---

Скачать книгу

---

sway as rightly due.

      He, like a sire, will long defend

      Each brother, minister, and friend.

      Then why, O hump-back, art thou pained

      To hear that he the throne has gained?

      Be sure when Ráma’s empire ends,

      The kingdom to my son descends,

      Who, when a hundred years are flown,

      Shall sit upon his fathers’ throne.

      Why is thine heart thus sad to see

      The joy that is and long shall be,

      This fortune by possession sure

      And hopes which we may count secure?

      Dear as the darling son I bore

      Is Ráma, yea, or even more.

      Most duteous to Kauśalyá, he

      Is yet more dutiful to me.

      What though he rule, we need not fear:

      His brethren to his soul are dear.

      And if the throne Prince Ráma fill

      Bharat will share the empire still.”

      She ceased. The troubled damsel sighed

      Sighs long and hot, and thus replied:

      “What madness has possessed thy mind,

      To warnings deaf, to dangers blind?

      Canst thou not see the floods of woe

      That threaten o’er thine head to flow:

      First Ráma will the throne acquire,

      Then Ráma’s son succeed his sire,

      While Bharat will neglected pine

      Excluded from the royal line.

      Not all his sons, O lady fair,

      The kingdom of a monarch share:

      All ruling when a sovereign dies

      Wild tumult in the state would rise.

      The eldest, be he good or ill,

      Is ruler by the father’s will.

      Know, tender mother, that thy son

      Without a friend and all undone,

      Far from the joyous ease of home

      An alien from his race will roam.

      I sped to thee for whom I feel,

      But thy fond heart mistakes my zeal,

      Thy hand a present would bestow

      Because thy rival triumphs so.

      When Ráma once begins his sway

      Without a foe his will to stay,

      Thy darling Bharat he will drive

      To distant lands if left alive.

      By thee the child was sent away

      Beneath his grandsire’s roof to stay.

      Even in stocks and stones perforce

      Will friendship spring from intercourse.

      The young Śatrughna too would go

      With Bharat, for he loved him so.

      As Lakshmaṇ still to Ráma cleaves,

      He his dear Bharat never leaves.

      There is an ancient tale they tell:

      A tree the foresters would fell

      Was saved by reeds that round it stood,

      For love that sprang of neighbourhood.

      So Lakshmaṇ Ráma will defend,

      And each on each for aid depend.

      Such fame on earth their friendship wins

      As that which binds the Heavenly Twins.

      And Ráma ne’er will purpose wrong

      To Lakshmaṇ, for their love is strong.

      But Bharat, Oh, of this be sure,

      Must evil at his hands endure.

      Come, Ráma from his home expel

      An exile in the woods to dwell.

      The plan, O Queen, which I advise

      Secures thy weal if thou be wise.

      So we and all thy kith and kin

      Advantage from thy gain shall win.

      Shall Bharat, meet for happier fate,

      Born to endure his rival’s hate,

      With all his fortune ruined cower

      And dread his brother’s mightier power!

      Up, Queen, to save thy son, arise;

      Prostrate at Ráma’s feet he lies.

      So the proud elephant who leads

      His trooping consorts through the reeds

      Falls in the forest shade beneath

      The lion’s spring and murderous teeth.

      Scorned by thee in thy bliss and pride

      Kauśalyá was of old defied,

      And will she now forbear to show

      The vengeful rancour of a foe?

      O Queen, thy darling is undone

      When Ráma’s hand has once begun

      Ayodhyá‘s realm to sway,

      Come, win the kingdom for thy child

      And drive the alien to the wild

      In banishment to-day.”

      Canto 9. The Plot.

      As fury lit Kaikeyí‘s eyes

      She spoke with long and burning sighs:

      “This day my son enthroned shall see,

      And Ráma to the woods shall flee.

      But tell me, damsel, if thou can,

      A certain way, a skilful plan

      That Bharat may the empire gain,

      And Ráma’s hopes be nursed in vain.”

      The lady ceased. The wicked maid

      The mandate of her queen obeyed,

      And darkly plotting Ráma’s fall

      Responded to Kaikeyí‘s call.

      “I will declare, do thou attend,

      How Bharat may his throne ascend.

      Dost thou forget what things befell?

      Or dost thou feign, remembering well?

      Or wouldst thou hear my tongue repeat

      A story for thy need so meet?

      Gay lady, if thy will be so,

      Now hear the tale of long ago,

      And when my tongue has done its part

      Ponder the story in thine heart.

      When Gods and demons fought of old,

      Thy lord, with royal saints enrolled,

      Sped to the war with thee to bring

      His might to aid the Immortals’

---

Скачать книгу