Book I. Canto Iii. The Argument
Canto Iii.: The Argument.
The hermit thus with watchful heed
Received the poem's pregnant seed,
And looked with eager thought around
If fuller knowledge might be found.
p. 9
His lips with water first bedewed, 1
He sate, in reverent attitude
On holy grass, 2 the points all bent
Together toward the orient; 3
And thus in meditation he
Entered the path of poesy.
Then clearly, through his virtue's might,
All lay discovered to his sight,
Whate'er befell, through all their life,
Rma, his brother, and his wife:
And Das'aratha and each queen
At every time, in every scene:
His people too, of every sort;
The nobles of his princely court:
Whate'er was said, whate'er decreed,
Each time they sate each plan and deed:
For holy thought and fervent rite
Had so refined his keener sight
That by his sanctity his view
The present, past, and future knew,
And he with mental eye could grasp,
Like fruit within his fingers clasp,
The life of Rma, great and good,
Roaming with Sit in the wood.
He told, with secret piercing eyes,
The tale of Rma's high emprise.
Each listening ear that shall entice,
A sea of pearls of highest price.
Thus good Vlmki, sage divine,
Rehearsed the tale of Raghu's line,
As Nrad, heavenly saint, before
Had traced the story's outline o'er.
He sang of Rma's princely birth,
His kindness and heroic worth;
His love for all, his patient youth,
His gentleness and constant truth,
And many a tale and legend old
By holy Vis'vmitra told.
How Janak's child he wooed and won,
Aud broke the bow that bent to none.
How he with every virtue fraught
His namesake Rma 4 met and fought.
The choice of Rma for the throne;
The malice by Kalsey shown,
Whose evil counsel marred the plan
And drove him forth a banisht man.
How the king grieved and groaned,and cried,
And swooned away and pining died.
The subjects' woe when thus bereft;
And how the following crowds he left:
With Guha talked, and firmly stern
Ordered his driver to return.
How Gang's farther shore he gained;
By Bharadvja entertained,
By whose advice be journeyed still
And came to Chitrakta's hill.
How there he dwelt and built a cot;
How Bharat journeyed to the spot;
His earnest supplication made;
Drink-offerings to their father paid;
The sandals given by Rma's hand,
As emblems of his right to stand:
How from his presence Bharat went
And years in Nandigrma spent.
How Rma entered Dandak wood
And in Sutkhna's presence stood.
The favour Anasy showed,
The wondrous balsam she bestowed.
How Srabhang's dwelling place
They sought; saw Indra face to face;
The meeting with Agastya gained;
The heavenly bow from him obtained.
How Rma with Virdha met;
Their home in Panchavata set.
How S'rpanakh underwent
The mockery and disfigurement.
Of Trgir's and Khara's fall,
Of Rvan roused at vengeance call,
Mricha doomed, without escape;
The fair Videhan 1b lady's rape.
How Rma wept and raved in vain,
And how the Vulture-king was slain.
How Rma fierce Kabandha slew;
Then to the side of Pamp drew.
Met Hanumn, and her whose vows
Were kept beneath the greenwood boughs.
How Raghu's son the lofty-souled,
On Pamp's bank wept uncontrolled,
Then journeyed, Rishyamk to reach,
And of Sugrva then had speech.
The friendship made, which both had sought:
How Bli and Sugrva fought.
How Bli in the strife was slain,
And how Sugrva came to reign.
The treaty, Tra's wild lament;
The rainy nights in watching spent.
The wrath of Raghu's lion son;
The gathering of the hosts in one.
The sending of the spies about,
And all the regions pointed out.
The ring by Rma's hand bestowed;
The cave wherein the bear abode.
The fast proposed, their lives to end;
Sampati gained to be their friend.
p. 10
The scaling of the hill, the leap
Of Hanumn across the deep.
Ocean's command that bade them seek
Mainka of the lofty peak.
The death of Sinhik, the sight
Of Lank with her palace bright
How Hanuman stole in at eve;
His plan the giants to deceive.
How through the square he made his way
To chambers where the women lay,
Within the As'oka garden came
And there found Rma's captive dame,
His colloquy with her he sought,
And giving of the ring he brought.
How St gave a gem o'erjoyed;
How Hanumn the grove destroyed,
How giantesses trembling fled,
And servant fiends were smitten dead.
