The Ramayana Part 35

She spoke these words of cruel ire; Then stripping off her gay attire, The cold bare floor she pressed.

So, falling from her home on high, Some lovely daughter of the sky Upon the ground might rest.

With darkened brow and furious mien, Stripped of her gems and wreath, the queen In spotless beauty lay, Like heaven obscured with gathering cloud, When shades of midnight darkness shroud Each star's expiring ray.

Canto X. Dasaratha's Speech.

As Queen Kaikeyi thus obeyed The sinful counsel of her maid She sank upon the chamber floor, As sinks in anguish, wounded sore, An elephant beneath the smart Of the wild hunter's venomed dart.

The lovely lady in her mind Revolved the plot her maid designed, And prompt the gain and risk to scan She step by step approved the plan.

Misguided by the hump-back's guile She pondered her resolve awhile, As the fair path that bliss secured The miserable lady lured, Devoted to her queen, and swayed By hopes of gain and bliss, the maid Rejoiced, her lady's purpose known, And deemed the prize she sought her own.

Then bent upon her purpose dire, Kaikeyi with her soul on fire, Upon the floor lay, languid, down, Her brows contracted in a frown.

The bright-hued wreath that bound her hair, Chains, necklets, jewels rich and rare, Stripped off by her own fingers lay Spread on the ground in disarray, And to the floor a l.u.s.tre lent As stars light up the firmament.

Thus prostrate in the mourner's cell, In garb of woe the lady fell, Her long hair in a single braid, Like some fair nymph of heaven dismayed.(272)

The monarch, Rama to install, With thoughtful care had ordered all, And now within his home withdrew, Dismissing first his retinue.

Now all the town has heard, thought he, What joyful rite the morn will see.

So turned he to her bower to cheer With the glad news his darling's ear.

Majestic, as the Lord of Night, When threatened by the Dragon's might, Bursts radiant on the evening sky Pale with the clouds that wander by, So Dasaratha, great in fame, To Queen Kaikeyi's palace came.

There parrots flew from tree to tree, And gorgeous peac.o.c.ks wandered free, While ever and anon was heard The note of some glad water-bird.

Here loitered dwarf and hump-backed maid, There lute and lyre sweet music played.

Here, rich in blossom, creepers twined O'er grots with wondrous art designed, There Champac and Asoka flowers Hung glorious o'er the summer bowers, And mid the waving verdure rose Gold, silver, ivory porticoes.

Through all the months in ceaseless store The trees both fruit and blossom bore.

With many a lake the grounds were graced; Seats gold and silver, here were placed; Here every viand wooed the taste, It was a garden meet to vie E'en with the home of G.o.ds on high.

Within the mansion rich and vast The mighty Dasaratha pa.s.sed: Not there was his beloved queen On her fair couch reclining seen.

With love his eager pulses beat For the dear wife he came to meet, And in his blissful hopes deceived, He sought his absent love and grieved.

For never had she missed the hour Of meeting in her sumptuous bower, And never had the king of men Entered the empty room till then.

Still urged by love and anxious thought News of his favourite queen he sought, For never had his loving eyes Found her or selfish or unwise.

Then spoke at length the warder maid, With hands upraised and sore afraid: "My Lord and King, the queen has sought The mourner's cell with rage distraught."

The words the warder maiden said He heard with soul disquieted, And thus as fiercer grief a.s.sailed, His troubled senses wellnigh failed.

Consumed by torturing fires of grief The king, the world's imperial chief, His lady lying on the ground In most unqueenly posture, found.

The aged king, all pure within, Saw the young queen resolved on sin, Low on the ground, his own sweet wife, To him far dearer than his life, Like some fair creeping plant uptorn, Or like a maid of heaven forlorn, A nymph of air or G.o.ddess sent From Swarga down in banishment.

As some wild elephant who tries To soothe his consort as she lies Struck by the hunter's venomed dart, So the great king disturbed in heart, Strove with soft hand and fond caress To soothe his darling queen's distress, And in his love addressed with sighs The lady of the lotus eyes: "I know not, Queen, why thou shouldst be Thus angered to the heart with me.

Say, who has slighted thee, or whence Has come the cause of such offence That in the dust thou liest low, And rendest my fond heart with woe, As if some goblin of the night Had struck thee with a deadly blight, And cast foul influence on her Whose spells my loving bosom stir?

I have Physicians famed for skill, Each trained to cure some special ill: My sweetest lady, tell thy pain, And they shall make thee well again.

Whom, darling, wouldst thou punished see?

Or whom enriched with lordly fee?

Weep not, my lovely Queen, and stay This grief that wears thy frame away; Speak, and the guilty shall be freed.

