The Ramayana Part 105

Then to the lady, with the lore Of eloquence, he spoke once more: "Thou scarce," he cried, "hast heard aright The glories of my power and might.

I borne sublime in air can stand And with these arms upheave the land, Drink the deep flood of Ocean dry And Death with conquering force defy, Pierce the great sun with furious dart And to her depths cleave earth apart.

See, thou whom love and beauty blind, I wear each form as wills my mind."

As thus he spake in burning ire His glowing eyes were red with fire.

His gentle garb aside was thrown And all his native shape was shown.

Terrific, monstrous, wild, and dread As the dark G.o.d who rules the dead, His fiery eyes in fury rolled, His limbs were decked with glittering gold.

Like some dark cloud the monster showed, And his fierce breast with fury glowed.

The ten-faced rover of the night, With twenty arms exposed to sight, His saintly guise aside had laid And all his giant height displayed.

Attired in robes of crimson dye He stood and watched with angry eye The lady in her bright array Resplendent as the dawn of day When from the east the sunbeams break, And to the dark-haired lady spake: "If thou would call that lord thine own Whose fame in every world is known, Look kindly on my love, and be Bride of a consort meet for thee.

With me let blissful years be spent, For ne'er thy choice shalt thou repent.

No deed of mine shall e'er displease My darling as she lives at ease.

Thy love for mortal man resign, And to a worthier lord incline.

Ah foolish lady, seeming wise In thine own weak and partial eyes, By what fair graces art thou held To Rama from his realm expelled?

Misfortunes all his life attend, And his brief days are near their end.

Unworthy prince, infirm of mind!

A woman spoke and he resigned His home and kingdom and withdrew From troops of friends and retinue.

And sought this forest dark and dread By savage beasts inhabited."

Thus Rava? urged the lady meet For love, whose words were soft and sweet.

Near and more near the giant pressed As love's hot fire inflamed his breast.

The leader of the giant crew His arm around the lady threw: Thus Budha(503) with ill-omened might Steals Rohi?i's delicious light.

One hand her glorious tresses grasped, One with its ruthless pressure clasped The body of his lovely prize, The Maithil dame with lotus eyes.

The silvan G.o.ds in wild alarm Marked his huge teeth and ponderous arm, And from that Death-like presence fled, Of mountain size and towering head.

Then seen was Rava?'s magic car Aglow with gold which blazed afar,- The mighty car which a.s.ses drew Thundering as it onward flew.

He spared not harsh rebuke to chide The lady as she moaned and cried, Then with his arm about her waist His captive in the car he placed.

In vain he threatened: long and shrill Rang out her lamentation still, O Rama! which no fear could stay: But her dear lord was far away.

Then rose the fiend, and toward the skies Bore his poor helpless struggling prize: Hurrying through the air above The dame who loathed his proffered love.

So might a soaring eagle bear A serpent's consort through the air.

As on he bore her through the sky She shrieked aloud her bitter cry.

As when some wretch's lips complain In agony of maddening pain; "O Lakshma?, thou whose joy is still To do thine elder brother's will, This fiend, who all disguises wears, From Rama's side his darling tears.

Thou who couldst leave bliss, fortune, all, Yea life itself at duty's call, Dost thou not see this outrage done To hapless me, O Raghu's son?

'Tis thine, O victor of the foe, To bring the haughtiest spirit low, How canst thou such an outrage see And let the guilty fiend go free?

Ah, seldom in a moment's time Comes bitter fruit of sin and crime, But in the day of harvest pain Comes like the ripening of the grain.

So thou whom fate and folly lead To ruin for this guilty deed, Shalt die by Rama's arm ere long A dreadful death for hideous wrong.

Ah, too successful in their ends Are Queen Kaikeyi and her friends, When virtuous Rama, dear to fame, Is mourning for his ravished dame.

Ah me, ah me! a long farewell To lawn and glade and forest dell In Janasthan's wild region, where The Ca.s.sia trees are bright and fair With all your tongues to Rama say That Rava? bears his wife away.

Farewell, a long farewell to thee, O pleasant stream G.o.davari, Whose rippling waves are ever stirred By many a glad wild water-bird!

All ye to Rama's ear relate The giant's deed and Sita's fate.

O all ye G.o.ds who love this ground Where trees of every leaf abound, Tell Rama I am stolen hence, I pray you all with reverence.

On all the living things beside That these dark boughs and coverts hide, Ye flocks of birds, ye troops of deer, I call on you my prayer to hear.

All ye to Rama's ear proclaim That Rava? tears away his dame With forceful arms,-his darling wife, Dearer to Rama than his life.

O, if he knew I dwelt in h.e.l.l, My mighty lord, I know full well, Would bring me, conqueror, back to-day, Though Yama's self reclaimed his prey."

Thus from the air the lady sent With piteous voice her last lament, And as she wept she chanced to see The vulture on a lofty tree.

As Rava? bore her swiftly by, On the dear bird she bent her eye, And with a voice which woe made faint Renewed to him her wild complaint:

"O see, the king who rules the race Of giants, cruel, fierce and base, Rava? the spoiler bears me hence The helpless prey of violence.

This fiend who roves in midnight shade By thee, dear bird, can ne'er be stayed, For he is armed and fierce and strong Triumphant in the power to wrong.

For thee remains one only task, To do, kind friend, the thing I ask.

To Rama's ear by thee be borne How Sita from her home is torn, And to the valiant Lakshma? tell The giant's deed and what befell."

Canto L. Jatayus.

The vulture from his slumber woke And heard the words which Sita spoke He raised his eye and looked on her, Looked on her giant ravisher.

That n.o.blest bird with pointed beak, Majestic as a mountain peak, High on the tree addressed the king Of giants, wisely counselling: "O Ten-necked lord, I firmly hold To faith and laws ordained of old, And thou, my brother, shouldst refrain From guilty deeds that shame and stain.

The vulture king supreme in air, Ja?ayus is the name I bear.

Thy captive, known by Sita's name, Is the dear consort and the dame Of Rama, Dasaratha's heir Who makes the good of all his care.

Lord of the world in might he vies With the great G.o.ds of seas and skies.

The law he boasts to keep allows No king to touch another's spouse, And, more than all, a prince's dame High honour and respect may claim.

Back to the earth thy way incline, Nor think of one who is not thine.

Heroic souls should hold it shame To stoop to deeds which others blame, And all respect by them is shown To dames of others as their own.

Not every case of bliss and gain The Scripture's holy texts explain, And subjects, when that light is dim, Look to their prince and follow him.

The king is bliss and profit, he Is store of treasures fair to see, And all the people's fortunes spring, Their joy and misery, from the king.

If, lord of giant race, thy mind Be fickle, false, to sin inclined, How wilt thou kingly place retain?

High thrones in heaven no sinners gain.

The soul which gentle pa.s.sions sway Ne'er throws its n.o.bler part away, Nor will the mansion of the base Long be the good man's dwelling-place.

Prince Rama, chief of high renown, Has wronged thee not in field or town.

Ne'er has he sinned against thee: how Canst thou resolve to harm him now?

If moved by Surpa?akha's prayer The giant Khara sought him there, And fighting fell with baffled aim, His and not Rama's is the blame.

Say, mighty lord of giants, say What fault on Rama canst thou lay?

What has the world's great master done That thou should steal his precious one?

Quick, quick the Maithil dame release; Let Rama's consort go in peace, Lest scorched by his terrific eye Beneath his wrath thou fall and die Like Vritra when Lord Indra threw The lightning flame that smote and slew.

Ah fool, with blinded eyes to take Home to thy heart a venomed snake!

Ah foolish eyes, too blind to see That Death's dire coils entangle thee!

The prudent man his strength will spare, Nor lift a load too great to bear.

Content is he with wholesome food Which gives him life and strength renewed, But who would dare the guilty deed That brings no fame or glorious meed, Where merit there is none to win And vengeance soon o'ertakes the sin?

My course of life, Pulastya's son, For sixty thousand years has run.

Lord of my kind I still maintain Mine old hereditary reign.

I, worn by years, am older far Than thou, young lord of bow and car, In coat of glittering mail encased And armed with arrows at thy waist, But not unchallenged shalt thou go, Or steal the dame without a blow.

Thou canst not, King, before mine eyes Bear off unchecked thy lovely prize, Safe as the truth of Scripture bent By no close logic's argument.

Stay if thy courage let thee, stay And meet me in the battle fray, And thou shalt stain the earth with gore Falling as Khara fell before.

Soon Rama, clothed in bark, shall smite Thee, his proud foe, in deadly fight,- Rama, from whom have oft times fled The Daitya hosts discomfited.

No power have I to kill or slay: The princely youths are far away, But soon shalt thou with fearful eye Struck down beneath their arrows lie.

But while I yet have life and sense, Thou shalt not, tyrant, carry hence Fair Sita, Rama's honoured queen, With lotus eyes and lovely mien.

Whate'er the pain, whate'er the cost, Though in the struggle life be lost, The will of Raghu's n.o.blest son And Dasaratha must be done.

Stay for a while, O Rava?, stay, One hour thy flying car delay, And from that glorious chariot thou Shalt fall like fruit from shaken bough, For I to thee, while yet I live, The welcome of a foe will give."

Canto LI. The Combat.

Rava?'s red eyes in fury rolled: Bright with his armlets' flashing gold, In high disdain, by pa.s.sion stirred He rushed against the sovereign bird.

With clash and din and furious blows Of murderous battle met the foes: Thus urged by winds two clouds on high Meet warring in the stormy sky.