The Ramayana Part 49

My Bharat shall not rule a waste Reft of all sweets to charm the taste- The wine-cup's dregs, all dull and dead, Whence the light foam and life are fled."

Thus in her rage the long-eyed dame Spoke her dire speech untouched by shame.

Then, answering, Dasaratha spoke: "Why, having bowed me to the yoke, Dost thou, must cruel, spur and goad Me who am struggling with the load?

Why didst thou not oppose at first This hope, vile Queen, so fondly nursed?"

Scarce could the monarch's angry speech The ears of the fair lady reach, When thus, with double wrath inflamed, Kaikeyi to the king exclaimed:

"Sagar, from whom thy line is traced, Drove forth his eldest son disgraced, Called Asamanj, whose fate we know: Thus should thy son to exile go."

"Fie on thee, dame!" the monarch said; Each of her people bent his head, And stood in shame and sorrow mute: She marked not, bold and resolute.

Then great Siddharth, inflamed with rage, The good old councillor and sage On whose wise rede the king relied, To Queen Kaikeyi thus replied: "But Asamanj the cruel laid His hands on infants as they played, Cast them to Sarju's flood, and smiled For pleasure when he drowned a child."(311) The people saw, and, furious, sped Straight the the king his sire and said: "Choose us, O glory of the throne, Choose us, or Asamanj alone."

"Whence comes this dread?" the monarch cried; And all the people thus replied: "In folly, King, he loves to lay Fierce hands upon our babes at play, Casts them to Sarju's flood and joys To murder our bewildered boys."

With heedful ear the king of men Heard each complaining citizen.

To please their troubled minds he strove, And from the state his son he drove.

With wife and gear upon a car He placed him quick, and sent him far.

And thus he gave commandment, "He Shall all his days an exile be."

With basket and with plough he strayed O'er mountain heights, through pathless shade, Roaming all lands a weary time, An outcast wretch defiled with crime.

Sagar, the righteous path who held, His wicked offspring thus expelled.

But what has Rama done to blame?

Why should his sentence be the same?

No sin his stainless name can dim; We see no fault at all in him.

Pure as the moon, no darkening blot On his sweet life has left a spot.

If thou canst see one fault, e'en one, To dim the fame of Raghu's son, That fault this hour, O lady, show, And Rama to the wood shall go.

To drive the guiltless to the wild, Truth's constant lover, undefiled, Would, by defiance of the right, The glory e'en of Indra blight.

Then cease, O lady, and dismiss Thy hope to ruin Rama's bliss, Or all thy gain, O fair of face, Will be men's hatred, and disgrace."

Canto x.x.xVII. The Coats Of Bark.

Thus spake the virtuous sage: and then Rama addressed the king of men.

In laws of meek behaviour bred, Thus to his sire he meekly said:

"King, I renounce all earthly care, And live in woods on woodland fare.

What, dead to joys, have I to do With lordly train and retinue!

Who gives his elephant and yet Upon the girths his heart will set?

How can a cord attract his eyes Who gives away the n.o.bler prize?

Best of the good, with me be led No host, my King with banners spread.

All wealth, all lords.h.i.+p I resign: The hermit's dress alone be mine.

Before I go, have here conveyed A little basket and a spade.

With these alone I go, content, For fourteen years of banishment."

With her own hands Kaikeyi took The hermit coats of bark, and, "Look,"

She cried with bold unblus.h.i.+ng brow Before the concourse, "Dress thee now."

That lion leader of the brave Took from her hand the dress she gave, Cast his fine raiment on the ground, And round his waist the vesture bound.

Then quick the hero Lakshma? too His garment from his shoulders threw, And, in the presence of his sire, Indued the ascetic's rough attire.

But Sita, in her silks arrayed, Threw glances, trembling and afraid, On the bark coat she had to wear, Like a shy doe that eyes the snare.

Ashamed and weeping for distress From the queen's hand she took the dress.

The fair one, by her husband's side Who matched heaven's minstrel monarch,(312) cried: "How bind they on their woodland dress, Those hermits of the wilderness?"

There stood the pride of Janak's race Perplexed, with sad appealing face.

