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Book Iv. Canto Xxxix. The V'anar Host

Canto Xxxix.: The Vnar Host.


Then Rma, best of all who guide

Their steps by duty, thus replied:

'What marvel if Lord Indra send

The kindly rain, O faithful friend?

If, thousand-rayed, the God of Day

Drive every darksome cloud away?

Or, rising high, the Lord of Night

Flood the broad heaven with silver light?

What marvel, King, that one like thee

The glory of his friends.should be?

No marvel, O my lord, that thou

Hast shown thy noble nature now.

Thy heart, Sugriva, well I know:

Naught from thy lips but truth may flow,

With thee for friend and champion all

My foes beneath my arm will fall.

The Rkshas, when my queen he stole,

Brought sure destruction on his soul,

Like Anuhlda 2b who beguiled

Queen Sach called Puloma's child.

Yes, near, Sugriva, is the day

When I my demon foe shall slay,

As conquering Indra in his ire

Slew Queen Paulomi's haughty sire.' 3b

p. 371

He ceased: thick clouds of dust rose high

To every quarter of the sky:

The very sun grew faint and pale

Behind the darkly-gathering veil.

The mighty clouds that hung o'erhead

From east to west thick darkness spread,

And earth to her foundations shook

With hill and forest, lake and brook.

Then hidden was the ground beneath

Fierce warriors armed with fearful teeth,

Hosts numberless, each lord in size

A match for him who rules the skies:

From many a sea and distant hill,

From rock and river, lake and rill.

Some like the morning sun were bright.

Some, like the moon, were silver white:

These green as lotus fibres, those

White-coated from their native snows. 1

Then S'atabali came in view

Girt by a countless retinue.

Like some gold mountain high in air

Tr's illustrious sire 2 was there.

There Rum's father, 3 far-renowned,

With tens of thousands ranged around.

There, tinted like the tender green

Of lotus filaments, was seen,

Compassed by countless legions, one

Whose face was as the morning sun,

Hanmn's father good and great,

Kesar, 4 wisest in debate.

There the proud king Gavksha, feared

For his strong warrior arm, appeared.

There Dhmra, mighty lord, the dread

Of foes, his ursine legions led.

There Panas, first for warlike fame,

With twenty million warriors came.

There glorious Nla, dark of hue,

Arrayed his countless troops in view.

There moved lord Gavaya brave and bold,

Resplendent like a hill of gold,

And near him Darmukha stood

With millions from the hill and wood

And *Dwivid famed for strength and speed,

And Mamda, both of Asvin seed.

There Gaja, strong and glorious, led

The countless troops around him spread,

And Jmbavn 5 the king whose sway

The bears delighted to obey,

With swarming myriads onward pressed

True to his lord Sugrva's hest;

And princely Ruman, dear to fame,

Led millions whom no hosts could tame,

All these and many a chief beside 1b

Came onward fierce in warlike pride.

They covered all the plain, and still

Pressed forward over wood and hill.

In rows for many a league around

They rested on the grassy ground;

Or to Sugrva made their way.

Like clouds about the Lord of Day,

And to the king their proud heads bent

In power and might preeminent.

Sugrva then to Rma sped.

And raised his reverent hands, and said

That every chief from coast to coast

Was present with his warrior host.

Footnotes

370:
1b The numbers are unmanageable in English verse. The poet speaks of hundreds of "arbudas"; and an "arbuda" is a hundred millions.

370:
2b Anuhlda or Anuhrda is one of the four sons of the mighty Hiranyakasipu, an Asur or a Daitya son of Kasyapa and Diti and killed by Vishnu in his incarnation of the Man-Lion "Narasinha". According to the Bhgavata Purna the Daitya or Asur Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyksha his brother, both killed by Vishnu, were born again as Rvan and Kumbhakarna his brother.'

370:
3b Putoma, a demon, was the father-in-law of Indra who destroyed him in order to avert an imprecation. Paulomit is a patronymic denoting Sachi the daughter of Puloma.

371:1
\"Observe the variety of colours which the poem attributes to all these inhabitants of the different mountainous regions, some white, others yellow, &c. Such dif- ferent colours were perhaps peculiar and distinctive characteristics of those various races." Gorressio.

371:2
Sushen.

371:3
Tara.

371:4
Kesari was the husband of Hanumnn's mother, and is here called his father.

371:5
\"I here unite under one heading two animals of p. 372 but which from some gross resemblances, probably helped by an equivoque in the language, are closely affiliated in the Hindoo myth.....a reddish colour of the skin, want of symmetry and ungainliness of form, strength in hugging with the fore paws or arms, the faculty of climbing, shortness of tail(?), sensuality, capacity of instruction in dancing and in music, are all characteristics which more or less distinguish and meet in bears as well as in monkeys In the "Rmyanam", the wise Jmnavant, the Odysseus of the expedition of Lank, is called now king of the bears (rikshaparthivah), now great monkey ("Mahkapih"). DeGubernatis:
"Zoological Mythology", Vol. II. p. 97.
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