{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry034.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry034.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry034.htm","text":"That conquering pair, of royal race,\n Skilled to observe due time and place,\n To K\u00fas'ik's hermit son addressed,\n In timely words, their meet request:\n 'When must we, lord, we pray thee tell,\n Those Rovers of the Night repel?\n \n \n \n Speak, lest we let the moment fly,\n And pass the due occasion by.'\n Thus longing for the strife, they prayed,\n And thus the hermits answer made:\n 'Till the fifth day be come and past,\n O Raghu's sons, your watch must last,\n The saint his Diksh\u00e1 \u00a01 has begun,\n And all that time will speak to none.'\n Soon as the steadfast devotees\n Had made reply in words like these,\n The youths began, disdaining sleep,\n Six days and nights their watch to keep.\n The warrior pair who tamed the foe,\n Unrivalled benders of the bow,\n Kept watch and ward unwearied still\n To guard the saint from scathe and ill.\n 'Twas now the sixth returning day,\n The hour foretold had past away.\n Then R\u00e1ma cried: 'O Lakshman, now\n Firm, watchful, resolute be thou.\n The fiends as yet have kept afar\n From the pure grove in which we are;\n Yet waits us, ere the day shall close,\n Dire battle with the demon foes.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 While thus spoke R\u00e1ma borne away\n By longing for the deadly fray,\n See! bursting from the altar came\n The sudden glory of the flame.\n Round priest and deacon, and upon\n Grass, ladles, flowers, the splendour shone,\n And the high rite, in order due,\n With sacred texts began anew.\n But then a loud and fearful roar\n \u00a0\u00a0 Re-echoed through the sky;\n And like vast clouds that shadow o'er\n \u00a0\u00a0 The heavens in dark July,\n Involved in gloom of magic might\n \u00a0\u00a0 Two fiends rushed on amain,\n M\u00e1richa, Rover of the Night,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Suv\u00e1hu, and their train.\n As on they came in wild career\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thick blood in rain they shed;\n And R\u00e1ma saw those things of fear\n \u00a0\u00a0 Impending overhead.\n Then soon as those accursed two\n \u00a0\u00a0 Who showered down blood be spied,\n Thus to his brother brave and true\n \u00a0\u00a0 Spoke R\u00e1ma lotus-eyed:\n 'Now, Lakshman, thou these fiends shalt see,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Man-eaters, foul of mind,\n Before my mortal weapon flee\n \u00a0\u00a0 Like clouds before the wind.'\n He spoke. An arrow, swift as thought,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Upon his bow he pressed,\n And smote, to utmost fury wrought,\n \u00a0\u00a0 M\u00e1richa on the breast.\n Deep in his flesh the weapon lay\n \u00a0\u00a0 Winged by the mystic spell,\n \n \n \n And, hurled a hundred leagues away,\n \u00a0\u00a0 In ocean's flood he fell.\n Then R\u00e1ma, when he saw the foe\n \u00a0\u00a0 Convulsed and mad with pain\n 'Neath the chill-pointed weapon's blow,\n \u00a0\u00a0 To Lakshman spoke again:\n 'See, Lakshman, see! this mortal dart\n \u00a0\u00a0 That strikes a numbing chill,\n Hath struck him senseless with the smart,\n \u00a0\u00a0 But left him breathing still.\n But these who love the evil way,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And drink the blood they spill,\n Rejoicing holy rites to stay,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Fierce plagues, my hand shall kill.'\n He seized another shaft, the best,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Aglow with living flame;\n It struck Suv\u00e1hu on the chest,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And dead to earth he came.\n Again a dart, the Wind-God's own,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Upon his string he laid,\n And all the demons were o'erthrown,\n \u00a0\u00a0 The saints no more afraid.\n When thus the fiends were slain in fight,\n Disturbers of each holy rite,\n Due honour by the saints was paid\n To R\u00e1ma for his wondrous aid:\n So Indra is adored when he\n Has won some glorious victory.\n Success at last the rite had crowned,\n And Visv\u00e1mitra gazed around,\n And seeing every side at rest,\n The son of Raghu thus addressed:\n 'My joy, O Prince, is now complete:\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thou hast obeyed my will:\n Perfect before, this calm retreat\n \u00a0\u00a0 Is now more perfect still.'\n \n \n \n \n \n44:1 Certain ceremonies preliminary to sacrifice.","title":"BOOK I: Canto XXXII.: Vis'v\u00e1mitra's Sacrifice.","type":"page"}