Ramayana, Book 2, The

<SPAN name="toc223" id="toc223"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf224" id="pdf224"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXIV" id="CantoII-XXXIV" 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 XXXIV. Ráma In The Palace.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The dark incomparable chief</div> <div>Whose eye was like a lotus leaf,</div> <div>Cried to the mournful charioteer,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Go tell my sire that I am here.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra, sad and all dismayed,</div> <div>The chieftain's order swift obeyed.</div> <div>Within the palace doors he hied</div> <div>And saw the king, who wept and sighed.</div> <div>Like the great sun when wrapped in shade</div> <div>Like fire by ashes overlaid,</div> <div>Or like a pool with waters dried,</div> <div>So lay the world's great lord and pride,</div> <div>A while the wise Sumantra gazed</div> <div>On him whose senses woe has dazed,</div> <div>Grieving for Ráma. Near he drew</div> <div>With hands upraised in reverence due.</div> <div>With blessing first his king he hailed;</div> <div>Then with a voice that well-nigh failed,</div> <div>In trembling accents soft and low</div> <div>Addressed the monarch in his woe:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“The prince of men, thy Ráma, waits</span></div> <div>Before thee at the palace gates.</div> <div>His wealth to Bráhmans he has dealt,</div> <div>And all who in his home have dwelt.</div> <div>Admit thy son. His friends have heard</div> <div>His kind farewell and parting word,</div> <div>He longs to see thee first, and then</div> <div>Will seek the wilds, O King of men.</div> <div>He, with each princely virtue's blaze,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Shines as the sun engirt by rays.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>The truthful King who loved to keep</div> <div>The law profound as Ocean's deep,</div> <div>And stainless as the dark blue sky,</div> <div>Thus to Sumantra made reply:</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page135"></span><SPAN name="Pg135" id="Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Go then, Sumantra, go and call</span></div> <div>My wives and ladies one and all.</div> <div>Drawn round me shall they fill the place</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >When I behold my Ráma's face.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Quick to the inner rooms he sped,</div> <div>And thus to all the women said,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Come, at the summons of the king:</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Come all, and make no tarrying.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Their husband's word, by him conveyed,</div> <div>Soon as they heard, the dames obeyed,</div> <div>And following his guidance all</div> <div>Came thronging to the regal hall.</div> <div>In number half seven hundred, they,</div> <div>All lovely dames, in long array,</div> <div>With their bright eyes for weeping red,</div> <div>To stand round Queen Kauśalyá, sped.</div> <div>They gathered, and the monarch viewed</div> <div>One moment all the multitude,</div> <div>Then to Sumantra spoke and said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Now let my son be hither led.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra went. Then Ráma came,</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ, and the Maithil dame,</div> <div>And, as he led them on, their guide</div> <div>Straight to the monarch's presence hied.</div> <div>When yet far off the father saw</div> <div>His son with raised palms toward him draw,</div> <div>Girt by his ladies, sick with woes,</div> <div>Swift from his royal seat he rose.</div> <div>With all his strength the aged man</div> <div>To meet his darling Ráma ran,</div> <div>But trembling, wild with dark despair,</div> <div>Fell on the ground and fainted there.</div> <div>And Lakshmaṇ, wont in cars to ride,</div> <div>And Ráma, threw them by the side</div> <div>Of the poor miserable king,</div> <div>Half lifeless with his sorrow's sting.</div> <div>Throughout the spacious hall up went</div> <div>A thousand women's wild lament:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Ah Ráma!”</span> thus they wailed and wept,</div> <div>And anklets tinkled as they stepped</div> <div>Around his body, weeping, threw</div> <div>Their loving arms the brothers two,</div> <div>And then, with Sítá's gentle aid,</div> <div>The king upon a couch was laid.</div> <div>At length to earth's imperial lord,</div> <div>When life and knowledge were restored,</div> <div>Though seas of woe went o'er his head,</div> <div>With suppliant hand, thus Ráma said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Lord of us all, great King, thou art:</span></div> <div>Bid me farewell before we part,</div> <div>To Daṇḍak wood this day I go:</div> <div>One blessing and one look bestow.