> <div>Here every viand wooed the taste,</div> <div>It was a garden meet to vie</div> <div>E'en with the home of Gods on high.</div> <div>Within the mansion rich and vast</div> <div>The mighty Daśaratha passed:</div> <div>Not there was his beloved queen</div> <div>On her fair couch reclining seen.</div> <div>With love his eager pulses beat</div> <div>For the dear wife he came to meet,</div> <div>And in his blissful hopes deceived,</div> <div>He sought his absent love and grieved.</div> <div>For never had she missed the hour</div> <div>Of meeting in her sumptuous bower,</div> <div>And never had the king of men</div> <div>Entered the empty room till then.</div> <div>Still urged by love and anxious thought</div> <div>News of his favourite queen he sought,</div> <div>For never had his loving eyes</div> <div>Found her or selfish or unwise.</div> <div>Then spoke at length the warder maid,</div> <div>With hands upraised and sore afraid:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“My Lord and King, the queen has sought</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >The mourner's cell with rage distraught.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The words the warder maiden said</div> <div>He heard with soul disquieted,</div> <div>And thus as fiercer grief assailed,</div> <div>His troubled senses wellnigh failed.</div> <div>Consumed by torturing fires of grief</div> <div>The king, the world's imperial chief,</div> <div>His lady lying on the ground</div> <div>In most unqueenly posture, found.</div> <div>The aged king, all pure within,</div> <div>Saw the young queen resolved on sin,</div> <div>Low on the ground, his own sweet wife,</div> <div>To him far dearer than his life,</div> <div>Like some fair creeping plant uptorn,</div> <div>Or like a maid of heaven forlorn,</div> <div>A nymph of air or Goddess sent</div> <div>From Swarga down in banishment.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As some wild elephant who tries</div> <div>To soothe his consort as she lies</div> <div>Struck by the hunter's venomed dart,</div> <div>So the great king disturbed in heart,</div> <div>Strove with soft hand and fond caress</div> <div>To soothe his darling queen's distress,</div> <div>And in his love addressed with sighs</div> <div>The lady of the lotus eyes:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“I know not, Queen, why thou shouldst be</span></div> <div>Thus angered to the heart with me.</div> <div>Say, who has slighted thee, or whence</div> <div>Has come the cause of such offence</div> <div>That in the dust thou liest low,</div> <div>And rendest my fond heart with woe,</div> <div>As if some goblin of the night</div> <div>Had struck thee with a deadly blight,</div> <div>And cast foul influence on her</div> <div>Whose spells my loving bosom stir?</div> <div>I have Physicians famed for skill,</div> <div>Each trained to cure some special ill:</div> <div>My sweetest lady, tell thy pain,</div> <div>And they shall make thee well again.</div> <div>Whom, darling, wouldst thou punished see?</div> <div>Or whom enriched with lordly fee?</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page102"></span><SPAN name="Pg102" id="Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Weep not, my lovely Queen, and stay</div> <div>This grief that wears thy frame away;</div> <div>Speak, and the guilty shall be freed.</div> <div>The guiltless be condemned to bleed,</div> <div>The poor enriched, the rich abased,</div> <div>The low set high, the proud disgraced.</div> <div>My lords and I thy will obey,</div> <div>All slaves who own thy sovereign sway;</div> <div>And I can ne'er my heart incline</div> <div>To check in aught one wish of thine.</div> <div>Now by my life I pray thee tell</div> <div>The thoughts that in thy bosom dwell.</div> <div>The power and might thou knowest well,</div> <div>Should from thy breast all doubt expel.</div> <div>I swear by all my merit won,</div> <div>Speak, and thy pleasure shall be done.</div> <div>Far as the world's wide bounds extend</div> <div>My glorious empire knows no end.</div> <div>Mine are the tribes in eastern lands,</div> <div>And those who dwell on Sindhu's sands:</div> <div>Mine is Suráshṭra, far away,</div> <div>Suvíra's realm admits my sway.</div> <div>My best the southern nations fear,</div> <div>The Angas and the Vangas hear.</div> <div>And as lord paramount I reign</div> <div>O'er Magadh and the Matsyas' plain,</div> <div>Kośal, and Káśi's wide domain:<SPAN id="noteref_273" name="noteref_273" href="#note_273"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">273</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>All rich in treasures of the mine,</div> <div>In golden corn, sheep, goats, and kine.