Beneath the shady trees he stood
Of Dandaká's primeval wood,
Virádha, giant fiend, he slew,
And then Agastya's friendship knew.
Counselled by him he gained the sword
And bow of Indra, heavenly lord :
A pair of quivers too, that bore
Of arrows an exhaustless store.
While there he dwelt in greenwood shade
The trembling hermits sought his aid,
And bade him with his sword and bow
Destroy the fiends who worked them woe:
To come like Indra strong and brave,
A guardian God to help and save.
And Ráma's falchion left its trace
Deep cut on Śurpanakhá's face :
A hideous giantess who came
Burning for him with lawless flame.
Their sister's cries the giants heard.
And vengeance in each bosom stirred :
The monster of the triple head.
And Dúshan to the contest sped.
But they and myriad fiends beside
Beneath the might of Ráma died.
When Rávan. dreaded warrior, knew
The slaughter of his giant crew :
Rávan, the king, whose name of fear
Earth, hell, and heaven all shook to hear:
He bade the fiend Máricha aid
The vengeful plot his fury laid.
In vain the wise Máricha tried
To turn him from his course aside :
Not Rávan's self, he said, might hope
With Ráma and his strength to cope.
Impelled by fate and blind with rage
He came to Ráma's hermitage.
There, by Máricha' s magic art,
He wiled the princely youths apart,
The vulture [1] slew, and bore away
The wife of Ráma as his prey.
The son of Raghu [2] came and found
Jatáyu slain upon the ground.
He rushed within his leafy cot ;
He sought his wife, but found her not.
Then, then the hero's senses failed ;
In mad despair he wept and wailed.
Upon the pile that bird he laid,
And still in quest of Sitá strayed,
A hideous giant then he saw,
Kabandha named, a shape of awe.
The monstrous fiend he smote and slew,
And in the flame the body threw ;
When straight from out the funeral flame
In lovely form Kabandha came,
And bade him seek in his distress
A wise and holy hermitess.
By counsel of this saintly dame
To Pampá's pleasant flood he came,
And there the steadfast friendship won
Of Hanumán the Wind-God's son.
Counselled by him he told his grief
To great Sugriva, Vánar chief,
Who, knowing all the tale, before
The sacred flame alliance swore.
Sugriva to his new-found friend
Told his own story to the end :
His hate of Báli for the wrong
And insult he had borne so long.
And Ráma lent a willing ear
And promised to allay his fear.
Sugriva warned him of the might
Of Báli, matchless in the fight,
And, credence for his tale to gain,
Showed the huge fiend [3] by Báli slain.
The prostrate corse of mountain size
Seemed nothing in the hero's eyes ;
He lightly kicked it, as it lay,
And cast it twenty leagues [4] away.
To prove his might his arrows through
Seven palms in line, uninjured, flew.
He cleft a mighty hill apart,
And down to hell he hurled his dart.
Then high Sugrjva's spirit rose,
Assured of conquest o'er his foes.
With his new champion by his side
To vast Kishkindhá's cave he hied.
Then, summoned by his awful shout,
King Báli came in fury out,
First comforted his trembling wife,
Then sought Sugriva in the strife.
One shaft from Rama's deadly bow
The monarch in the dust laid ow.
Then Ráma bade Sugriva reign
In place of royal Báli slain.
Then speedy envoys hurried forth
Eastward and westward, south and north,
Commanded by the grateful king
Tidings of Ráma's spouse to bring.
Then by Sampáti's counsel led,
Brave Hanumán, who mocked at dread,
Sprang at one wild tremendous leap
Two hundred leagues across the deep,
To Lanka's [5] town he urged his way,
Where Ravan held his royal sway.
- ↑ Jatáyu, a semi -divine bird, the friend of Ráma, who fought in defence of Sitá.
- ↑ Raghu was one of the most celebrated ancestors of Ráma whose commonest appellation is, therefore, Rághava or descendant of Raghu. Kálidása in the Raghuvańśa makes him the son of Dilipa and great-grandfather of Ráma. See Idylls from the Sanskrit, 'Aja' and 'Dilipa.'
- ↑ Dundhubi
- ↑ Literally ten yojanas. The yojana is a measure of uncertain length variously reckoned as equal to nine miles, five, and a little less.
- ↑ Ceylon
