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Book Ii. Canto Ix. The Plot

Canto Ix.: The Plot.


As fury lit Kaikey's eyes

She spoke with long and burning sighs:

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'This day my son enthroned shall see,

And Rma to the woods shall flee.

But tell me, damsel, if thou can,

A certain way, a skilful plan

That Bharat may the empire gain,

And Rma's hopes be nursed in vain.'

The lady ceased. The wicked maid

The mandate of her queen obeyed,

And darkly plotting Rma's fall

Responded to Kaikey's call.

'I will declare, do thou attend,

How Bharat may his throne ascend.

Dost thou forget what things befell?

Or dost thou feign, remembering well?

Or wouldst thou hear my tongue repeat

A story for thy need so meet?

Gay lady, if thy will be so,

Now hear the tale of long ago,

And when my tongue has done its part

Ponder the story in thine heart.

When Gods and demons fought of old,

Thy lord, with royal saints enrolled,

Sued to the war with thee to bring

His might to aid the Immortals' King.

Far to the southern land he sped

Where Dandak's mighty wilds are spread,

To Vaijayanta's city swayed

By S'ambara, whose flag displayd

The hugest monster of the sea.

Lord of a hundred wiles was be;

With might which Gods could never blame

Against the King of Heaven he came.

Then raged the battle wild and dread,

And mortal warriors fought and bled;

The fiends by night with strength renewed

Charged, slew the sleeping multitude.

Thy lord, King Das'aratha, long

Stood fighting with the demon throng,

But long of arm, unmatched in strength,

Fell wounded by their darts at length.

Thy husband, senseless, by thine aid

Was from the battle field conveyed.

And wounded nigh to death thy lord

Was by thy care to health restored.

Well pleased the grateful monarch sware

To grant thy first and second prayer.

Thou for no favour then wouldst sue,

The gifts reserved for season due;

And he, thy high-souled lord, agreed

To give the boons when thou shouldst need.

Myself I knew not what befell,

But oft the tale have heard thee tell,

And close to thee in friendship knit

Deep in my heart have treasured it.

Remind thy husband of his oath,

Recall the boons and claim them both,

That Bharat on the throne be placed

With rites of consecration graced,

And Rma to the woods be sent

For twice seven years of banishment.

Go, Queen, the mourner's chamber 1 seek,

With angry eye and burning cheek;

And with disordered robes and hair

On the cold earth lie prostrate there.

When the king comes still mournful lie,

Speak not a word nor meet his eye,

But let thy tears in torrent flow,

And lie enamoured of thy woe.

Well do I know thou long hast been,

And ever art, his darling queen.

For thy dear sake, O well-loved dame,

The mighty king would brave the flame,

But ne'er would anger thee, or brook

To meet his favourite's wrathful look.

Thy loving lord would even die

Thy fancy, Queen, to gratify,

And never could he arm his breast

To answer nay to thy request.

Listen and learn, O dull of sense,

Thine all-resistless influence.

Gems he will offer, pearls and gold:

Refuse his gifts, be stern and cold.

Those proffered boons at length recall,

And claim them till he grants thee all.

And O my lady, high in bliss,

With heedful thought forget not this.

When from the ground his queen he lifts

And grants again the promised gifts,

Bind him with oaths he cannot break

And thy demands unflnching, make.

That Rma travel to the wild

Five years and nine from home exiled,

And Bharat, best of all who reign.

The empire of the land obtain.

For when this term of years has fled

Over the banished Rma's head,

Thy royal son to vigour grown

And rooted firm will stand alone.

The king, I know, is well inclined,

And this the hour to move his mind.

Be bold: the threatened rite prevent,

And force the king from his intent.'

She ceased. So counselled to her bane

Disguised beneath a show of gain,

Kaikey in her joy and pride

To Manthar again replied:


'Thy sense I envy, prudent maid;

With sagest lore thy lids persuade.

No hump-back maid in all the earth,

For wise resolve, can match thy worth.

Thou art alone with constant zeal

Devoted to thy lady's weal.

Dear girl, without thy faithful aid

I had not marked the plot he laid.

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Full of all guile and sin and spite

Misshapen hump-backs shock the sight:

But thou art fair and formed to please,

Bent like a lily by the breeze.

I look thee o'er with watchful eye,

And in thy frame no fault can spy;

The chest so deep, the waist so trim,

So round the lines of breast and limb. 1

Thy cheeks with moonlike beauty shine,

And the warm wealth of youth is thine.

Thy legs, my girl, are long and neat,

And somewhat long thy dainty feet,

While stepping out before my face

Thou seemest like a crane to pace.

The thousand wiles are in thy breast

Which Sambara the fiend possessed,

And countless others all thine own,

O damsel sage, to thee are known.

Thy very hump becomes thee too,

O thou whose face is fair to view,

For there reside in endless store

Plots, wissard wiles, and warrior lore.

A golden chain I'll round it fling

When Rma's flight makes Bharat king:

Yea, polished links of finest gold,

When once the wished for prize I hold

With naught to fear and none to hate,

Thy hump, dear maid, shall decorate.

A golden frontlet wrought with care,

And precious jewels shalt thou wear:

Two lovely robes around thee fold,

And walk a Goddess to behold,

Bidding the moon himself compare

His beauty with a face so fair.

With scent of precious sandal sweet

Down to the nails upon thy feet,

First of the household thou shalt go

And pay with scorn each battled foe.'

Kaikeyi's praise the damnel heard,

And thus again her lady stirred,

Who lay upon her beauteous bed

Like fire upon the altar fed:

'Dear Queen, they build the bridge in vain

When swollen streams are dry again.

Arise, thy glorious task complete,

And draw the king to thy retreat.'

The large-eyed lady left her bower

Exulting in her pride of power,

And with the hump-back sought the gloom

And silence of the mourner's room.

The string of priceless pearls that huug

Around her neck to earth she flung,

With all the wealth and lustre lent

By precious gem and ornament.

Then, listening to her slave's advice,

Lay, like a nymph from Paradise.

As on the ground her limbs she laid

Once more she cried unto the maid:

'Soon must thou to the monarch say

Kaikeyi's soul has past away,

Or, Rma banished as we planned,

My son made king shall rule the land.

No more for gold and gems I care,

For brave attire or dainty fare.

If Rma should the throne ascend,

That very hour my life will end.'

The royal lady wounded through

The bosom with the darts that flew

Launched from the hump-back's tongue

Pressed both her hands upon her side,

And o'er and o'er again she cried

With wildering fury stung:

'Yes, it shall be thy task to tell

That I have hurried hence to dwell

In Yama's realms of woe,

Or happy Bharat shall be king,

And doomed to years of wandering

Kaus'aly's son shall go.

I heed not dainty viands now

Fair wreaths of flowers to twine my brow,

Soft balm or precious scent:

My very life I count as naught,

Nothing on earth can claim my thought

But Rma's banishment.'

She spoke these words of cruel ire;

Then stripping off her gay attire,

The cold bare floor she pressed.

So, falling from her home on high,

Some lovely daughter of the sky

Upon the ground might rest.

With darkened brow and furious mien,

Stripped of her gems and wreath, the queen

In spotless beauty lay,

Like heaven obscured with gathering cloud,

When shades of midnight darkness shroud

Each star's expiring ray.

Footnotes

99:1
Literally the chamber of wrath, a
'growlery,' a small, dark, unfurnished room to which it seems, the wives and ladies of the king betook themselves when offended and sulky.

100:1
In these four lines I do not translate faithfully, and I do not venture to follow Kaikeyi farther in her eulogy of the hump- back's charms.
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