</div> <div>Choose what thou wilt. Kaikeyí, thence:</div> <div>But tell me, O my darling, whence</div> <div>Arose thy grief, and it shall fly</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Like hoar-frost when the sun is high.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>She, by his loving words consoled,</div> <div>Longed her dire purpose to unfold,</div> <div>And sought with sharper pangs to wring</div> <div>The bosom of her lord the king.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc177" id="toc177"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf178" id="pdf178"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XI" id="CantoII-XI" 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 XI. The Queen's Demand.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>To him enthralled by love, and blind,</div> <div>Pierced by his darts who shakes the mind,<SPAN id="noteref_274" name="noteref_274" href="#note_274"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">274</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>Kaikeyí with remorseless breast</div> <div>Her grand purpose thus expressed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O King, no insult or neglect</span></div> <div>Have I endured, or disrespect.</div> <div>One wish I have, and faith would see</div> <div>That longing granted, lord, by thee.</div> <div>Now pledge thy word if thou incline</div> <div>To listen to this prayer of mine,</div> <div>Then I with confidence will speak,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And thou shalt hear the boon I seek.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Ere she had ceased, the monarch fell,</div> <div>A victim to the lady's spell,</div> <div>And to the deadly snare she set</div> <div>Sprang, like a roebuck to the net.</div> <div>Her lover raised her drooping head,</div> <div>Smiled, playing with her hair, and said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hast thou not learnt, wild dame, till now</span></div> <div>That there is none so dear as thou</div> <div>To me thy loving husband, save</div> <div>My Ráma bravest of the brave?</div> <div>By him my race's high-souled heir,</div> <div>By him whom none can match, I swear,</div> <div>Now speak the wish that on thee weighs:</div> <div>By him whose right is length of days,</div> <div>Whom if my fond paternal eye</div> <div>Saw not one hour I needs must die,—</div> <div>I swear by Ráma my dear son,</div> <div>Speak, and thy bidding shall be done.</div> <div>Speak, darling; if thou choose, request</div> <div>To have the heart from out my breast;</div> <div>Regard my words, sweet love, and name</div> <div>The wish thy mind thinks fit to frame.</div> <div>Nor let thy soul give way to doubt:</div> <div>My power should drive suspicion out.</div> <div>Yea, by my merits won I swear,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Speak, darling, I will grant thy prayer.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The queen, ambitious, overjoyed</div> <div>To see him by her plot decoyed,</div> <div>More eager still her aims to reach,</div> <div>Spoke her abominable speech:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“A boon thou grantest, nothing loth,</span></div> <div>And swearest with repeated oath.</div> <div>Now let the thirty Gods and three</div> <div>My witnesses, with Indra, be.</div> <div>Let sun and moon and planets hear,</div> <div>Heaven, quarters, day and night, give ear.</div> <div>The mighty world, the earth outspread,</div> <div>With bards of heaven and demons dread;</div> <div>The ghosts that walk in midnight shade,</div> <div>And household Gods, our present aid,</div> <div>A every being great and small</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >To hear and mark the oath I call.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>When thus the archer king was bound,</div> <div>With treacherous arts and oaths enwound,</div> <div>She to her bounteous lord subdued</div> <div>By blinding love, her speech renewed:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Remember, King, that long-past day</span></div> <div>Of Gods' and demons' battle fray.</div> <div>And how thy foe in doubtful strife</div> <div>Had nigh bereft thee of thy life.</div> <div>Remember, it was only I</div> <div>Preserved thee when about to die,</div> <div>And thou for watchful love and care</div> <div>Wouldst grant my first and second prayer.