</div> <div>Let Lakshmaṇ my companion be,</div> <div>And Sítá also follow me.</div> <div>With truthful pleas I sought to bend</div> <div>Their purpose; but no ear they lend.</div> <div>Now cast this sorrow from thy heart,</div> <div>And let us all, great King, depart.</div> <div>As Brahmá sends his children, so</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Let Lakshmaṇ, me, and Sítá go.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>He stood unmoved, and watched intent</div> <div>Until the king should grant consent.</div> <div>Upon his son his eyes he cast,</div> <div>And thus the monarch spake at last:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“O Ráma, by her arts enslaved,</span></div> <div>I gave the boons Kaikeyí craved,</div> <div>Unfit to reign, by her misled:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Be ruler in thy father's stead.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus by the lord of men addressed,</div> <div>Ráma, of virtue's friends the best,</div> <div>In lore of language duly learned,</div> <div>His answer, reverent, thus returned:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“A thousand years, O King, remain</span></div> <div>O'er this our city still to reign.</div> <div>I in the woods my life will lead:</div> <div>The lust of rule no more I heed.</div> <div>Nine years and five I there will spend,</div> <div>And when the portioned days shall end,</div> <div>Will come, my vows and exile o'er,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >And clasp thy feet, my King, once more.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>A captive in the snare of truth,</div> <div>Weeping, distressed with woe and ruth,</div> <div>Thus spake the monarch, while the queen</div> <div>Kaikeyí urged him on unseen:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Go then, O Ráma, and begin</span></div> <div>Thy course unvext by fear and sin:</div> <div>Go, my beloved son, and earn</div> <div>Success, and joy, and safe return.</div> <div>So fast the bonds of duty bind.</div> <div>O Raghu's son, thy truthful mind,</div> <div>That naught can turn thee back, or guide</div> <div>Thy will so strongly fortified.</div> <div>But O, a little longer stay,</div> <div>Nor turn thy steps this night away,</div> <div>That I one little day-—alas!</div> <div>One only—-with my son may pass.</div> <div>Me and thy mother do not slight,</div> <div>But stay, my son, with me to-night;</div> <div>With every dainty please thy taste,</div> <div>And seek to-morrow morn the waste.</div> <div>Hard is thy task, O Raghu's son,</div> <div>Dire is the toil thou wilt not shun,</div> <div>Far to the lonely wood to flee,</div> <div>And leave thy friends for love of me.</div> <div>I swear it by my truth, believe,</div> <div>For thee, my son, I deeply grieve,</div> <div>Misguided by the traitress dame</div> <div>With hidden guile like smouldering flame.</div> <div>Now, by her wicked counsel stirred,</div> <div>Thou fain wouldst keep my plighted word.</div> <div>No marvel that my eldest born</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Would hold me true when I have sworn.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Then Ráma having calmly heard</div> <div>His wretched father speak each word,</div> <div>With Lakshmaṇ standing by his side</div> <div>Thus, humbly, to the King replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“If dainties now my taste regale,</span></div> <div>To-morrow must those dainties fail.</div> <div>This day departure I prefer</div> <div>To all that wealth can minister.</div> <div>O'er this fair land, no longer mine,</div> <div>Which I, with all her realms, resign,</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page136"></span><SPAN name="Pg136" id="Pg136" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Her multitudes of men, her grain,</div> <div>Her stores of wealth, let Bharat reign.</div> <div>And let the promised boon which thou</div> <div>Wast pleased to grant the queen ere now,</div> <div>Be hers in full. Be true, O King,</div> <div>Kind giver of each precious thing.</div> <div>Thy spoken word I still will heed,</div> <div>Obeying all thy lips decreed:</div> <div>And fourteen years in woods will dwell</div> <div>With those who live in glade and dell.</div> <div>No hopes of power my heart can touch,</div> <div>No selfish joys attract so much</div> <div>As son of Raghu, to fulfil</div> <div>With heart and soul my father's will.</div> <div>Dismiss, dismiss thy needless woe,</div> <div>Nor let those drowning torrents flow:</div> <div>The Lord of Rivers in his pride</div> <div>Keeps to the banks that bar his tide.</div> <div>Here in thy presence I declare;</div> <div>By thy good deeds, thy truth, I swear;</div> <div>Nor lordship, joy, nor lands I prize;</div> <div>Life, heaven, all blessings I despise.</div> <div>I wish to see thee still remain</div> <div>Most true, O King, and free from stain.</div> <div>It must not, Sire, it must not be:</div> <div>I cannot rest one hour with thee.