The guiltless be condemned to bleed, The poor enriched, the rich abased, The low set high, the proud disgraced.

My lords and I thy will obey, All slaves who own thy sovereign sway; And I can ne'er my heart incline To check in aught one wish of thine.

Now by my life I pray thee tell The thoughts that in thy bosom dwell.

The power and might thou knowest well, Should from thy breast all doubt expel.

I swear by all my merit won, Speak, and thy pleasure shall be done.

Far as the world's wide bounds extend My glorious empire knows no end.

Mine are the tribes in eastern lands, And those who dwell on Sindhu's sands: Mine is Surash?ra, far away, Suvira's realm admits my sway.

My best the southern nations fear, The Angas and the Vangas hear.

And as lord paramount I reign O'er Magadh and the Matsyas' plain, Kosal, and Kasi's wide domain:(273) All rich in treasures of the mine, In golden corn, sheep, goats, and kine.

Choose what thou wilt. Kaikeyi, thence: But tell me, O my darling, whence Arose thy grief, and it shall fly Like h.o.a.r-frost when the sun is high."

She, by his loving words consoled, Longed her dire purpose to unfold, And sought with sharper pangs to wring The bosom of her lord the king.

Canto XI. The Queen's Demand.

To him enthralled by love, and blind, Pierced by his darts who shakes the mind,(274) Kaikeyi with remorseless breast Her grand purpose thus expressed: "O King, no insult or neglect Have I endured, or disrespect.

One wish I have, and faith would see That longing granted, lord, by thee.

Now pledge thy word if thou incline To listen to this prayer of mine, Then I with confidence will speak, And thou shalt hear the boon I seek."

Ere she had ceased, the monarch fell, A victim to the lady's spell, And to the deadly snare she set Sprang, like a roebuck to the net.

Her lover raised her drooping head, Smiled, playing with her hair, and said: "Hast thou not learnt, wild dame, till now That there is none so dear as thou To me thy loving husband, save My Rama bravest of the brave?

By him my race's high-souled heir, By him whom none can match, I swear, Now speak the wish that on thee weighs: By him whose right is length of days, Whom if my fond paternal eye Saw not one hour I needs must die,- I swear by Rama my dear son, Speak, and thy bidding shall be done.

Speak, darling; if thou choose, request To have the heart from out my breast; Regard my words, sweet love, and name The wish thy mind thinks fit to frame.

Nor let thy soul give way to doubt: My power should drive suspicion out.

Yea, by my merits won I swear, Speak, darling, I will grant thy prayer."

The queen, ambitious, overjoyed To see him by her plot decoyed, More eager still her aims to reach, Spoke her abominable speech: "A boon thou grantest, nothing loth, And swearest with repeated oath.

Now let the thirty G.o.ds and three My witnesses, with Indra, be.

Let sun and moon and planets hear, Heaven, quarters, day and night, give ear.

The mighty world, the earth outspread, With bards of heaven and demons dread; The ghosts that walk in midnight shade, And household G.o.ds, our present aid, A every being great and small To hear and mark the oath I call."

When thus the archer king was bound, With treacherous arts and oaths enwound, She to her bounteous lord subdued By blinding love, her speech renewed: "Remember, King, that long-past day Of G.o.ds' and demons' battle fray.

And how thy foe in doubtful strife Had nigh bereft thee of thy life.

Remember, it was only I Preserved thee when about to die, And thou for watchful love and care Wouldst grant my first and second prayer.

Those offered boons, pledged with thee then, I now demand, O King of men, Of thee, O Monarch, good and just, Whose righteous soul observes each trust.

If thou refuse thy promise sworn, I die, despised, before the morn.

These rites in Rama's name begun- Transfer them, and enthrone my son.

The time is come to claim at last The double boon of days long-past, When G.o.ds and demons met in fight, And thou wouldst fain my care requite.

Now forth to Da??ak's forest drive Thy Rama for nine years and five, And let him dwell a hermit there With deerskin coat and matted hair.

Without a rival let my boy The empire of the land enjoy, And let mine eyes ere morning see Thy Rama to the forest flee."

Canto XII. Dasaratha's Lament.

The monarch, as Kaikeyi pressed With cruel words her dire request, Stood for a time absorbed in thought While anguish in his bosom wrought.

"Does some wild dream my heart a.s.sail?

Or do my troubled senses fail?

Does some dire portent scare my view?

Or frenzy's stroke my soul subdue?"

Thus as he thought, his troubled mind In doubt and dread no rest could find, Distressed and trembling like a deer Who sees the dreaded tigress near.

On the bare ground his limbs he threw, And many a long deep sigh he drew, Like a wild snake, with fury blind, By charms within a ring confined.