How Hanumn was seized; their ire
When Lank blazed with hostile fire.
His leap across the sea once more;
The eating of the honey store,
How Rma he consoled, and how
He showed the gem from St's brow,
With Ocean, Rma's interview;
The bridge that Nala o'er it threw.
The crossing, and the sitting down
At night round Lank's royal town.
The treaty with Vibhshan made:
The plan for Rvan's slaughter laid.
How Kumbhakarna in his pride
And Meghanda fought and died.
How Rvan in the fight was slain,
And captive St brought again.
Vibhshan set upon the throne;
The flying chariot Pushpak shown.
How Brahm and the Gods appeared,
And St's doubted honour cleared.
How In the flying car they rode
To Bhradvja's cabin abode,
The Wind-God's son sent on afar;
How Bharat met the flying car.
How Rma then was king ordained;
The legions their discharge obtained.
How Rma cast his queen away;
How grew the people's love each day.
Thus did the saint Vlmki tell
Whate'er in Rma's life befell,
And in the closing verse all
That yet to come will once befall
Footnotes
8:1b Sit, daughter of Janak king of Mithil.
8:2b 'I congratulate myself,' says Schlegel in the preface to his, alas, unfinished edition of the Rmyan, 'that, by the favour of the Supreme Deity, I have been allowed to begin so great a work; I glory and make my boast that I too after so many ages have helped to confirm that ancient oracle declared to Vlmki by the Father of Gods and men:
Dum stabunt montes, campis dum flumina current, Usque tuum toto carmen, celebrabitur orbe.'
9:1 'The sipping of water is a requisite introduction of all rites: without it, says the Smha Purana, all acts of religion are vain.' Colebrooke.
9:2 The "darhha" or "kus'a" (Pea cynosuroides),
a kind of grass used in sacrifice by the Hindus as "cerbena" was by the Romans.
9:3 The direction in which the grass hould be placed upon the ground as a seat for the Gods, on occasion of offerings made to them.
9:4 Parasrma or Rma with the Axe.
See Canto Lxxiv.
9:1b Sit. Videha was the country of which Mithil was the capital.
The hermit thus with watchful heed
Received the poem's pregnant seed,
And looked with eager thought around
If fuller knowledge might be found.
p. 9
His lips with water first bedewed, 1
He sate, in reverent attitude
On holy grass, 2 the points all bent
Together toward the orient; 3
And thus in meditation he
Entered the path of poesy.
Then clearly, through his virtue's might,
All lay discovered to his sight,
Whate'er befell, through all their life,
Rma, his brother, and his wife:
And Das'aratha and each queen
At every time, in every scene:
His people too, of every sort;
The nobles of his princely court:
Whate'er was said, whate'er decreed,
Each time they sate each plan and deed:
For holy thought and fervent rite
Had so refined his keener sight
That by his sanctity his view
The present, past, and future knew,
And he with mental eye could grasp,
Like fruit within his fingers clasp,
The life of Rma, great and good,
Roaming with Sit in the wood.
He told, with secret piercing eyes,
The tale of Rma's high emprise.
Each listening ear that shall entice,
A sea of pearls of highest price.
Thus good Vlmki, sage divine,
Rehearsed the tale of Raghu's line,
As Nrad, heavenly saint, before
Had traced the story's outline o'er.
He sang of Rma's princely birth,
His kindness and heroic worth;
His love for all, his patient youth,
His gentleness and constant truth,
And many a tale and legend old
By holy Vis'vmitra told.
How Janak's child he wooed and won,
Aud broke the bow that bent to none.
How he with every virtue fraught
His namesake Rma 4 met and fought.
The choice of Rma for the throne;
The malice by Kalsey shown,
Whose evil counsel marred the plan
And drove him forth a banisht man.
How the king grieved and groaned,and cried,
And swooned away and pining died.
The subjects' woe when thus bereft;
And how the following crowds he left:
With Guha talked, and firmly stern
Ordered his driver to return.
How Gang's farther shore he gained;
By Bharadvja entertained,
By whose advice be journeyed still
And came to Chitrakta's hill.
