The Ramayana Part 142

'Tis better far to fast and die Than hopeless bound in chains to lie, Your steps, O Vanars, homeward bend And leave me here my life to end.

Better to die of hunger here Than meet at home the fate I fear.

Go, bow you at Sugriva's feet, And in my name the monarch greet.

Before the sons of Raghu bend, And give the greeting that I send.

Greet kindly Ruma too, for she A son's affection claims from me, And gently calm with friendly care My mother Tara's wild despair; Or when she hears her darling's fate The queen will die disconsolate."

Thus Angad bade the chiefs adieu: Then on the ground his limbs he threw Where sacred Darbha(760) gra.s.s was spread, And wept as every hope had fled.

The moving words of Angad drew Down aged cheeks the piteous dew.

And, as the chieftains' eyes grew dim, They swore to stay and die with him.

On holy gra.s.s whose every blade Was duly, pointing southward, laid, The Vanars sat them down and bent Their faces to the orient, While "Here, O comrades, let us die With Angad," was the general cry.

Canto LVI. Sampati.

Then came the vultures' mighty king Where sat the Vanars sorrowing,- Sampati,(761) best of birds that fly On sounding pinions through the sky, Ja?ayus' brother, famed of old, Most glorious and strong and bold.

Upon the slope of Vindhya's hill He saw the Vanars calm and still.

These words he uttered while the sight Filled his fierce spirit with delight: "Behold how Fate with changeless laws Within his toils the sinner draws, And brings me, after long delay, A rich and n.o.ble feast to-day, These Vanars who are doomed to die My hungry maw to satisfy."

He spoke no more: and Angad heard The menace of the mighty bird; And thus, while anguish filled his breast, The n.o.ble Hanuman addressed: "Vivasvat's(762) son has sought this place For vengeance on the Vanar race.

See, Yama, wroth for Sita's sake, Is come our guilty lives to take.

Our king's decree is left undone, And naught achieved for Raghu's son.

In duty have we failed, and hence Comes punishment for dire offence.

Have we not heard the marvels wrought By King Ja?ayus,(763) how he fought With Rava?'s might, and, n.o.bly brave, Perished, the Maithil queen to save?

There is no living creature, none, But loves to die for Raghu's son, And in long toils and dangers we Have placed our lives in jeopardy.

Blest is Ja?ayus, he who gave His life the Maithil queen to save, And proved his love for Rama well When by the giant's hand he fell.

Now raised to bliss and high renown He fears not fierce Sugriva's frown.

Alas, alas! what miseries spring From that rash promise of the king!(764) His own sad death, and Rama sent With Lakshma? forth to banishment: The Maithil lady borne away: Ja?ayus slain in mortal fray: The fall of Bali when the dart Of Rama quivered in his heart: And, after toil and pain and care, Our misery and deep despair."

He ceased: the feathered monarch heard, His heart with ruth and wonder stirred: "Whose is that voice," the vulture cried, "That tells me how Ja?ayus died, And shakes my inmost soul with woe For a loved brother's overthrow?

After long days at length I hear The glorious name of one so dear.

Once more, O Vanar chieftains, tell How King Ja?ayus fought and fell.

But first your aid, I pray you, lend, And from this peak will I descend.

The sun has burnt my wings, and I No longer have the power to fly."

Canto LVII. Angad's Speech.

Though grief and woe his utterance broke They trusted not the words he spoke; But, looking still for secret guile, Reflected in their hearts a while: "If on our mangled limbs he feed, We gain the death ourselves decreed."

Then rose the Vanar chiefs, and lent Their arms to aid the bird's descent; And Angad spake: "There lived of yore A n.o.ble Vanar king who bore The name of Riksharajas, great And brave and strong and fortunate.

His sons were like their father: fame Knows Bali and Sugriva's name.

Praised in all lands, a glorious king Was Bali, and from him I spring.

Brave Rama, Dasaratha's heir, A glorious prince beyond compare, His sire and duty's law obeyed, And sought the depths of Da??ak' shade Sita his well-beloved dame, And Lakshma?, with the wanderer came.

A giant watched his hour, and stole The sweet delight of Rama's soul.

Ja?ayus, Dasaratha's friend, Swift succour to the dame would lend.

