Book Ii. Canto Lii. The Crossing Of Gang'a

Canto Lii.: The Crossing Of Gang.


Soon as the shades of night had fled,

Uprising from his lowly bed,

Rma the famous, broad of chest,

His brother Lakshman thus addressed:

'Now swift upsprings the Lord of Light,

And fled, is venerable night,

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That dark-winged bird the Kol now

Is calling from the topmost bough,

And sounding from the thicket nigh

Is heard the peacock's early cry,

Come, cross the flood that seeks the sea,

The swiftly flowing Jhnav.' 1

King Guha heard his speech, agreed,

And called his minister with speed:

'A boat,' he cried, 'swift, strong, and fair,

With rudder, oars, and men, prepare,

And place it ready by the shore

To bear the pilgrims quickly o'er.'

Thus Guha spake: his followers all

Bestirred them at their master's call;

Then told the king that ready manned

A gay boat waited near the strand.

Then Guha, hand to hand applied.

With reverence thus to Rma cried:

'The boat is ready by the shore:

How, tell me, can I aid thee more?

O lord of men, it waits for thee

To cross the flood that seeks the sea,

O godlike keeper of thy vow,

Embark: the boat is ready now.'

Then Rma, lord of glory high,

Thus to King Guha. made reply:

'Thanks for thy gracious care, my lord:

Now let the gear be placed on board.'

Each bow-armed chief, in mail encased,

Bound sword and quiver to his waist,

And then with St near them hied

Down the broad river's shelving side.

Then with raised palms the charioteer,

In lowly reverence drawing near,

Cried thus to Rma good and true:

'Now what remains for me to do?'

With his right hand, while answering

The hero touched his friend:

'Go back,' he said, 'and on the king

With watchful care attend.

Thus far, Sumantra, thou wast guide;

Now to Ayodhy turn,' he cried:

'Hence seek we leaving steeds and car,

On foot the wood that stretches far.'

Sumantra, when, with grieving heart,

He heard the hero bid him part,

Thus to the bravest of the brave,

Ikshvku's son, his answer gave:

'In all the world men tell of naught,

To match thy deed, by heroes wrought--

Thus with thy brother and thy wife

Thrall-like to lead a forest life.

No meet reward of fruit repays

Thy holy lore, thy saintlike days,

Thy tender soul, thy love of truth,

If woe like this afflicts thy youth.

Thou, roaming under forest boughs

With thy dear brother and thy spouse

Shalt richer meed of glory gain

Than if three worlds confessed thy reign.

Sad is our fate, O Rma: we,

Abandoned and repelled by thee,

Must serve as thralls Kaikey's will,

Imperious, wicked, born to ill.'

Thus cried the faithful charioteer,

As Raghu's son, in rede his peer,

Was fast departing on his road,--

And long his tears of anguish flowed.

But Rma, when those tears were dried

His lips with water purified,

And in soft accents, sweet and clear,

Again addressed the charioteer:

'I find no heart, my friend, like thine,

So faithful to Ikshvku's line.

Still first in view this object keep,

That ne'er for me my sire may weep.

For he, the world's far-ruling king,

Is old, and wild with sorrow's sting;

With love's great burthen worn and weak:

Deem this the cause that thus I speak

Whate'er the high-souled king decrees

His loved Kaikey's heart to please,

Yea, be his order what it may,

Without demur thou must obey,

For this alone great monarchs reign,

That ne'er a wish be formed in vain.

Then, O Sumantra, well provide

That by no check the king be tried:

Nor let his heart in sorrow pine:

This care, my faithful friend, be thine

The honoured king my father greet,

And thus for me my words repeat

To him whose senses are controlled,

Untired till now by grief, and old;

I, St, Lakshman sorrow not,

O Monarch, for our altered lot:

The same to us, if here we roam,

Or if Ayodhy be our home,

The fourteen years will quickly fly,

The happy hour will soon be nigh

When thou, my lord, again shalt see

Lakshman, the Maithl dame, and me.

Thus having soothed, O charioteer,

My father and my mother dear,

Let all the queens my message learn.

But to Kaikey chiefly turn,

With loving blessings from the three,

From Lakshman, St, and from me,

My mother, Queen Kausaly, greet

With reverence to her sacred feet.

And add this prayer of mine: 'O King;

Send quickly forth and Bharat bring,

And set him on the royal throne

Which thy decree has made his own.

When he upon the throne is placed,

When thy fond arms are round him laced.

Thine aged heart will cease to ache

With bitter pangs for Rma's sake.'

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And say to Bharat: 'See thou treat

The queens with all observance meet:

What care the king receives, the same

Show thou alike to every dame.