One coat the lady's fingers grasped, One round her neck she feebly clasped, But failed again, again, confused By the wild garb she ne'er had used.

Then quickly hastening Rama, pride Of all who cherish virtue, tied The rough bark mantle on her, o'er The silken raiment that she wore.

Then the sad women when they saw Rama the choice bark round her draw, Rained water from each tender eye, And cried aloud with bitter cry: "O, not on her, beloved, not On Sita falls thy mournful lot.

If, faithful to thy father's will, Thou must go forth, leave Sita still.

Let Sita still remaining here Our hearts with her loved presence cheer.

With Lakshma? by thy side to aid Seek thou, dear son, the lonely shade.

Unmeet, one good and fair as she Should dwell in woods a devotee.

Let not our prayers be prayed in vain: Let beauteous Sita yet remain; For by thy love of duty tied Thou wilt not here thyself abide."

Then the king's venerable guide Vasish?ha, when he saw each coat Enclose the lady's waist and throat, Her zeal with gentle words repressed, And Queen Kaikeyi thus addressed: "O evil-hearted sinner, shame Of royal Kekaya's race and name; Who matchless in thy sin couldst cheat Thy lord the king with vile deceit; Lost to all sense of duty, know Sita to exile shall not go.

Sita shall guard, as 'twere her own, The precious trust of Rama's throne.

Those joined by wedlock's sweet control Have but one self and common soul.

Thus Sita shall our empress be, For Rama's self and soul is she.

Or if she still to Rama cleave And for the woods the kingdom leave: If naught her loving heart deter, We and this town will follow her.

The warders of the queen shall take Their wives and go for Rama's sake, The nation with its stores of grain, The city's wealth shall swell his train.

Bharat, Satrughna both will wear Bark mantles, and his lodging share, Still with their elder brother dwell In the wild wood, and serve him well.

Rest here alone, and rule thy state Unpeopled, barren, desolate; Be empress of the land and trees, Thou sinner whom our sorrows please.

The land which Rama reigns not o'er Shall bear the kingdom's name no more: The woods which Rama wanders through Shall be our home and kingdom too.

Bharat, be sure, will never deign O'er realms his father yields, to reign.

Nay, if the king's true son he be, He will not, sonlike, dwell with thee.

Nay, shouldst thou from the earth arise, And send thy message from the skies, To his forefathers' custom true No erring course would he pursue.

So hast thou, by thy grievous fault, Offended him thou wouldst exalt.

In all the world none draws his breath Who loves not Rama, true to death.

This day, O Queen, shalt thou behold Birds, deer, and beasts from lea and fold Turn to the woods in Rama's train.

And naught save longing trees remain."

Canto x.x.xVIII. Care For Kausalya

Then when the people wroth and sad Saw Sita in bark vesture clad, Though wedded, like some widowed thing, They cried out, "Shame upon thee, King!"

Grieved by their cry and angry look The lord of earth at once forsook All hope in life that still remained, In duty, self, and fame unstained.

Ikshvaku's son with burning sighs On Queen Kaikeyi bent his eyes, And said: "But Sita must not flee In garments of a devotee.

My holy guide has spoken truth: Unfit is she in tender youth, So gently nurtured, soft and fair, The hards.h.i.+ps of the wood to share.

How has she sinned, devout and true, The n.o.blest monarch's child, That she should garb of bark indue And journey to the wild?

That she should spend her youthful days Amid a hermit band, Like some poor mendicant who strays Sore troubled, through the land?

Ah, let the child of Janak throw Her dress of bark aside, And let the royal lady go With royal wealth supplied.

Not such the pledge I gave before, Unfit to linger here: The oath, which I the sinner swore Is kept, and leaves her clear.

Won from her childlike love this too My instant death would be, As blossoms on the old bamboo Destroy the parent tree.(313) If aught amiss by Rama done Offend thee, O thou wicked one, What least transgression canst thou find In her, thou worst of womankind?

What shade of fault in her appears, Whose full soft eye is like the deer's?

What canst thou blame in Janak's child, So gentle, modest, true, and mild?

Is not one crime complete, that sent My Rama forth to banishment?

And wilt thou other sins commit, Thou wicked one, to double it?