---

Скачать книгу

---

royal kin his stay,

      I deem the fittest time of all

      Thee, chosen Regent, to install.

      It may be Bharat still has stood

      True to the counsels of the good,

      Faithful to thee with tender trust,

      With governed senses, pure and just.

      But human minds, too well I know,

      Will sudden changes undergo,

      And by their constant deeds alone

      The virtue of the good is shown.

      Now, Ráma, go. My son, good night!

      Fixt is to-morrow for the rite.”

      Then Ráma paid the reverence due,

      And quickly to his home withdrew.

      He passed within, nor lingered there,

      But sought his mother’s mansion, where

      The dame in linen robes arrayed

      Devoutly in the chapel prayed

      To Fortune’s Queen, with utterance checked,

      That she her Ráma would protect.

      There was Sumitrá too, and there

      Was Lakshmaṇ led by loving care:

      And when the royal choice they knew

      Sítá in haste was summoned too.

      Absorbed, with half-shut eyes, the queen

      Attended by the three was seen.

      She knew that Pushya’s lucky hour

      Would raise her son to royal power,

      So fixed with bated breath each thought

      On God supreme, by all men sought.

      To her, as thus she knelt and prayed,

      Ráma drew near, due reverence paid,

      And then to swell his mother’s joy,

      Thus spoke her own beloved boy;

      “O mother dear, my sire’s decree

      Entrusts the people’s weal to me.

      To-morrow I, for so his will,

      Anointed king, the throne shall fill.

      The few last hours till night shall end

      Sítá with me must fasting spend,

      For so my father has decreed,

      And holy priests with him agreed.

      What vows soever thou mayst deem

      My consecration’s eve beseem,

      Do thou, sweet mother, for my sake

      And for beloved Sítá‘s make.”

      When the glad news Kauśalyá heard,

      So long desired, so long deferred,

      While tears of joy her utterance broke,

      In answer to her son she spoke:

      “Long be thy life, my darling: now

      Thy prostrate foes before thee bow.

      Live long and with thy bright success

      My friends and dear Sumitrá‘s bless.

      Surely the stars were wondrous fair

      When thee, sweet son, thy mother bare,

      That thy good gifts such love inspire

      And win the favour of thy sire.

      With thee I travailed not in vain;

      Those lotus eyes reward my pain,

      And all the glory of the line

      Of old Ikshváku will be thine.”

      He smiled, and on his brother gazed

      Who sate with reverent hands upraised,

      And said: “My brother, thou must be

      Joint-ruler of this land with me.

      My second self thou, Lakshmaṇ, art,

      And in my fortune bearest part.

      Be thine, Sumitrá‘s son, to know

      The joys from regal power that flow.

      My life itself, the monarch’s seat,

      For thy dear sake to me are sweet.”

      Thus Ráma to his brother said,

To both his mothers4 bowed his head,

      And then with Sítá by his side

      To his own house the hero hied.

1 Ráhu, the ascending node, is in mythology a demon with the tail of a dragon whose head was severed from his body by Vishṇu, but being immortal, the head and tail retained their separate existence and being transferred to the stellar sphere became the authors of eclipses; the first especially by endeavouring to swallow the sun and moon.

2 In eclipse.

3 The seventh of the lunar asterisms.

4 Kauśalyá and Sumitrá.

      Canto 5. Ráma’s Fast.

      Then Saint Vaśishṭha to the king

      Came ready at his summoning.

      “Now go,” exclaimed the monarch, “thou

      Enriched by fervent rite and vow,

      For Ráma and his wife ordain

      The fast, that joy may bless his reign.”

      The best of those who Scripture know

      Said to the king, “My lord, I go.”

      To Ráma’s house Vaśishṭha hied,

      The hero’s fast by rule to guide,

      And skilled in sacred texts to tell

      Each step to him instructed well.

      Straight to Prince Ráma’s high abode,

      That like a cloud pale-tinted showed,

      Borne in his priestly car he rode.

      Two courts he passed, and in the third

      He stayed his car. Then Ráma heard

      The holy sage was come, and flew

      To honour him with honour due.

      He hastened to the car and lent

      His hand to aid the priest’s descent.

      Then spoke Vaśishṭha words like these,

      Pleased with his reverent courtesies,

      With pleasant things his heart to cheer

      Who best deserved glad news to hear:

      “Prince, thou hast won thy father’s grace,

      And thine will be the Regent’s place:

      Now with thy Sítá, as is right,

      In

---

Скачать книгу