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      That forms the young ascetic’s school:

      And all the wondering world shall hear

      Of his stern life and penance drear;

      His care to nurse the holy fire

      And do the bidding of his sire.

Then, seated on the Angas’2 throne,

      Shall Lomapád to fame be known.

      But folly wrought by that great king

      A plague upon the land shall bring;

      No rain for many a year shall fall

      And grievous drought shall ruin all.

      The troubled king with many a prayer

      Shall bid the priests some cure declare:

      “The lore of Heaven ’tis yours to know,

      Nor are ye blind to things below:

      Declare, O holy men, the way

      This plague to expiate and stay.”

      Those best of Bráhmans shall reply:

      “By every art, O Monarch, try

      Hither to bring Vibháṇdak’s child,

      Persuaded, captured, or beguiled.

      And when the boy is hither led

      To him thy daughter duly wed.”

      But how to bring that wondrous boy

      His troubled thoughts will long employ,

      And hopeless to achieve the task

      He counsel of his lords will ask,

      And bid his priests and servants bring

      With honour saintly Rishyaśring.

      But when they hear the monarch’s speech,

      All these their master will beseech,

      With trembling hearts and looks of woe,

      To spare them, for they fear to go.

      And many a plan will they declare

      And crafty plots will frame,

      And promise fair to show him there,

      Unforced, with none to blame.

      On every word his lords shall say,

      The king will meditate,

      And on the third returning day

      Recall them to debate.

      Then this shall be the plan agreed,

      That damsels shall be sent

      Attired in holy hermits’ weed,

      And skilled in blandishment,

      That they the hermit may beguile

      With every art and amorous wile

      Whose use they know so well,

      And by their witcheries seduce

      The unsuspecting young recluse

      To leave his father’s cell.

      Then when the boy with willing feet

      Shall wander from his calm retreat

      And in that city stand,

      The troubles of the king shall end,

      And streams of blessed rain descend

      Upon the thirsty land.

      Thus shall the holy Rishyaśring

      To Lomapád, the mighty king,

      By wedlock be allied;

      For Śántá, fairest of the fair,

      In mind and grace beyond compare,

      Shall be his royal bride.

      He, at the Offering of the Steed,

      The flames with holy oil shall feed,

      And for King Daśaratha gain

      Sons whom his prayers have begged in vain.”

      “I have repeated, Sire, thus far,

      The words of old Sanatkumár,

      In order as he spoke them then

      Amid the crowd of holy men.”

      Then Daśaratha cried with joy,

      “Say how they brought the hermit boy.”

1 Kaśyap was a grandson of the God Brahmá. He is supposed to have given his name to Kashmír = Kaśyapa-míra, Kaśyap’s Lake.

2 The people of Anga. “Anga is said in the lexicons to be Bengal; but here certainly another region is intended situated at the confluence of the Sarjú with the Ganges, and not far distant from Daśaratha’s dominions.” Gorresio. It comprised part of Behar and Bhagulpur.

      Canto 9. Rishyasring.

      The wise Sumantra, thus addressed,

      Unfolded at the king’s behest

      The plan the lords in council laid

      To draw the hermit from the shade:

      “The priest, amid the lordly crowd,

      To Lomapád thus spoke aloud:

      “Hear, King, the plot our thoughts have framed,

      A harmless trick by all unblamed.

      Far from the world that hermit’s child

      Lives lonely in the distant wild:

      A stranger to the joys of sense,

      His bliss is pain and abstinence;

      And all unknown are women yet

      To him, a holy anchoret.

      The gentle passions we will wake

      That with resistless influence shake

      The hearts of men; and he

      Drawn by enchantment strong and sweet

      Shall follow from his lone retreat,

      And come and visit thee.

      Let ships be formed with utmost care

      That artificial trees may bear,

      And sweet fruit deftly made;

      Let goodly raiment, rich and rare,

      And flowers, and many a bird be there

      Beneath the leafy shade.

      Upon the ships thus decked a band

      Of young and lovely girls shall stand,

      Rich in each charm that wakes desire,

      And eyes that burn with amorous fire;

      Well skilled to sing, and play, and dance

      And ply their trade with smile and glance

      Let these, attired in hermits’ dress,

      Betake them to the wilderness,

      And bring the boy of life austere

      A voluntary captive here.”

      He ended; and the king agreed,

      By the priest’s counsel won.

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