Obedience to thy father's will

Who chooses thee the throne to fill,

Will earn for thee a store of bliss

Both in the world to come and this.'

Thus Rma bade Sumantra go

With thoughtful care instructed so.

Sumantra all his message heard,

And spake again, by passion stirred:

'O, should deep feeling mar in aught

The speech by fond devotion taught,

Forgive whate'er I wildly speak:

My love is strong, my tongue is weak.

How shall I, if deprived of thee,

Return that mournful town to see:

Where sick at heart the people are

Because their Rma roams afar.

Woe will be theirs too deep to brook

When on the empty car they look,

As when from hosts, whose chiefs are slain,

One charioteer comes home again.

This very day, I ween, is food

Forsworn by all the multitude,

Thinking that thou, with hosts to aid,

Art dwelling in the wild wood's shade.

The great despair, the shriek of woe

They uttered when they saw thee go.

Will, when I come with none beside,

A hundred-fold be multiplied.

How to Kaus'aly can I say:

'O Queen, I took thy son away,

And with thy brother left him well:

Weep not for him; thy woe dispel?'

So false a tale I cannot frame,

Yet how speak truth and grieve the dame?

How shall these horses, fleet and bold,

Whom not a hand but mine can hold,

Bear others, wont to whirl the car

Wherein Ikshvku's children are!

Without thee, Prince, I cannot, no,

I cannot to Ayodhy go.

Then deign, O Rma, to relent,

And let me share thy banishment.

But if no prayers can move thy heart,

If thou wilt quit me and depart,

The flames shall end my car and me,

Deserted thus and reft of thee.

In the wild wood when foes are near,

When dangers check thy vows austere,

Borne in my car will I attend.

All danger and all care to end.

For thy dear sake I love the skill

That guides the steed and curbs his will:

And soon a forest life will be

As pleasant, for my love of thee.

And if these horses near thee dwell,

And serve thee in the forest well,

They, for their service, will not miss

The due reward of highest bliss.

Thine orders, as with thee I stray.

Will I with heart and head obey,

Prepared, for thee, without a sigh,

To lose Ayodhy or the sky.

As one denied with hideous sin,

I never more can pass within

Ayodhy, city of our king,

Unless beside me thee I bring.

One wish is mine, I ask no more,

That, when thy banishment is o'er

I in my car may bear my lord,

Triumphant, to his home restored.

The fourteen years, if spent with thee.

Will swift as light-winged moments flee;

But the same years, without thee told,

Were magnified a hundred-fold.

Do not, kind lord, thy servant leave,

Who to his master's son would cleave,

And the same path with him pursue,

Devoted, tender, just and true.'

Again, again Sumantra made

His varied plaint, and wept and prayed.

Him Raghu's son, whose tender breast

Felt for his servants, thus addressed:

O faithful servant, well my heart

Knows how attached and true thou art.

Hear thou the words I speak, and know

Why to the town I bid thee go.

Soon as Kaikey, youngest queen,

Thy coming to the town has seen,

No doubt will then her mind oppress

That Rma roams the wilderness.

And so the dame, her heart content

With proof of Rma's banishment.

Will doubt the virtuous king no more

As faithless to the oath he swore.

Chief of my cares is this, that she,

Youngest amid the queens, may see

Bharat her son securely reign

O'er rich Ayodhy's wide domain.

For mine and for the monarch's sake

Do thou thy journey homeward take,

And, as I bade, repeat each word

That from my lips thou here hast heard.'

Thus spake the prince, and strove to cheer

The sad heart of the charioteer,

And then to royal Guha said

These words most wise and spirited:

'Guha, dear friend, it is not meet

That people throng my calm retreat:

For I must live a strict recluse,

And mould my life by hermits' use.

I now the ancient rule accept

By good ascetics gladly kept.

I go: bring fig-tree juice that I

In matted coils my hair may tie.'

Quick Guha hastened to produce,

For the king's son, that sacred juice.

Then Rma of his long locks made,

And Lakshman's too, the hermit braid.

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And the two royal brothers there

With coats of bark and matted hair,

Transformed in lovely likeness stood

To hermit saints who love the wood.

So Rma, with his brother bold,

A pious anchorite enrolled,

Obeyed the vow which hermits take,

And to his friend, King Guha, spake:

'May people, treasure, army share,

And fenced forts, thy constant care:

Attend to all: supremely hard

The sovereign's task, to watch and guard.'

Ikshvku's son, the good and brave,

This last farewell to Guha gave,

And then, with Lakshman and his bride,

Determined, on his way he hied.

Soon as he viewed, upon the shore,

The bark prepared to waft them o'er

Impetuous Gang's rolling tide,

To Lakshman thus the chieftain cried:

'Brother, embark; thy hand extend,

Thy gentle aid to St lend:

With care her trembling footsteps guide,

And place the lady by thy side.'

When Lakshman heard, prepared to aid

His brother's words he swift obeyed.

Within the bark he placed the dame,

Then to her side the hero came.

Next Lakshman's elder brother, lord

Of brightest glory, when on board,

Breathing a prayer for blessings, meet

For priest or warrior to repeat,

Then he and car-borne Lakshman bent,

Well-pleased, their heads, most reverent,

Their hands, with St, having dipped,

As Scripture bids, and water sipped,

Farewell to wise Sumantra said,

And Guha, with the train he led.

So Rma took, on board, his stand,

And urged the vessel from the land.

Then swift by vigorous arms impelled

Her onward course the vessel held,

And guided by the helmsman through

The dashing waves of Gang flew.

Half way across the flood they came,

When St, free from spot and blame,

Her reverent hands together pressed,

The Goddess of the stream addressed:

'May the great chieftain here who springs

From Das'aratha, best of kings,

Protected by thy care, fulfil

His prudent father's royal will.

When in the forest he has spent

His fourteen years of banishment,

With his dear brother and with me

His home again my lord shall see,

Returning on that blissful day.

I will to thee mine offerings pay,

Dear Queen, whose waters gently flow,

Who canst all blessed gifts bestow.

For, three-pathed Queen, though wandering here,

Thy waves descend from Brahm's sphere,

Spouse of the God o'er floods supreme,

Though rolling here thy glorious stream.

To thee, fair Queen, my head shall bend,

To thee shall hymns of praise ascend,

When my brave lord shall turn again,

And, joyful, o'er his kingdom reign.

To win thy grace, O Queen divine,

A hundred thousand fairest kine,

And precious robes and finest meal

Among the Brhmans will I deal.

A hundred jars of wine shall flow,

When to my home, O Queen, I go;

With these, and flesh, and corn, and rice,

Will I, delighted, sacrifice.

Each hallowed spot, each holy shrine

That stands on these fair shores of thine,

Each fane and altar on thy banks

Shall share my offerings and thanks.

With me and Lakshman, free from harm,

May he the blameless, strong of arm,

Reseek Ayodhy from the wild,

O blameless Lady undefiled!'

As, praying for her husband's sake,

The faultless dame to Gang spake,

To the right bank the vessel flew

With her whose heart was right and true.

Soon as the bark had crossed the wave,

The lion leader of the brave,

Leaving the vessel on the strand,

With wife and brother leapt to land.

Then Rma thus the prince addressed

Who filled with joy Sumitr's breast:

'Be thine alike to guard and aid

In peopled spot, in lonely shade.

Do thou, Sumitr's son, precede:

Let St walk where thou shalt lead.

Behind you both my place shall be,

To guard the Maithil dame and thee.

For she, to woe a stranger yet,

No toil or grief till now has met;

The fair Videhan will assay

The pains of forest life to-day.

To-day her tender feet must tread

Rough rocky wilds around her spread:

No tilth is there, no gardens grow,

No crowding people come and go.'

The hero ceased: and Lakshman led

Obedient to the words he said:

And St followed him, and then

Came Raghu's pride, the lord of men.

With St walking o'er the sand

They sought the forest, bow in hand,

But still their lingering glances threw

Where yet Sumantra stood in view.

Sumantra, when his watchful eye

The royal youths no more could spy,

Turned from the spot whereon he stood

Homeward with Guha from the wood.

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Still on the brothers forced their way

Where sweet birds sang on every spray,

Though scarce the eye a path could find

Mid flowering trees where creepers twined

Far on the princely brothers pressed,

And stayed their feet at length to rest

Beneath a fig tree's mighty shade

With countless pendent shoots displayed.

Reclining there a while at ease,

They saw, not far, beneath fair trees

A lake with many a lotus bright

That bore the name of Lovely Sight.

Rma his wife's attention drew,

And Lakshman's, to the charming view:

'Look, brother, look how fair the flood

Glows with the lotus, flower and bud.'

They drank the water fresh and clear,

And with their shafts they slew a deer.

A fire of boughs they made in haste,

And in the flame the meat they placed.

So Raghu's sons with St shared

The hunter's meal their hands prepared,

Then counselled that the spreading tree

Their shelter and their home should be.

Footnotes

154:1 Daughter of Jahnu, a name of the Ganges, See p. 55.