</div> <div>Those offered boons, pledged with thee then,</div> <div>I now demand, O King of men,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page103"></span><SPAN name="Pg103" id="Pg103" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Of thee, O Monarch, good and just,</div> <div>Whose righteous soul observes each trust.</div> <div>If thou refuse thy promise sworn,</div> <div>I die, despised, before the morn.</div> <div>These rites in Ráma's name begun—</div> <div>Transfer them, and enthrone my son.</div> <div>The time is come to claim at last</div> <div>The double boon of days long-past,</div> <div>When Gods and demons met in fight,</div> <div>And thou wouldst fain my care requite.</div> <div>Now forth to Daṇḍak's forest drive</div> <div>Thy Ráma for nine years and five,</div> <div>And let him dwell a hermit there</div> <div>With deerskin coat and matted hair.</div> <div>Without a rival let my boy</div> <div>The empire of the land enjoy,</div> <div>And let mine eyes ere morning see</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thy Ráma to the forest flee.”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc179" id="toc179"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf180" id="pdf180"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XII" id="CantoII-XII" 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 XII. Dasaratha's Lament.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The monarch, as Kaikeyí pressed</div> <div>With cruel words her dire request,</div> <div>Stood for a time absorbed in thought</div> <div>While anguish in his bosom wrought.</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Does some wild dream my heart assail?</span></div> <div>Or do my troubled senses fail?</div> <div>Does some dire portent scare my view?</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Or frenzy's stroke my soul subdue?”</span></div> <div>Thus as he thought, his troubled mind</div> <div>In doubt and dread no rest could find,</div> <div>Distressed and trembling like a deer</div> <div>Who sees the dreaded tigress near.</div> <div>On the bare ground his limbs he threw,</div> <div>And many a long deep sigh he drew,</div> <div>Like a wild snake, with fury blind,</div> <div>By charms within a ring confined.</div> <div>Once as the monarch's fury woke,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Shame on thee!”</span> from his bosom broke,</div> <div>And then in sense-bewildering pain</div> <div>He fainted on the ground again.</div> <div>At length, when slowly strength returned,</div> <div>He answered as his eyeballs burned</div> <div>With the wild fury of his ire</div> <div>Consuming her, as 'twere, with fire:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Fell traitress, thou whose thoughts design</span></div> <div>The utter ruin of my line,</div> <div>What wrong have I or Ráma done?</div> <div>Speak murderess, speak thou wicked one,</div> <div>Seeks he not evermore to please</div> <div>Thee with all sonlike courtesies?</div> <div>By what persuasion art thou led</div> <div>To bring this ruin on his head?</div> <div>Ah me, that fondly unaware</div> <div>I brought thee home my life to share,</div> <div>Called daughter of a king, in truth</div> <div>A serpent with a venomed tooth!</div> <div>What fault can I pretend to find</div> <div>In Ráma praised by all mankind,</div> <div>That I my darling should forsake?</div> <div>No, take my life, my glory take:</div> <div>Let either queen be from me torn,</div> <div>But not my well-loved eldest-born.</div> <div>Him but to see is highest bliss,</div> <div>And death itself his face to miss.</div> <div>The world may sunless stand, the grain</div> <div>May thrive without the genial rain,</div> <div>But if my Ráma be not nigh</div> <div>My spirit from its frame will fly.</div> <div>Enough, thine impious plan forgo,</div> <div>O thou who plottest sin and woe.</div> <div>My head before thy feet, I kneel,</div> <div>And pray thee some compassion feel.</div> <div>O wicked dame, what can have led</div> <div>Thy heart to dare a plot so dread?</div> <div>Perchance thy purpose is to sound</div> <div>The grace thy son with me has found;</div> <div>Perchance the words that, all these days,</div> <div>Thou still hast said in Ráma's praise,</div> <div>Were only feigned, designed to cheer</div> <div>With flatteries a father's ear.</div> <div>Soon as thy grief, my Queen, I knew,</div> <div>My bosom felt the anguish too.</div> <div>In empty halls art thou possessed,</div> <div>And subject to anothers' hest?</div> <div>Now on Ikshváku's ancient race</div> <div>Falls foul disorder and disgrace,</div> <div>If thou, O Queen, whose heart so long</div> <div>Has loved the good should choose the wrong.