Fierce Rava? from his car he felled, And for a time the prize withheld.

But bleeding, weak with years, and tired, Beneath the demon's blows expired, Due rites at Rama's hands obtained, And bliss that ne'er shall minish, gained.

Then Rama with Sugriva made A covenant for mutual aid, And Bali, to the field defied, By conquering Rama's arrow died.

Sugriva then, by Rama's grace, Was monarch of the Vanar race.

By his command a mighty host Seeks Rama's queen from coast to coast.

Sent forth by him, in every spot We looked for her, but find her not.

Vain is the toil, as though by night We sought to find the Day-G.o.d's light.

In lands unknown at length we found A s.p.a.cious cavern under ground, Whose vaults that stretch beneath the hill Were formed by Maya's magic skill.

Through the dark maze our steps were bent, And wandering there a month we spent, And lost, in fruitless error, thus The days our king allotted us.

Thus we though faithful have transgressed, And failed to keep our lord's behest.

No chance of safety can we see, No lingering hope of life have we.

Sugriva's wrath and Rama's hate Press on our souls with grievous weight: And we, because 'tis vain to fly, Resolve at length to fast and die."

Canto LVIII. Tidings Of Sita.

The piteous tears his eye bedewed As thus his speech the bird renewed; "Alas my brother, slain in fight By Rava?'s unresisted might!

I, old and wingless, weak and worn, O'er his sad fate can only mourn.

Fled is my youth: in life's decline My former strength no more is mine.

Once on the day when Vritra(765) died, We brothers, in ambitious pride, Sought, mounting with adventurous flight, The Day-G.o.d garlanded with light.

On, ever on we urged our way Where fields of ether round us lay, Till, by the fervent heat a.s.sailed, My brother's pinions flagged and failed.

I marked his sinking strength, and spread My stronger wings to screen his head, Till, all my feathers burnt away, On Vindhya's hill I fell and lay.

There in my lone and helpless state I heard not of my brother's fate."

Thus King Sampati spoke and sighed: And royal Angad thus replied: "If, brother of Jatayus, thou Hast heard the tale I told but now, Obedient to mine earnest prayer The dwelling of that fiend declare.

O, say where cursed Rava? dwells, Whom folly to his death impels."

He ceased. Again Sampati spoke, And hope in every breast awoke: "Though lost my wings, and strength decayed, Yet shall my words lend Rama aid.

I know the worlds where Vish?u trod,(766) I know the realm of Ocean's G.o.d; How Asurs fought with heavenly foes, And Amrit from the churning rose.(767) A mighty task before me lies, To prosper Rama's enterprise, A task too hard for one whom length Of days has rifled of his strength.

I saw the cruel Rava? bear A gentle lady through the air.

Bright was her form, and fresh and young, And sparkling gems about her hung.

"O Rama, Rama!" cried the dame, And shrieked in terror Lakshma?'s name, As, struggling in the giant's hold, She dropped her gauds of gems and gold.

Like sun-light on a mountain shone The silken garments she had on, And glistened o'er his swarthy form As lightning flashes through the storm.

That giant Rava?, famed of old, Is brother of the Lord of Gold.(768) The southern ocean roars and swells Round Lanka, where the robber dwells In his fair city n.o.bly planned And built by Visvakarma's(769) hand.

Within his bower securely barred, With monsters round her for a guard, Still in her silken vesture clad Lies Sita, and her heart is sad.

A hundred leagues your course must be Beyond this margin of the sea.

Still to the south your way pursue, And there the giant Rava? view.

Then up, O Vanars, and away!

For by my heavenly lore I say, There will you see the lady's face, And hither soon your steps retrace.

In the first field of air are borne The doves and birds that feed on corn.

The second field supports the crows And birds whose food on branches grows.

Along the third in balanced flight Sail the keen osprey and the kite.

Swift through the fourth the falcon springs The fifth the slower vulture wings.

Up to the sixth the gay swans rise, Where royal Vainateya(770) flies.

We too, O chiefs, of vulture race, Our line from Vinata may trace, Condemned, because we wrought a deed Of shame, on flesh and blood to feed.

But all Supar?a's(771) wondrous powers And length of keenest sight are ours, That we a hundred leagues away Through fields of air descry our prey.