There pensive 'neath Aśoka [1] boughs
He found poor Sitá, Ráma's spouse.
He gave the hapless girl a ring,
A token from, her lord and king,
A pledge from her fair hand he bore ;
Then battered down the garden door.
Five captains of the host he slew,
Seven sons of councillors o'erthrew ;
Crushed youthful Aksha on the field,
Then to his captors chose to yield.
Soon from their bonds his limbs were free,
But honouring the high decree
Which Brahmáa [2] had pronounced of yore,
He calmly all their insults bore,
The town he burnt with hostile flame,
And spoke again with Ráma's dame,
Then swiftly back to Ráma flew
With tidings of the interview.
Then with Sugriva for his guide,
Came Ráma to the ocean side.
He smote the sea with shafts as bright
As sunbeams in their summer height,
And quick appeared the Rivers' King [3]
Obedient to the summoning.
A bridge was thrown by Nala o'er
The narrow sea from shore to shore. [4]
They crossed to Lanká's golden town,
Where Ráma's hand smote Ravan down.
Vibhishan there was left to reign
Over his brother's wide domain.
To meet her husband Sitá came ;
But Ráma, stung with ire and shame,
With bitter words his wife addressed
Before the crowd that round her pressed.
But Sitá, touched with noble ire,
Gave her fair body to the fire.
Then straight the God of Wind appeared,
And words from heaven her honour cleared.
And Ráma clasped his wife again,
Uninjured, pure from spot and stain,
Obedient to the Lord of Fire
And the high mandate of his sire.
Led by the Lord who rules the sky,
The Gods and heavenly saints drew nigh,
And honoured him with worthy meed,
Rejoicing in each glorious deed.
His task achieved, his foe removed,
He triumphed, by the Gods approved,
By grace of Heaven he raised to life
The chieftains slain in mortal strife ;
Then in the magic chariot through
The clouds to Nandigráma flew.
Met by his faithful brothers there,
He loosed his votive coil of hair :
Thence fair Ayodhyá's town he gained,
And o'er his father's kingdom reigned.
Disease or famine ne'er oppressed
His happy people, richly blest
With all the joys of ample wealth,
Of sweet content and perfect health.
No widow mourned her well -loved mate,
No sire his son's untimely fate.
They feared not storm or robber's hand :
No fire or flood laid waste the land ;
The Golden Age [5] had come again
To bless the days of Ráma's reign.
From him, the great and glorious king,
Shall many a princely scion spring.
And he shall rule, beloved by men,
Ten thousand years and hundreds ten, [6]
And when his life on earth is past
To Brahmá's world shall go at last.'
Whoe'er this noble poem reads
That tells the tale of Ráma's deeds,
Good as the Scriptures, he shall be
From every sin and blemish free.
Whoever reads the saving strain,
With all his kin the heavens shall gain.
Bráhmans who read shall gather hence
The highest praise for eloquence.
The warrior, o'er the land shall reign,
The merchant, luck in trade obtain ;
And Śudras listening [7] ne'er shall fail
To reap advantage from the tale. [8]
- ↑ The Jonesia Aśoka is a most beautiful tree bearing a profusion of red blossoms.
- ↑ Brahmá, the Creator, is usually regarded as the first God of the Indian' Trinity, although, as Kálidása says: Of Brahmá, Vishnu, Śiva, each may be First, second , third, amid the blessed Three. Brahmá had guaranteed Ravan's life against all enemies except man.
- ↑ Ocean personified.
- ↑ The rocks lying between Ceylon and the mainland are still called Ráma's Bridge by the Hindus,
- ↑ 'The Bráhmans, with a system rather cosmogonical than chronological, divide the present mundane period into four ages or yugas as they call them : the Krita, the Tretá, the Dwápara, and the Kali. The Krita, called also the Deva-yuga or that of the Gods, is the age of truth, the perfect age, the Tretá is the age of the three sacred fires, domestic and sacrificial; the Dwápara is the age of doubt; the Kali, the present age, is the age of evil.'GORRESIO.
- ↑ The ancient kings of India enjoyed lives of more than patriarchal length as will appear in the course of the poem.
- ↑ Śudras, men of the fourth and lowest pure caste, were not allowed to read the poem, but might hear it recited.
- ↑ The three ślokes or distichs which these twelve lines represent are evidently a still later and very awkward addition to the introduction.
