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Book Iv. Canto Xxxi. The Envoy

Canto Xxxi.: The Envoy.


Thus Rma spoke, and Lakshman then

Made answer to the prince of men:

'Yea, if the Vnar, undeterred

By fear of vengeance, break his word,

Loss of his royal power ere long

Shall pay the traitor for the wrong,

Nor deem I him so void of sense

To brave the bitter consequence.

But if enslaved to joy he lie,

And scorn thy grace with blinded eye,

Then let him join his brother slain:

Unmeet were such a wretch to reign.

Quick rises, kindling in my breast,

The wrath that will not be repressed,

And bids me in my fury slay

The breaker of his faith to-day.

Let Bli's son thy consort trace

With bravest chiefs of Vnar race.'

Thus spoke the hero, and aglow

With rage of battle seized his bow.

But Rma thus in gentler mood

With fitting words his speech renewed:

'No hero with a soul like thine

To paths of sin will e'er incline.

He who his angry heart can tame

Is worthiest of a hero's name.

Not thine, my brother, be the part

So alien from the tender heart,

Nor let thy feet by wrath misled

Forsake the path they loved to tread.

From harsh and angry words abstain:

With gentle speech a hearing gain,

And tax Sugrva with the crime

Of failing faith and wasted time.'

Then Lakshman, bravest of the brave,

Obeyed the best that Rma gave,

To whom devoting every thought

The Vnar's royal town he sought.

As Mandar's mountain heaves on high

His curved peak soaring to the sky,

So Lakshman showed, his dread bow bent

Like Indra's 1 in the firmament.

His brother's wrath, his brother's woe

Inflamed his soul to fiercest glow.

The tallest trees to earth were cast

As furious on his way he passed,

And where he stepped, so fiercely fleet,

The stones were shivered by his feet.

He reached Kishkindh's city deep

Embosomed where the hills were steep,

Where street and open square were lined

With legions of the Vnar kind.

Then, as his lips with fury swelled,

The lord of Raghu's line beheld

A stream of Vnar chiefs outpoured

To do obeisance to their lord.

But when the mighty prince in view

Of the thick coming Vnars drew,

They turned them in amaze to seize

Crags of the rock and giant trees.

He saw, and fiercer waxed his ire,

As oil lends fury to the fire.

Scarce bad the Vnar chieftains seen

That wrathful eye, that troubled mien

Fierce as the God's who rules the dead,

When, turned in wild affright, they fled,

Speeding in breathless terror all

Sought King Sugrva's council hall,

And there made known their tale of fear,

That Lakshman wild with rage, was near.

The king, untroubled by alarms,

Held Tra in his amorous arms,

And in the distant bower with her

Heard not each clamorous messenger.

Then, summoned at the lords' behest

Forth from the city portals pressed.

Each like some elephant or cloud,

The Vnars in a trembling cloud:

Fierce warriors all with massive jaws

And terrors of their tiger claws.

Some matched ten elephants, and some

A hundred's strength could overcome.

Some chieftains, mightier than the rest,

Ten times a hundred's force possessed.

With eyes of fury Lakshman viewed

The Vnars' tree-armed multitude.

Thus garrisoned from side to side

The city walls assault defied.

Beyond the moat that girt the wall

Advanced the Vnar chiefs; and all

Upon the plain in *numbers *made,(?)

Impetuous warriors, stood arrayed.

p. 363

Red at the sight flashed Lakshman's eyes,

His bosom heaved tumultuous sighs,

And forth the fire of fury broke

Like flame that flashes through the smoke.

Like some fierce snake the hero stood:

His bow recalled the expanded hood,

And in his shaft-head bright and keen

The flickering of its tongue was seen:

And in his own all-conquering might

The venom of its deadly bite.

Prince Angad marked his angry look,

And every hope his heart forsook.

Then, his large eyes with fury red,

To Angad Lakshman turned and said:

'Go tell the king that Lakshman waits

For audience at the city gates,

Whose heart, O tamer of thy foes,

Is heavy with his brother's woes.

Bid him to Rma's word attend,

And ask if he will aid his friend.

Go, let the king my message learn:

Then hither with all speed return.'

Prince Angad heard and wild with grief

Cried as he looked upon the chief:

'Tis Lakshman's self: impelled by ire

He seeks the city of my sire.'

At the fierce words and furious look

Of Raghu'a son he quailed and shook,

Back through the city gates he sped,

And, laden with the tale of dread,

Sought King Sugrva, filled his ears

And Rum's with his doubts and fears.

To Rum and the king he bent,

And clasped their feet most reverent,

Clasped the dear feet of Tr, too,

And told the startling tale anew.

But King Sugrva's ear was dulled,

By love and wine and languor lulled,

Nor did the words that Angad spake

The slumberer from his trance awake.

But soon as Raghu's son came nigh

The startled Vnars raised a cry,

And strove to win his grace, while dread

Each anxious heart disquieted.

They saw, and, as they gathered round,

Rose from the mighty throng a sound

Like torrents when they downward dash,

Or thunder with the lightning's flash.

The shouting of the Vnars broke

Sugriva's slumber, and he woke:

Still with the wine his eyes were red,

His neck with flowers was garlanded.

Roused at the voice of Angad came

Two Vnar lords of rank and fame;

One Yaksha, one Prabhava hight,-

Wise counsellors of gain and right.

They came and raised their voices high,

And told that Raghu's son was nigh:

'Two brothers steadfast in their truth,

Each glorious in the bloom of youth,

Worthy of rule, have left the skies,

And clothed their forms in men's disguise.

One at thy gates, in warlike hands

Holding his mighty weapon, stands.

His message is the charioteer

That brings the eager envoy near,

Urged onward by his bold intent,

And by the hest of Rma sent. 1

The gathered Vnars saw and fled,

And raised aloud their cry of dread.

Son of Queen Tr, Angad ran

To parley with the godlike man.

Still fiery-eyed with rage and hate

Stands Lakshman at the city gate,

And trembling Vanars scarce can fly

Scathed by the lightning of his eye.

Go with thy son, thy kith and kin,

The favour of the prince to win,

And bow thy reverent head that so

His fiery wrath may cease to glow.

What righteous Rma bids thee, do,

And to thy plighted word be true.'

Footnotes

362:1
The rainbow.

his life ramakrishna saying| ayings of sri ramakrishna
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