</div> <div>Then bring this sorrow to an end,</div> <div>For naught my settled will can bend.</div> <div>I gave a pledge that binds me too,</div> <div>And to that pledge I still am true.</div> <div>Kaikeyí bade me speed away:</div> <div>She prayed me, and I answered yea.</div> <div>Pine not for me, and weep no more;</div> <div>The wood for us has joy in store,</div> <div>Filled with the wild deer's peaceful herds</div> <div>And voices of a thousand birds.</div> <div>A father is the God of each,</div> <div>Yea, e'en of Gods, so Scriptures teach:</div> <div>And I will keep my sire's decree,</div> <div>For as a God I honour thee.</div> <div>O best of men, the time is nigh,</div> <div>The fourteen years will soon pass by</div> <div>And to thine eyes thy son restore:</div> <div>Be comforted, and weep no more.</div> <div>Thou with thy firmness shouldst support</div> <div>These weeping crowds who throng the court;</div> <div>Then why, O chief of high renown,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >So troubled, and thy soul cast down?”</span></div> </div> <SPAN name="toc225" id="toc225"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf226" id="pdf226"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXV" id="CantoII-XXXV" 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 XXXV. Kaikeyí Reproached.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Wild with the rage he could not calm,</div> <div>Sumantra, grinding palm on palm,</div> <div>His head in quick impatience shook,</div> <div>And sighed with woe he could not brook.</div> <div>He gnashed his teeth, his eyes were red,</div> <div>From his changed face the colour fled.</div> <div>In rage and grief that knew no law,</div> <div>The temper of the king he saw.</div> <div>With his word-arrows swift and keen</div> <div>He shook the bosom of the queen.</div> <div>With scorn, as though its lightning stroke</div> <div>Would blast her body, thus he spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Thou, who, of no dread sin afraid,</span></div> <div>Hast Daśaratha's self betrayed,</div> <div>Lord of the world, whose might sustains</div> <div>Each thing that moves or fixed remains,</div> <div>What direr crime is left thee now?</div> <div>Death to thy lord and house art thou,</div> <div>Whose cruel deeds the king distress,</div> <div>Mahendra's peer in mightiness,</div> <div>Firm as the mountain's rooted steep,</div> <div>Enduring as the Ocean's deep.</div> <div>Despise not Daśaratha, he</div> <div>Is a kind lord and friend to thee.</div> <div>A loving wife in worth outruns</div> <div>The mother of ten million sons.</div> <div>Kings, when their sires have passed away,</div> <div>Succeed by birthright to the sway.</div> <div>Ikshváku's son still rules the state,</div> <div>Yet thou this rule wouldst violate.</div> <div>Yea, let thy son, Kaikeyí, reign,</div> <div>Let Bharat rule his sire's domain.</div> <div>Thy will, O Queen, shall none oppose:</div> <div>We all will go where Ráma goes.</div> <div>No Bráhman, scorning thee, will rest</div> <div>Within the realm thou governest,</div> <div>But all will fly indignant hence:</div> <div>So great thy trespass and offence.</div> <div>I marvel, when thy crime I see,</div> <div>Earth yawns not quick to swallow thee;</div> <div>And that the Bráhman saints prepare</div> <div>No burning scourge thy soul to scare,</div> <div>With cries of shame to smite thee, bent</div> <div>Upon our Ráma's banishment.</div> <div>The Mango tree with axes fell,</div> <div>And tend instead the Neem tree well,</div> <div>Still watered with all care the tree</div> <div>Will never sweet and pleasant be.</div> <div>Thy mother's faults to thee descend,</div> <div>And with thy borrowed nature blend.</div> <div>True is the ancient saw: the Neem</div> <div>Can ne'er distil a honeyed stream.</div> <div>Taught by the tale of long ago</div> <div>Thy mother's hateful sin we know.</div> <div>A bounteous saint, as all have heard,</div> <div>A boon upon thy sire conferred,</div> <div>And all the eloquence revealed</div> <div>That fills the wood, the flood, the field.</div> <div>No creature walked, or swam, or flew,</div> <div>But he its varied language knew.</div> <div>One morn upon his couch he heard</div> <div>The chattering of a gorgeous bird.</div> <div>And as he marked its close intent</div> <div>He laughed aloud in merriment.</div> <div>Thy mother furious with her lord,</div> <div>And fain to perish by the cord,</div> <div>Said to her husband: <span class="tei tei-q" >“I would know,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >O Monarch, why thou laughest so.”</span></div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page137"></span><SPAN name="Pg137" id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>The king in answer spake again:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“If I this laughter should explain,</span></div> <div>This very hour would be my last,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >For death, be sure would follow fast.”