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Book Ii. Canto Lxxxv. Guha And Bharat

Canto Lxxxv.: Guha And Bharat.


Thus tho Nishadas' king besought:

The prince with spirit wisdom-fraught

p. 193

Replied in seemly words that blent

Deep matter with the argument:

'Thou, friend of him whom I revere,

With honours high hast met me here,

For thou alone wouldst entertain

Aud feed to-day so vast a train."

In such fair words the prince replied,

Then, pointing to the path he cried:

'Which way aright will lead my feet

To Bharadvja's calm retreat;

For all this land near Gang's streams

Pathless and hard to traverse seems?'

Thus spoke the prince: King Guha heard

Delighted every prudent word,

And gazing on that forest wide,

Raised suppliant hands, and thus replied:

'My servants, all the ground who know,

O glorious Prince, with thee shall go

With constant care thy way to guide,

And I will journey by thy side.

But this thy host so wide dispread

Wakes in my heart one doubt and dread,

Lest, threatening Rma good and great,

Ill thoughts thy journey stimulate."

But wheu King Guha, ill at ease,

Declared his fear in words like these,

As pure as is the cloudless sky

With soft voice Bharat made reply:

'Suspect me not: ne'er come the time

For me to plot so foul a crime!

He is my eldest brother, he

Is like a father dear to me.

I go to lead my brother thence

Who makes the wood his residence.

No thought but this thy heart should frame:

This simple truth my lips proclaim.'

Then with glad cheer King Guha cried,

With Bharat's answer gratified:

'Blessed art thou: on earth I see

None who may vie, O Prince, with thee,

Who canst of thy free will resign

The kingdom which unsought is thine.

For this, a name that ne'er shall die,

Thy glory through the worlds shall fly,

Who fain wouldst balm thy brother's pain

And lead the exile home again.'

As Guha thus, and Bharat, each

To other spoke in friendly speech,

The Day God sank with glory dead,

And night o'er all the sky was spread.

Soon as King Guha's thoughtful care

Had quartered all the armv there,

Well honoured, Bharat laid his head

Beside S'atrughna on a bed.

But grief for Rma yet oppressed

High-minded Bharat's faithful breast--

Such torment little was deserved

By him who ne'er from duty swerved.

The fever raged through every vein

And burnt him with its inward pain:

So when in woods the flames leap free

The fire within consumes the tree.

From heat of burning anguish sprung

The sweat upon his body hung,

As when the sun with fervid glow

On high Himalaya melts the snow.

As, banished from the herd, a bull

Wanders alone and sorrowful.

Thus sighing and distressed,

In misery and bitter grief,

With fevered heart that mocked relief,

Distracted in his mind, the chief

Still mourned and found no rest.
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