{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry013.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry013.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry013.htm","text":"The Dewy Season \u00a02 came and went;\n \u00a0\u00a0 The spring returned again:\n Then would the king, with mind intent,\n \u00a0\u00a0 His sacrifice ordain.\n \n \n He came to Rishyas'ring, and bowed\n \u00a0\u00a0 To him of look divine,\n And bade him aid his offering vowed\n \u00a0\u00a0 For heirs, to save his line.\n Nor would the youth his aid deny:\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spake the monarch fair,\n And prayed him for that rite so high\n \u00a0\u00a0 All requisites prepare.\n The king to wise Sumantra cried\n \u00a0\u00a0 Who stood aye ready near;\n 'Go summon quick each holy guide,\n \u00a0\u00a0 To counsel and to hear.'\n Obedient to his lord's behest\n \u00a0\u00a0 Away Sumantra sped,\n And brought Vas'ishtha and the rest,\n In Scripture deeply read.\n Suyajna, V\u00e1madeva came,\n \u00a0\u00a0 J\u00e1vali, Kas'yap's son,\n And old Vas'ishtha, dear to fame,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Obedient every one.\n King Das'aratha met them there\n \u00a0\u00a0 And duly honoured each,\n And spoke in pleasant words his fair\n \u00a0\u00a0 And salutary speech:\n 'In childless longing doomed to pine,\n No happiness, O lords, is mine.\n So have I for this cause decreed\n To slay the sacrificial steed.\n Fain would I pay that offering high\n Wherein the horse is doomed to die,\n With Rishyas'ring his aid to lend,\n And with your glory to befriend.'\n \n \n With loud applause each holy man\n Received his speech, approved the plan,\n And, by the wise Vas'ishtha led,\n Gave praises to the king, and said:\n 'The sons thou cravest shalt thou see,\n Of fairest glory, born to thee,\n Whose holy feelings bid thee take\n This righteous course for offspring's sake.'\n Cheered by the ready praise of those\n Whose aid he sought, his spirits rose,\n And thus the king his speech renewed\n With looks of joy and gratitude:\n 'Let what the coming rites require\n Be ready as the priests desire,\n And let the horse, ordained to bleed,\n With fitting guard and priest, be freed, \u00a01\n Yonder on Sarj\u00fa's northern side\n The sacrificial ground provide;\n And let the saving rites, that naught\n Ill-omened may occur, be wrought.\n The offering I announce to-day\n Each lord of earth may claim to pay,\n Provided that his care can guard\n \n \n \n the holy rite by flaws unmarred.\n For wandering fiends, whose watchful spite\n Waits eagerly to spoil each rite,\n Hunting with keenest eye detect\n The slightest slip, the least neglect;\n And when the sacred work is crossed\n The workman is that moment lost.\n Let preparation due be made:\n \u00a0\u00a0 Your powers the charge can meet:\n That so the noble rite be paid\n \u00a0\u00a0 In every point complete.'\n And all the Br\u00e1hmans answered, Yea,\n \u00a0\u00a0 His mandate honouring,\n And gladly promised to obey\n \u00a0\u00a0 The order of the king.\n They cried with voices raised aloud:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Success attend thine aim!'\n Then bade farewell, and lowly bowed,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And hastened whence they came.\n King Das'aratha went within,\n \u00a0\u00a0 His well loved wives to see:\n And said: 'Your lustral rites begin,\n \u00a0\u00a0 For these shall prosper me.\n A glorious offering I prepare\n That precious fruit of sons may bear.'\n Their lily faces brightened fast\n Those pleasant words to hear,\n As lilies, when the winter's past,\n In lovelier hues appear.\n \n \n \n \n \n19:1 One of the Pleiades and generally regarded as the model of wifely excellence.\n19:2 The Hindu year is divided into six seasons of two months each, spring, summer, rains, autumn, winter, and dews.\n20:1 It was essential that the horse should wander free for a year before immolation as a sign that his masters paramount sovereignty was acknowledged by all neighbouring princes.","title":"BOOK I: Canto XI: The Sacrifice Decreed.","type":"page"}