</span></div> <div>Again thy mother, flushed with ire,</div> <div>To Kekaya spake, thy royal sire:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Tell me the cause; then live or die:</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >I will not brook thy laugh, not I.”</span></div> <div>Thus by his darling wife addressed,</div> <div>The king whose might all earth confessed,</div> <div>To that kind saint his story told</div> <div>Who gave the wondrous gift of old.</div> <div>He listened to the king's complaint,</div> <div>And thus in answer spoke the saint:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“King, let her quit thy home or die,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >But never with her prayer comply.”</span></div> <div>The saint's reply his trouble stilled,</div> <div>And all his heart with pleasure filled.</div> <div>Thy mother from his home he sent,</div> <div>And days like Lord Kuvera's spent.</div> <div>So thou wouldst force the king, misled</div> <div>By thee, in evil paths to tread,</div> <div>And bent on evil wouldst begin,</div> <div>Through folly, this career of sin.</div> <div>Most true, methinks, in thee is shown</div> <div>The ancient saw so widely known:</div> <div>The sons their fathers' worth declare</div> <div>And girls their mothers' nature share.</div> <div>So be not thou. For pity's sake</div> <div>Accept the word the monarch spake.</div> <div>Thy husband's will, O Queen, obey,</div> <div>And be the people's hope and stay,</div> <div>O, do not, urged by folly, draw</div> <div>The king to tread on duty's law.</div> <div>The lord who all the world sustains,</div> <div>Bright as the God o'er Gods who reigns.</div> <div>Our glorious king, by sin unstained,</div> <div>Will never grant what fraud obtained;</div> <div>No shade of fault in him is seen:</div> <div>Let Ráma be anointed, Queen.</div> <div>Remember, Queen, undying shame</div> <div>Will through the world pursue thy name,</div> <div>If Ráma leave the king his sire,</div> <div>And, banished, to the wood retire.</div> <div>Come, from thy breast this fever fling:</div> <div>Of his own realm be Ráma king.</div> <div>None in this city e'er can dwell</div> <div>To tend and love thee half so well.</div> <div>When Ráma sits in royal place,</div> <div>True to the custom of his race</div> <div>Our monarch of the mighty bow</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >A hermit to the woods will go.”</span><SPAN id="noteref_310" name="noteref_310" href="#note_310"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">310</span></span></SPAN></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Sumantra thus, palm joined to palm,</div> <div>Poured forth his words of bane and balm,</div> <div>With keen reproach, with pleading kind,</div> <div>Striving to move Kaikeyí's mind.</div> <div>In vain he prayed, in vain reproved,</div> <div>She heard unsoftened and unmoved.</div> <div>Nor could the eyes that watched her view</div> <div>One yielding look, one change of hue.</div> </div> <SPAN name="toc227" id="toc227"></SPAN> <SPAN name="pdf228" id="pdf228"></SPAN> <SPAN name="CantoII-XXXVI" id="CantoII-XXXVI" 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 XXXVI. Siddhárth's Speech.</span></h2> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Ikshváku's son with anguish torn</div> <div>For the great oath his lips had sworn,</div> <div>With tears and sighs of sharpest pain</div> <div>Thus to Sumantra spake again:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Prepare thou quick a perfect force,</span></div> <div>Cars, elephants, and foot, and horse,</div> <div>To follow Raghu's scion hence</div> <div>Equipped with all magnificence.</div> <div>Let traders with the wealth they sell,</div> <div>And those who charming stories tell,</div> <div>And dancing-women fair of face,</div> <div>The prince's ample chariots grace.</div> <div>On all the train who throng his courts,</div> <div>And those who share his manly sports,</div> <div>Great gifts of precious wealth bestow,</div> <div>And bid them with their master go.</div> <div>Let noble arms, and many a wain,</div> <div>And townsmen swell the prince's train;</div> <div>And hunters best for woodland skill</div> <div>Their places in the concourse fill.</div> <div>While elephants and deer he slays,</div> <div>Drinking wood honey as he strays,</div> <div>And looks on streams each fairer yet,</div> <div>His kingdom he may chance forget.</div> <div>Let all my gold and wealth of corn</div> <div>With Ráma to the wilds be borne;</div> <div>For it will soothe the exile's lot</div> <div>To sacrifice in each pure spot,</div> <div>Deal ample largess forth, and meet</div> <div>Each hermit in his calm retreat.</div> <div>The wealth shall Ráma with him bear,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Ayodhyá shall be Bharat's share.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>As thus Kakutstha's offspring spoke,</div> <div>Fear in Kaikeyí's breast awoke.