How there he dwelt and built a cot;
How Bharat journeyed to the spot;
His earnest supplication made;
Drink-offerings to their father paid;
The sandals given by Rma's hand,
As emblems of his right to stand:
How from his presence Bharat went
And years in Nandigrma spent.
How Rma entered Dandak wood
And in Sutkhna's presence stood.
The favour Anasy showed,
The wondrous balsam she bestowed.
How Srabhang's dwelling place
They sought; saw Indra face to face;
The meeting with Agastya gained;
The heavenly bow from him obtained.
How Rma with Virdha met;
Their home in Panchavata set.
How S'rpanakh underwent
The mockery and disfigurement.
Of Trgir's and Khara's fall,
Of Rvan roused at vengeance call,
Mricha doomed, without escape;
The fair Videhan 1b lady's rape.
How Rma wept and raved in vain,
And how the Vulture-king was slain.
How Rma fierce Kabandha slew;
Then to the side of Pamp drew.
Met Hanumn, and her whose vows
Were kept beneath the greenwood boughs.
How Raghu's son the lofty-souled,
On Pamp's bank wept uncontrolled,
Then journeyed, Rishyamk to reach,
And of Sugrva then had speech.
The friendship made, which both had sought:
How Bli and Sugrva fought.
How Bli in the strife was slain,
And how Sugrva came to reign.
The treaty, Tra's wild lament;
The rainy nights in watching spent.
The wrath of Raghu's lion son;
The gathering of the hosts in one.
The sending of the spies about,
And all the regions pointed out.
The ring by Rma's hand bestowed;
The cave wherein the bear abode.
The fast proposed, their lives to end;
Sampati gained to be their friend.
p. 10
The scaling of the hill, the leap
Of Hanumn across the deep.
Ocean's command that bade them seek
Mainka of the lofty peak.
The death of Sinhik, the sight
Of Lank with her palace bright
How Hanuman stole in at eve;
His plan the giants to deceive.
How through the square he made his way
To chambers where the women lay,
Within the As'oka garden came
And there found Rma's captive dame,
His colloquy with her he sought,
And giving of the ring he brought.
How St gave a gem o'erjoyed;
How Hanumn the grove destroyed,
How giantesses trembling fled,
And servant fiends were smitten dead.
How Hanumn was seized; their ire
When Lank blazed with hostile fire.
His leap across the sea once more;
The eating of the honey store,
How Rma he consoled, and how
He showed the gem from St's brow,
With Ocean, Rma's interview;
The bridge that Nala o'er it threw.
The crossing, and the sitting down
At night round Lank's royal town.
The treaty with Vibhshan made:
The plan for Rvan's slaughter laid.
How Kumbhakarna in his pride
And Meghanda fought and died.
How Rvan in the fight was slain,
And captive St brought again.
Vibhshan set upon the throne;
The flying chariot Pushpak shown.
How Brahm and the Gods appeared,
And St's doubted honour cleared.
How In the flying car they rode
To Bhradvja's cabin abode,
The Wind-God's son sent on afar;
How Bharat met the flying car.
How Rma then was king ordained;
The legions their discharge obtained.
How Rma cast his queen away;
How grew the people's love each day.
Thus did the saint Vlmki tell
Whate'er in Rma's life befell,
And in the closing verse all
That yet to come will once befall
Footnotes
8:1b Sit, daughter of Janak king of Mithil.
8:2b 'I congratulate myself,' says Schlegel in the preface to his, alas, unfinished edition of the Rmyan, 'that, by the favour of the Supreme Deity, I have been allowed to begin so great a work; I glory and make my boast that I too after so many ages have helped to confirm that ancient oracle declared to Vlmki by the Father of Gods and men:
Dum stabunt montes, campis dum flumina current, Usque tuum toto carmen, celebrabitur orbe.'
9:1 'The sipping of water is a requisite introduction of all rites: without it, says the Smha Purana, all acts of religion are vain.' Colebrooke.
9:2 The "darhha" or "kus'a" (Pea cynosuroides),
a kind of grass used in sacrifice by the Hindus as "cerbena" was by the Romans.
9:3 The direction in which the grass hould be placed upon the ground as a seat for the Gods, on occasion of offerings made to them.
9:4 Parasrma or Rma with the Axe.
See Canto Lxxiv.
9:1b Sit. Videha was the country of which Mithil was the capital.