</div> <div>Not once, O large-eyed dame, hast thou</div> <div>Been guilty of offence till now,</div> <div>Nor said a word to make me grieve,</div> <div>Now will I now thy sin believe.</div> <div>With thee my Ráma used to hold</div> <div>Like place with Bharat lofty-souled.</div> <div>As thou so often, when the pair</div> <div>Were children yet, wouldst fain declare.</div> <div>And can thy righteous soul endure</div> <div>That Ráma glorious, pious, pure,</div> <div>Should to the distant wilds be sent</div> <div>For fourteen years of banishment?</div> <div>Yea, Ráma Bharat's self exceeds</div> <div>In love to thee and sonlike deeds,</div> <div>And, for deserving love of thee,</div> <div>As Bharat, even so is he.</div> <div>Who better than that chieftain may</div> <div>Obedience, love, and honour pay,</div> <div>Thy dignity with care protect,</div> <div>Thy slightest word and wish respect?</div> <div>Of all his countless followers none</div> <div>Can breathe a word against my son;</div> <div>Of many thousands not a dame</div> <div>Can hint reproach or whisper blame.</div> <div>All creatures feel the sweet control</div> <div>Of Ráma's pure and gentle soul.</div> <div>The pride of Manu's race he binds</div> <div>To him the people's grateful minds.</div> <div>He wins the subjects with his truth,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page104"></span><SPAN name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The poor with gifts and gentle ruth,</div> <div>His teachers with his docile will,</div> <div>The foemen with his archer skill.</div> <div>Truth, purity, religious zeal,</div> <div>The hand to give, the heart to feel,</div> <div>The love that ne'er betrays a friend,</div> <div>The rectitude that naught can bend,</div> <div>Knowledge, and meek obedience grace</div> <div>My Ráma pride of Raghu's race.</div> <div>Canst thou thine impious plot design</div> <div>'Gainst him in whom these virtues shine,</div> <div>Whose glory with the sages vies,</div> <div>Peer of the Gods who rule the skies!</div> <div>From him no harsh or bitter word</div> <div>To pain one creature have I heard,</div> <div>And how can I my son address,</div> <div>For thee, with words of bitterness?</div> <div>Have mercy, Queen: some pity show</div> <div>To see my tears of anguish flow,</div> <div>And listen to my mournful cry,</div> <div>A poor old man who soon must die.</div> <div>Whate'er this sea-girt land can boast</div> <div>Of rich and rare from coast to coast,</div> <div>To thee, my Queen, I give it all:</div> <div>But O, thy deadly words recall:</div> <div>O see, my suppliant hands entreat,</div> <div>Again my lips are on thy feet:</div> <div>Save Ráma, save my darling child,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Nor kill me with this sin defiled.”</span></div> <div>He grovelled on the ground, and lay</div> <div>To burning grief a senseless prey,</div> <div>And ever and anon, assailed</div> <div>By floods of woe he wept and wailed,</div> <div>Striving with eager speed to gain</div> <div>The margent of his sea of pain.</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>With fiercer words she fiercer yet</div> <div>The hapless father's pleading met:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Monarch, if thy soul repent</span></div> <div>The promise and thy free consent,</div> <div>How wilt thou in the world maintain</div> <div>Thy fame for truth unsmirched with stain?</div> <div>When gathered kings with thee converse,</div> <div>And bid thee all the tale rehearse,</div> <div>What wilt thou say, O truthful King,</div> <div>In answer to their questioning?</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“She to whose love my life I owe,</span></div> <div>Who saved me smitten by the foe,</div> <div>Kaikeyí, for her tender care,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Was cheated of the oath I sware.”</span></div> <div>Thus wilt thou answer, and forsworn</div> <div>Wilt draw on thee the princes' scorn.</div> <div>Learn from that tale, the Hawk and Dove,<SPAN id="noteref_275" name="noteref_275" href="#note_275"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">275</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>How strong for truth was Saivya's love.</div> <div>Pledged by his word the monarch gave</div> <div>His flesh the suppliant bird to save.</div> <div>So King Alarka gave his eyes,</div> <div>And gained a mansion in the skies.</div> <div>The Sea himself his promise keeps,</div> <div>And ne'er beyond his limit sweeps.</div> <div>My deeds of old again recall,</div> <div>Nor let thy bond dishonoured fall.</div> <div>The rights of truth thou wouldst forget,</div> <div>Thy Ráma on the throne to set,</div> <div>And let thy days in pleasure glide,</div> <div>Fond King, Kauśalyá by thy side.</div> <div>Now call it by what name thou wilt,</div> <div>Justice, injustice, virtue, guilt,</div> <div>Thy word and oath remain the same,</div> <div>And thou must yield what thus I claim.</div> <div>If Ráma be anointed, I</div> <div>This very day will surely die,</div> <div>Before thy face will poison drink,</div> <div>And lifeless at thy feet will sink.</div> <div>Yea, better far to die than stay</div> <div>Alive to see one single day</div> <div>The crowds before Kauśalyá stand</div> <div>And hail her queen with reverent hand.</div> <div>Now by my son, myself, I swear,</div> <div>No gift, no promise whatsoe'er</div> <div>My steadfast soul shall now content,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >But only Ráma's banishment.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>So far she spake by rage impelled,</div> <div>And then the queen deep silence held.</div> <div>He heard her speech full fraught with ill,</div> <div>But spoke no word bewildered still,</div> <div>Gazed on his love once held so dear</div> <div>Who spoke unlovely rede to hear;</div> <div>Then as he slowly pondered o'er</div> <div>The queen's resolve and oath she swore.</div> <div>Once sighing forth, Ah Ráma! he</div> <div>Fell prone as falls a smitten tree.</div> <div>His senses lost like one insane,</div> <div>Faint as a sick man weak with pain,</div> <div>Or like a wounded snake dismayed,</div> <div>So lay the king whom earth obeyed.</div> <div>Long burning sighs he slowly heaved,</div> <div>As, conquered by his woe, he grieved,</div> <div>And thus with tears and sobs between</div> <div>His sad faint words addressed the queen:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“By whom, Kaikeyí, wast thou taught</span></div> <div>This flattering hope with ruin fraught?</div> <div>Have goblins seized thy soul, O dame,</div> <div>Who thus canst speak and feel no shame?</div> <div>Thy mind with sin is sicklied o'er,</div> <div>From thy first youth ne'er seen before.</div> <div>A good and loving wife wast thou,</div> <div>But all, alas! is altered now.</div> <div>What terror can have seized thy breast</div> <div>To make thee frame this dire request,</div> <div>That Bharat o'er the land may reign,</div> <div>And Ráma in the woods remain?</div> <div>Turn from thine evil ways, O turn,</div> <div>And thy perfidious counsel spurn,</div> <div>If thou would fain a favour do</div> <div>To people, lord, and Bharat too.</div> <div>O wicked traitress, fierce and vile,</div> <div>Who lovest deeds of sin and guile,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page105"></span><SPAN name="Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>What crime or grievance dost thou see,</div> <div>What fault in Ráma or in me?</div> <div>Thy son will ne'er the throne accept</div> <div>If Ráma from his rights be kept,</div> <div>For Bharat's heart more firmly yet</div> <div>Than Ráma's is on justice set.</div> <div>How shall I say, Go forth, and brook</div> <div>Upon my Ráma's face to look,</div> <div>See his pale cheek and ashy lips</div> <div>Dimmed like the moon in sad eclipse?</div> <div>How see the plan so well prepared</div> <div>When prudent friends my counsels shared,</div> <div>All ruined, like a host laid low</div> <div>Beneath some foeman's murderous blow.</div> <div>What will these gathered princes say,</div> <div>From regions near and far away?</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O'erlong endures the monarch's reign,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >or now he is a child again.”</span></div> <div>When many a good and holy sage</div> <div>In Scripture versed, revered for age,</div> <div>Shall ask for Ráma, what shall I</div> <div>Unhappy, what shall I reply?</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“By Queen Kaikeyí long distressed</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >I drove him forth and dispossessed.”</span></div> <div>Although herein the truth I speak,</div> <div>They all will hold me false and weak.</div> <div>What will Kauśalyá say when she</div> <div>Demands her son exiled by me?</div> <div>Alas! what answer shall I frame,</div> <div>Or how console the injured dame?</div> <div>She like a slave on me attends,</div> <div>And with a sister's care she blends</div> <div>A mother's love, a wife's, a friend's.