</div> <div>The freshness of her face was dried,</div> <div>Her trembling tongue was terror-tied.</div> <div>Alarmed and sad, with bloodless cheek,</div> <div>She turned to him and scarce could speak:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Nay, Sire, but Bharat shall not gain</span></div> <div>An empty realm where none remain.</div> <div>My Bharat shall not rule a waste</div> <div>Reft of all sweets to charm the taste—</div> <div>The wine-cup's dregs, all dull and dead,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Whence the light foam and life are fled.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Thus in her rage the long-eyed dame</div> <div>Spoke her dire speech untouched by shame.</div> <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page138"></span><SPAN name="Pg138" id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN> <div>Then, answering, Daśaratha spoke:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Why, having bowed me to the yoke,</span></div> <div>Dost thou, must cruel, spur and goad</div> <div>Me who am struggling with the load?</div> <div>Why didst thou not oppose at first</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >This hope, vile Queen, so fondly nursed?”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div>Scarce could the monarch's angry speech</div> <div>The ears of the fair lady reach,</div> <div>When thus, with double wrath inflamed,</div> <div>Kaikeyí to the king exclaimed:</div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Sagar, from whom thy line is traced,</span></div> <div>Drove forth his eldest son disgraced,</div> <div>Called Asamanj, whose fate we know:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Thus should thy son to exile go.”</span></div> </div> <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Fie on thee, dame!”</span> the monarch said;</div> <div>Each of her people bent his head,</div> <div>And stood in shame and sorrow mute:</div> <div>She marked not, bold and resolute.</div> <div>Then great Siddhárth, inflamed with rage,</div> <div>The good old councillor and sage</div> <div>On whose wise rede the king relied,</div> <div>To Queen Kaikeyí thus replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“But Asamanj the cruel laid</span></div> <div>His hands on infants as they played,</div> <div>Cast them to Sarjú's flood, and smiled</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >For pleasure when he drowned a child.”</span><SPAN id="noteref_311" name="noteref_311" href="#note_311"><span class="tei tei-noteref" ><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">311</span></span></SPAN></div> <div>The people saw, and, furious, sped</div> <div>Straight the the king his sire and said:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Choose us, O glory of the throne,</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Choose us, or Asamanj alone.”</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“Whence comes this dread?”</span> the monarch cried;</div> <div>And all the people thus replied:</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >“In folly, King, he loves to lay</span></div> <div>Fierce hands upon our babes at play,</div> <div>Casts them to Sarjú's flood and joys</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >To murder our bewildered boys.”</span></div> <div>With heedful ear the king of men</div> <div>Heard each complaining citizen.</div> <div>To please their troubled minds he strove,</div> <div>And from the state his son he drove.</div> <div>With wife and gear upon a car</div> <div>He placed him quick, and sent him far.</div> <div>And thus he gave commandment, <span class="tei tei-q" >“He</span></div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Shall all his days an exile be.”</span></div> <div>With basket and with plough he strayed</div> <div>O'er mountain heights, through pathless shade,</div> <div>Roaming all lands a weary time,</div> <div>An outcast wretch defiled with crime.</div> <div>Sagar, the righteous path who held,</div> <div>His wicked offspring thus expelled.</div> <div>But what has Ráma done to blame?</div> <div>Why should his sentence be the same?</div> <div>No sin his stainless name can dim;</div> <div>We see no fault at all in him.</div> <div>Pure as the moon, no darkening blot</div> <div>On his sweet life has left a spot.</div> <div>If thou canst see one fault, e'en one,</div> <div>To dim the fame of Raghu's son,</div> <div>That fault this hour, O lady, show,</div> <div>And Ráma to the wood shall go.</div> <div>To drive the guiltless to the wild,</div> <div>Truth's constant lover, undefiled,</div> <div>Would, by defiance of the right,</div> <div>The glory e'en of Indra blight.</div> <div>Then cease, O lady, and dismiss</div> <div>Thy hope to ruin Ráma's bliss,</div> <div>Or all thy gain, O fair of face,</div> <div><span class="tei tei-q" >Will be men's hatred, and disgrace.”</span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />