The Ramayana Part 133

Sugriva after rest will know The hour is come to strike the blow, Nor will his grateful soul forget My succour, or deny the debt I know his generous heart, and hence Await the time with confidence When he his friendly zeal will show, And brooks again untroubled flow."(629)

Canto XXIX. Hanuman's Counsel.

No flash of lightning lit the sky, No cloudlet marred the blue on high.

The Saras(630) missed the welcome rain, The moon's full beams were bright again.

Sugriva, lapped in bliss, forgot The claims of faith, or heeded not; And by alluring joys misled The path of falsehood learned to tread.

In careless ease he pa.s.sed each hour, And dallied in his lady's bower.

Each longing of his heart was stilled, And every lofty hope fulfilled.

With royal Ruma by his side, Or Tara yet a dearer bride, He spent each joyous day and night In revelry and wild delight, Like Indra whom the nymphs entice To taste the joys of Paradise.

The power to courtiers' hands resigned, To all their acts his eyes were blind.

All doubt, all fear he cast aside And lived with pleasure for his guide.

But sage Hanuman, firm and true, Whose heart the lore of Scripture knew, Well trained to meet occasion, trained In all by duty's law ordained, Strove with his prudent speech to find Soft access to the monarch's mind.

He, skilled in every gentle art Of eloquence that wins the heart, Sugriva from his trance to wake, His salutary counsel spake:

"The realm is won, thy name advanced, The glory of thy house enhanced, And now thy foremost care should be To aid the friends who succoured thee.

He who is firm and faithful found To friendly ties in honour bound, Will see his name and fame increase And his blest kingdom thrive in peace.

Wide sway is his who truly boasts That friends and treasure, self and hosts, All blent in one harmonious whole, Are subject to his firm control.

Do thou, whose footsteps never stray From the clear bounds of duty's way, a.s.sist, as honour bids thee, now Thy friends, observant of thy vow.

For if all cares we lay not by, And to our friend's a.s.sistance fly, We, after, toil in idle haste, And all the late endeavour waste.

Up! nor the promised help delay Until the hour have slipped away.

Up! and with Raghu's son renew The search for Sita lost to view.

The hour is come: he hears the call, But not on thee reproaches fall From him who labours to repress His eager spirit's restlessness.

Long joined to thee in friendly ties He made thy fame and fortune rise, In gentle gifts by none excelled.

In splendid might unparalleled.

Up, to his succour, King! repay The favour of that prosperous day, And to thy bravest captains send Prompt mandates to a.s.sist thy friend.

The cry for help thou wilt not spurn Although no grace demands return: And wilt thou not thine aid afford To him who realm and life restored?

Exert thy power, and thou hast won The love of Dasaratha's son: And wilt thou for his summons wait, And, till he call thee, hesitate?

Think not the hero needs thy power To save him in the desperate hour: He with his arrows could subdue The G.o.ds and all the demon crew, And only waits that he may see Redeemed the promise made by thee.

For thee he risked his life and fought, For thee that great deliverance wrought.

Then let us trace through earth and skies His lady wheresoe'er she lies.

Through realms above, beneath, we flee, And plant our footsteps on the sea.

Then why, O Lord of Vanars, still Delay us waiting for thy will?

Give thy commands, O King, and say What task has each and where the way.

Before thee myriad Vanars stand To sweep through heaven, o'er seas and land."

Sugriva heard the timely rede That roused him in the day of need, And thus to Nila prompt and brave His hest the imperial Vanar gave: "Go, Nila, to the distant hosts That keep in arms their several posts, And all the armies that protect The quarters,(631) with their chiefs, collect.

To all the luminaries placed In intermediate regions haste, And bid each captain rise and lead His squadrons to their king with speed.

Do thou meanwhile with strictest care All that the time requires prepare.

The loitering Vanar who delays To gather here ere thrice five days, Shall surely die for his offence, Condemned for sinful negligence."

Canto x.x.x. Rama's Lament.

But Rama in the autumn night Stood musing on the mountain height, While grief and love that scorned control Shook with wild storms the hero's soul.

Clear was the sky, without a cloud The glory of the moon to shroud.

And bright with purest silver shone Each hill the soft beams looked upon.

He knew Sugriva's heart was bent On pleasure, gay and negligent.

He thought on Janak's child forlorn From his fond arms for ever torn.

He mourned occasion slipping by, And faint with anguish heaved each sigh.

He sat where many a varied streak Of rich ore marked the mountain peak.

He raised his eyes the sky to view, And to his love his sad thoughts flew.

He heard the Saras cry, and faint With sorrow poured his love-born plaint: "She, she who mocked the softest tone Of wild birds' voices with her own,- Where strays she now, my love who played So happy in our hermit shade?

How can my absent love behold The bright trees with their flowers of gold, And all their gleaming glory see With eyes that vainly look for me?

How is it with my darling when From the deep tangles of the glen Float carols of each bird elate With rapture singing to his mate?

In vain my weary glances rove From lake to hill, from stream to grove: I find no rapture in the scene, And languish for my fawn-eyed queen.

Ah, does strong love with wild unrest, Born of the autumn, stir her breast?

And does the gentle lady pine Till her bright eyes shall look in mine?"

Thus Raghu's son in piteous tone, O'erwhelmed with sorrow, made his moan.

E'en as the bird that drinks the rains(632) To Indra thousand-eyed complains.

Then Lakshma? who had wandered through The copses where the berries grew, Returning to the cavern found His brother chief in sorrow drowned, And pitying the woes that broke The spirit of the hero spoke:

"Why cast thy strength of soul away, And weakly yield to pa.s.sion's sway?

Arise, my brother, do and dare Ere action perish in despair.

Recall the firmness of thy heart, And nerve thee for a hero's part.

Whose is the hand unscathed to sieze The red flame quickened by the breeze?

Where is the foe will dare to wrong Or keep the Maithil lady long?"

Then with pale lips that sorrow dried The son of Raghu thus replied: "Lord Indra thousand-eyed, has sent The sweet rain from the firmament, Sees the rich promise of the grain, And turns him to his rest again.

The clouds with voices loud and deep, Veiling each tree upon the steep, Up on the thirsty earth have shed Their precious burden and are fled.

Now in kings' hearts ambition glows: They rush to battle with their foes;(633) But in Sugriva's sloth I see No care for deeds of chivalry.

See, Lakshma?, on each breezy height A thousand autumn blooms are bright.

See how the wings of wild swans gleam On every islet of the stream.

Four months of flood and rain are past: A hundred years they seemed to last To me whom toil and trouble tried, My Sita severed from my side.

She, gentlest woman, weak and young, Still to her lord unwearied clung.

Still by the exile's side she stood In the wild ways of Da??ak wood, Like a fond bird disconsolate If parted from her darling mate.

Sugriva, lapped in soft repose, Untouched by pity for my woes, Scorns the poor exile, dispossessed, By Rava?'s mightier arm oppressed, The wretch who comes to sue and pray From his lost kingdom far away.

Hence falls on me the Vanar's scorn, A suitor friendless and forlorn.

The time is come: with heedless eye He sees the hour of action fly,- Unmindful, now his hopes succeed, Of promise made in stress of need.

Go seek him sunk in bliss and sloth, Forgetful of his royal oath, And as mine envoy thus upbraid The monarch for his help delayed: "Vile is the wretch who will not pay The favour of an earlier day, Hope in the supplicant's breast awakes, And then his plighted promise breaks.

n.o.blest, mid all of women born, Who keeps the words his lips have sworn, Yea, if those words be good or ill, Maintains his faith unbroken still.

The thankless who forget to aid The friend who helped them when they prayed, Dishonoured in their death shall lie, And dogs shall pa.s.s their corpses by.

Sure thou wouldst see my strained arm hold My bow of battle backed with gold, Wouldst gaze upon its awful form Like lightning flas.h.i.+ng through the storm, And hear the clanging bowstring loud As thunder from a labouring cloud."

His valour and his strength I know: But pleasure's sway now sinks them low, With thee, my brother, for ally That strength and valour I defy.

He promised, when the rains should end, The succour of his arm to lend.

Those months are past: he dares forget, And, lapped in pleasure, slumbers yet.

No thought disturbs his careless breast For us impatient and distressed, And, while we sadly wait and pine, Girt by his lords he quaffs the wine.

Go, brother, go, his palace seek, And boldly to Sugriva speak, Thus give the listless king to know What waits him if my anger glow: Still open, to the gloomy G.o.d, Lies the sad path that Bali trod.

"Still to thy plighted word be true, Lest thou, O King, that path pursue.

I launched the shaft I pointed well.

And Bali, only Bali, fell.

But, if from truth thou dare to stray, Both thee and thine this hand shall slay."