</div> <div>In spite of all her tender care,</div> <div>Her noble son, her face most fair,</div> <div>Another queen I could prefer</div> <div>And for thy sake neglected her,</div> <div>But now, O Queen, my heart is grieved</div> <div>For love and care by thee received,</div> <div>E'en as the sickening wretch repents</div> <div>His dainty meal and condiments.</div> <div>And how will Queen Sumitrá trust</div> <div>The husband whom she finds unjust,</div> <div>Seeing my Ráma driven hence</div> <div>Dishonoured, and for no offence?</div> <div>Ah! the Videhan bride will hear</div> <div>A double woe, a double fear,</div> <div>Two whelming sorrows at one breath,</div> <div>Her lord's disgrace, his father's death.</div> <div>Mine aged bosom she will wring</div> <div>And kill me with her sorrowing,</div> <div>Sad as a fair nymph left to weep</div> <div>Deserted on Himálaya's steep.</div> <div>For short will be my days, I ween,</div> <div>When I with mournful eyes have seen</div> <div>My Ráma wandering forth alone</div> <div>And heard dear Sítá sob and moan.</div> <div>Ah me! my fond belief I rue.</div> <div>Vile traitress, loved as good and true,</div> <div>As one who in his thirst has quaffed,</div> <div>Deceived by looks, a deadly draught.</div> <div>Ah! thou hast slain me, murderess, while</div> <div>Soothing my soul with words of guile,</div> <div>As the wild hunter kills the deer</div> <div>Lured from the brake his song to hear.</div> <div>Soon every honest tongue will fling</div> <div>Reproach on the dishonest king;</div> <div>The people's scorn in every street</div> <div>The seller of his child will meet,</div> <div>And such dishonour will be mine</div> <div>As whelms a Bráhman drunk with wine.</div> <div>Ah me, for my unhappy fate,</div> <div>Compelled thy words to tolerate!</div> <div>Such woe is sent to scourge a crime</div> <div>Committed in some distant time.</div> <div>For many a day with sinful care</div> <div>I cherished thee, thou sin and snare,</div> <div>Kept thee, unwitting, like a cord</div> <div>Destined to bind its hapless lord.</div> <div>Mine hours of ease I spent with thee,</div> <div>Nor deemed my love my death would be,</div> <div>While like a heedless child I played,</div> <div>On a black snake my hand I laid.</div> <div>A cry from every mouth will burst</div> <div>And all the world will hold me curst,</div> <div>Because I saw my high-souled son</div> <div>Unkinged, unfathered, and undone;</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The king by power of love beguiled</span></div> <div>Is weaker than a foolish child,</div> <div>His own beloved son to make</div> <div>An exile for a woman's sake.</div> <div>By chaste and holy vows restrained,</div> <div>By reverend teachers duly trained.</div> <div>When he his virtue's fruit should taste</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >He falls by sin and woe disgraced.”</span></div> <div>Two words will all his answer be</div> <div>When I pronounce the stern decree,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Hence, Ráma, to the woods away,”</span></div> <div>All he will say is, I obey.</div> <div>O, if he would my will withstand</div> <div>When banished from his home and land,</div> <div>This were a comfort in my woe;</div> <div>But he will ne'er do this, I know.</div> <div>My Ráma to the forest fled,</div> <div>And curses thick upon my head,</div> <div>Grim Death will bear me hence away,</div> <div>His world-abominated prey.</div> <div>When I am gone and Ráma too.</div> <div>How wilt thou those I love pursue?</div> <div>What vengeful sin will be designed</div> <div>Against the queens I leave behind?</div> <div>When thou hast slain her son and me</div> <div>Kauśalyá soon will follow: she</div> <div>Will sink beneath her sorrows' weight,</div> <div>And die like me disconsolate.</div> <div>Exist, Kaikeyí, in thy pride,</div> <div>And let thy heart be gratified,</div> <div>When thou my queens and me hast hurled,</div> <div>And children, to the under world.</div> <div>Soon wilt thou rule as empress o'er</div> <div>My noble house unvext before.</div> <div>But then to wild confusion left,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page106"></span><SPAN name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Of Ráma and of me bereft.</div> <div>If Bharat to thy plan consent</div> <div>And long for Ráma's banishment,</div> <div>Ne'er let his hands presume to pay</div> <div>The funeral honours to my clay.</div> <div>Vile foe, thou cause of all mine ill,</div> <div>Obtain at last thy cursed will.</div> <div>A widow soon shalt thou enjoy</div> <div>The sweets of empire with thy boy.