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reverent hands and made reply:

      “Welcome, O glorious being! Say

      How can my care thy grace repay.”

      Envoy of Him whom all adore

      Thus to the king he spake once more:

      “The Gods accept thy worship: they

      Give thee the blessed fruit to-day.

      Approach and take, O glorious King,

      This heavenly nectar which I bring,

      For it shall give thee sons and wealth,

      And bless thee with a store of health.

      Give it to those fair queens of thine,

      And bid them quaff the drink divine:

      And they the princely sons shall bear

      Long sought by sacrifice and prayer.”

      “Yea, O my lord,” the monarch said,

      And took the vase upon his head,

      The gift of Gods, of fine gold wrought,

      With store of heavenly liquor fraught.

      He honoured, filled with transport new,

      That wondrous being, fair to view,

      As round the envoy of the God

With reverential steps he trod.2

      His errand done, that form of light

      Arose and vanished from the sight.

      High rapture filled the monarch’s soul,

      Possessed of that celestial bowl,

      As when a man by want distressed

      With unexpected wealth is blest.

      And rays of transport seemed to fall

      Illuminating bower and hall,

      As when the autumn moon rides high,

      And floods with lovely light the sky.

      Quick to the ladies’ bower he sped,

      And thus to Queen Kauśalyá said:

      “This genial nectar take and quaff,”

      He spoke, and gave the lady half.

      Part of the nectar that remained

      Sumitrá from his hand obtained.

      He gave, to make her fruitful too,

      Kaikeyí half the residue.

      A portion yet remaining there,

      He paused awhile to think.

      Then gave Sumitrá, with her share.

      The remnant of the drink.

      Thus on each queen of those fair three

      A part the king bestowed,

      And with sweet hope a child to see

      Their yearning bosoms glowed.

      The heavenly bowl the king supplied

      Their longing souls relieved,

      And soon, with rapture and with pride,

      Each royal dame conceived.

      He gazed upon each lady’s face,

      And triumphed as he gazed,

      As Indra in his royal place

      By Gods and spirits praised.

1 The Horse-Sacrifice, just described.

2 To walk round an object keeping the right side towards it is a mark of great respect. The Sanskrit word for the observance is pradakshiṇá, from pra pro, and daksha right, Greek δεξίος, Latin dexter, Gaelic deas-il. A similar ceremony is observed by the Gaels.

      “In the meantime she traced around him, with wavering steps, the propitiation, which some have thought has been derived from the Druidical mythology. It consists, as is well known, in the person who makes the deasil walking three times round the person who is the object of the ceremony, taking care to move according to the course of the sun.”

      Scott. The Two Drovers.

      Canto 16. The Vánars.

      When Vishṇu thus had gone on earth,

      From the great king to take his birth,

      The self-existent Lord of all

      Addressed the Gods who heard his call:

      “For Vishṇu’s sake, the strong and true,

      Who seeks the good of all of you,

      Make helps, in war to lend him aid,

      In forms that change at will, arrayed,

      Of wizard skill and hero might,

      Outstrippers of the wind in flight,

      Skilled in the arts of counsel, wise,

      And Vishṇu’s peers in bold emprise;

      With heavenly arts and prudence fraught,

      By no devices to be caught;

      Skilled in all weapon’s lore and use

As they who drink the immortal juice.1

      And let the nymphs supreme in grace,

      And maidens of the minstrel race,

      Monkeys and snakes, and those who rove

      Free spirits of the hill and grove,

      And wandering Daughters of the Air,

      In monkey form brave children bear.

      So erst the lord of bears I shaped,

      Born from my mouth as wide I gaped.”

      Thus by the mighty Sire addressed

      They all obeyed his high behest,

      And thus begot in countless swarms

      Brave sons disguised in sylvan forms.

      Each God, each sage became a sire,

Each minstrel of the heavenly quire,2

Each faun,3 of children strong and good

      Whose feet should roam the hill and wood.

Snakes, bards,4 and spirits,5 serpents bold

      Had sons too numerous to be told.

      Báli, the woodland hosts who led,

High as Mahendra’s6 lofty head,

      Was Indra’s child. That noblest fire,

      The Sun, was great Sugríva’s sire,

      Tára, the mighty monkey, he

Was offspring of Vṛihaspati:7

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