{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry083.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry083.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry083.htm","text":"Then Saint Vas'ishtha to the king\n Came ready at his summoning.\n 'Now go,' exclaimed the monarch, 'thou\n Enriched by fervent rite and vow,\n For R\u00e1ma and his wife ordain\n The fast, that joy may bless his reign.'\n \n \n The best of those who Scripture know\n Said to the king, 'My lord, I go.'\n To R\u00e1ma's house Vas'ishtha hied,\n The hero's fast by rule to guide,\n And skilled in sacred texts to tell\n Each step to him instructed well.\n Straight to Prince R\u00e1ma's high abode,\n That like a cloud pale-tinted showed,\n Borne in his priestly car he rode.\n Two courts he passed, and in the third\n He stayed his car. Then R\u00e1ma heard\n The holy sage was come, and flew\n To honour him with honour due.\n He hastened to the car and lent\n His hand to aid the priest's descent.\n Then spoke Vas'ishtha words like these,\n Pleased with his reverent courtesies,\n With pleasant things his heart to cheer\n Who best deserved glad news to hear:\n 'Prince, thou hast won thy father's grace,\n And thine will be the Regent's place:\n Now with thy S\u00edt\u00e1, as is right,\n In strictest fasting spend the night,\n \n \n \n For when the morrow's dawn is fair\n The king will consecrate his heir:\n So Nahush,\u00a01 as the wise relate,\n Yay\u00e1ti joyed to consecrate.'\n \n \n Thus having said, Vas'ishtha next\n Ordained the fast by rule and text,\n For R\u00e1ma faithful to his vows\n And the Videhan dame his spouse.\n Then from the prince's house he hied\n With courteous honours gratified.\n Round R\u00e1ma gathered every friend\n In pleasant talk a while to spend.\n He bade good night to all at last,\n And to his inner chamber passed.\n Then R\u00e1ma's house shone bright and gay\n With men and maids in glad array,\n As in the morning some fair lake\n When all her lotuses awake,\n And every bird that loves the flood\n Flits joyous round each opening bud.\n \n \n Forth from the house Vas'ishtha drove,\n That with the king's in splendour strove,\n And all the royal street he viewed\n Filled with a mighty multitude\n The eager concourse blocked each square,\n Each road and lane and thoroughfare,\n And joyous shouts on every side\n Rose like the roar of Ocean's tide,\n As streams of men together came\n With loud huzza and glad acclaim.\n The ways were watered, swept and clean,\n And decked with flowers and garlands green\n And all Ayodhy\u00e1 shone arrayed\n With banners on the roofs that played.\n Men, women, boys with eager eyes,\n Expecting when the sun should rise,\n Stood longing for the herald ray\n Of R\u00e1ma's consecration day,\n To see, a source of joy to all,\n The people-*honoured festival.\n \n \n The priest advancing slowly through\n The mighty crowd he cleft in two,\n Near to the monarch's palace drew.\n He sought the terrace, by the stair,\n Like a white cloud peak high in air,\n The reverend king of men to meet\n Who sate upon his splendid seat:\n Thus will Vrihaspati arise\n To meet the monarch of the skies.\n But when the king his coming knew,\n He left his throne and near him drew\n Questioned by him Vas'ishtha said\n That all his task was duly sped.\n Then all who sate there, honouring\n Vas'ishtha, rose as rose the king,\n Vas'ishtha bade his lord adieu,\n And all the peers, dismissed, withdrew.\n \n \n \n Then as a royal lion seeks\n His cave beneath the rocky peaks,\n So to the chambers where abode\n His consorts Das'aratha strode.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Full-thronged were those delightful bowers\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With women richly dressed,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And splendid as the radiant towers\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where Indra loves to rest.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then brighter flashed a thousand eyes\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With the light his presence lent,\n \u00a0\u00a0 As, when the moon begins to rise\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The star thronged firmament.\n \n \n \n \n \n94:1 Kaus'aly\u00e1 aud Sumitr\u00e1.\n95:1 A king of the Lunar race, and father of Yay\u00e1ti.","title":"Book II: Canto V.: R\u00e1ma's Fast.","type":"page"}