</div> <div>O Princess, sure some evil fate</div> <div>First brought thee here to devastate,</div> <div>In whom the night of ruin lies</div> <div>Veiled in a consort's fair disguise.</div> <div>The scorn of all and deepest shame</div> <div>Will long pursue my hated name,</div> <div>And dire disgrace on me will press,</div> <div>Misled by thee to wickedness.</div> <div>How shall my Ráma, whom, before,</div> <div>His elephant or chariot bore,</div> <div>Now with his feet, a wanderer, tread</div> <div>The forest wilds around him spread?</div> <div>How shall my son, to please whose taste,</div> <div>The deftest cooks, with earrings graced,</div> <div>With rivalry and jealous care</div> <div>The dainty meal and cates prepare—</div> <div>How shall he now his life sustain</div> <div>With acid fruit and woodland grain?</div> <div>He spends his time unvext by cares,</div> <div>And robes of precious texture wears:</div> <div>How shall he, with one garment round</div> <div>His limbs recline upon the ground?</div> <div>Whose was this plan, this cruel thought</div> <div>Unheard till now, with ruin fraught,</div> <div>To make thy son Ayodhyá's king,</div> <div>And send my Ráma wandering?</div> <div>Shame, shame on women! Vile, untrue,</div> <div>Their selfish ends they still pursue.</div> <div>Not all of womankind I mean.</div> <div>But more than all this wicked queen.</div> <div>O worthless, cruel, selfish dame,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">I brought thee home, my plague and woe.</div> <div>What fault in me hast thou to blame,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Or in my son who loves thee so?</div> <div>Fond wives may from their husbands flee,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And fathers may their sons desert,</div> <div>But all the world would rave to see</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">My Ráma touched with deadly hurt.</div> <div>I joy his very step to hear,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">As though his godlike form I viewed;</div> <div>And when I see my Ráma near</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">I feel my youth again renewed.</div> <div>There might be life without the sun,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Yea, e'en if Indra sent no rain,</div> <div>But, were my Ráma banished, none</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Would, so I think, alive remain.</div> <div>A foe that longs my life to take,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">I brought thee here my death to be,</div> <div>Caressed thee long, a venomed snake,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And through my folly die. Ah me!</div> <div>Ráma and me and Lakshmaṇ slay,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And then with Bharat rule the state;</div> <div>So bring the kingdom to decay,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And fawn on those thy lord who hate,</div> <div>Plotter of woe, for evil bred,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">For such a speech why do not all</div> <div>Thy teeth from out thy wicked head</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Split in a thousand pieces fall?</div> <div>My Ráma's words are ever kind,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">He knows not how to speak in ire:</div> <div>Then how canst thou presume to find</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">A fault in him whom all admire?</div> <div>Yield to despair, go mad, or die,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Or sink within the rifted earth;</div> <div>Thy fell request will I deny,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Thou shamer of thy royal birth.</div> <div>Thy longer life I scarce can bear,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Thou ruin of my home and race,</div> <div>Who wouldst my heart and heartstrings tear,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Keen as a razor, false and base.</div> <div>My life is gone, why speak of joy?</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">For what, without my son, were sweet?</div> <div>Spare, lady, him thou canst destroy;</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" >I pray thee as I touch thy feet.”</span></div> <div>He fell and wept with wild complaint,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">Heart-struck by her presumptuous speech,</div> <div>But could not touch, so weak and faint,</div> <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">The cruel feet he strove to reach.</div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />