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Book Ii. Canto Xlv. The Tamas'a

Canto Xlv.: The Tamas.


Their tender love the people drew

To follow Rma brave and true,

The high-souled hero, as he went

Forth from his home to banishment.

The king himself his friends obeyed,

And turned him homeward as they prayed.

But yet the people turned not back,

Still close on Rma's chariot track.

For they who in Ayodhy dwelt

For him such fond affection felt,

Decked with all grace and glories high,

The dear full moon of every eye.

Though much his people prayed and wept,

Kakutstha's son his purpose kept,

And still his journey would pursue

To keep the king his father true.

Deep in the hero's bosom sank

Their love, whose signs his glad eye drank.

He spoke to cheer them, as his own

Dear children, in a loving tone:

'If ye would grant my fond desire,

Give Bharat now that love entire

And reverence shown to me by all

Who dwell within Ayodhy's wall.

For he, Kaikey's darling son,

His virtuous career will run,

And ever bound by duty's chain

Consult your weal and bliss and gain.

In judgment old, in years a child,

With hero virtues meek and mild,

A fitting lord is he to cheer

His people and remove their fear.

In him all kingly gifts abound,

Wore noble than in me are found:

Imperial prince, well proved and tried--

Obey him as your lord and guide.

And grant, I pray, the boon I ask:

To please the king be still your task,

That his fond heart, while I remain

Far in the wood, may feel no pain.'

The more he showed his will to tread

The path where filial duty led,

The more the people, round him thronged,

For their dear Rma's empire longed.

Still more attached his followers grew,

As Rma, with his brother, drew

The people with his virtues' ties,

Lamenting all with tear-dimmed eyes.

The saintly twice-born, triply old

In glory, knowledge, seasons told,

With hoary heads that shook and bowed,

Their voices raised and spake aloud:

'O steeds, who best and noblest are,

Who whirl so swiftly Rma's car,

Go not, return: we call on you:

Be to your master kind and true.

For speechless things are swift to hear,

And naught can match a horse's ear.

O generous steeds, return, when thus

You hear the cry of all of us.

Each vow he keeps most firm and sure,

And duty makes his spirit pure.

Back with our chief! not wood-ward hence;

Back to his royal residence!'

Soon as he saw the aged band.

Exclaiming in their misery, stand,

And their sad cries around him rang,

Swift from his chariot Rma sprang.

Then, still upon his journey bent,

With St and with Lakshman went

The hero by the old men's side

Suiting to theirs his shortened stride.

He could not pass the twice-born throng

As weariedly they walked along:

With pitying heart, with tender eye,

He could not in his chariot fly.

When the steps of Rma viewed

That still his onward course pursued.

Woe shook the troubled heart of each,

And burnt with grief they spoke this speech--

'With thee, O Rma, to the wood

All Brhmans go and Brhmanhood:

Borne on our aged shoulders, see,

Our fires of worship go with thee.

Bright canopies that lend their shade

In Vajapeya 1 rites displayed,

In plenteous store are borne behind

Like cloudlets in the autumn wind.

No shelter from the sun hast thou,

And, lest his fury burn thy brow,

These sacrificial shades we bear

Shall aid thee in the noontide glare.

Our hearts, who ever loved to pore

On sacred text and Vedic lore,

Now all to thee, beloved, turn,

And for a life in forests yearn.

Deep in our aged bosoms lies

The Vedas' lore, the wealth we prize,

There still, like wives at home, shall dwell,

Whose love and truth protect them well.

p. 148

To follow thee our hearts are bent;

We need not plan or argument.

All else in duty's law we slight,

For following thee is following right.

O noble Prince, retrace thy way:

O, hear us, Rma, as we lay,

With many tears and many prayers,

Our aged heads and swan-white hairs

Low in the dust before thy feet;

O, hear us, Rma, we entreat.

Full many of these who with thee run,

Their sacred rites had just begun.

Unfinished yet those rites remain;

But finished if thou turn again.

All rooted life and things that move

To thee their deep affection prove.

To them, when warmed by love, they glow

And sue to thee, some favour show

Each lowly bush, each towering tree

Would follow too for love of thee.

Bound by its root it must remain;

But--all it can--its boughs complain,

As when the wild wind rushes by

It tells its woe in groan and sigh.

No more through air the gay birds flit,

But, foodless, melancholy sit

Together on the branch and call

To thee whose kind heart feels for all.'

As wailed the aged Brhmans, bent

To turn him back, with wild lament,

Seemed Tamas herself to aid,

Checking his progress, as they prayed.

Sumantra from the chariot freed

With ready hand each weary steed;

He groomed them with the utmost heed,

Their limbs he bathed and dried,

Then led them forth to drink and feed

At pleasure in the grassy mead

That fringed the river side.

Footnotes

147:1
An important sacrifice at which seventeen victims were immolated.
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