{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry093.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry093.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry093.htm","text":"There slept the Br\u00e1hmans, deeply read\n In Scripture, till the night had fled;\n Then, with the royal chaplains, they\n Took each his place in long array.\n There gathered fast the chiefs of trade,\n Nor peer nor captain long delayed,\n Assembling all in order due\n The consecrating rite to view.\n \u00a0\u00a0 The morning dawned with cloudless ray\n On Pushya's high auspicious day,\n And Cancer with benignant power\n Looked down on R\u00e1ma's natal hour.\n The twice-born chiefs, with zealous heed,\n Made ready what the rite would need.\n The well-wrought throne of holy wood\n And goldon urns in order stood.\n There was the royal chair whereon\n A tiger's skin resplendent shone;\n There water, brought for sprinkling thence\n When, in their sacred confluence,\n Blend. Jumn\u00e1's waves with Gang\u00e1's tide,\n From many a holy flood beside,\n From brook and fountain far and near,\n From pool and river, sea and mere.\n And there were honey, curd, and oil,\n Parched rice and grass, the garden's spoil,\n Fresh milk, eight girls in bright attire,\n An elephant with eyes of tire;\n And urns of gold and silver made,\n With milky branches overlaid,\n All brimming from each sacred flood,\n And decked with many a lotus bud\n \n \n And dancing-women fair and free,\n Gay with their gems, were there to see,\n Who stood in bright apparel by\n With lovely brow and witching eye.\n White flashed the jewelled chouri there,\n And shone like moonbeams through the air;\n The white umbrella overhead\n A pale and moonlike lustre shed,\n Wont in pure splendour to precede,\n And in such rites the pomp to lead.\n There stood the charger by the side\n Of the great bull of snow-white hide;\n There was all music soft and loud,\n And bards and minstrels swelled the crowd.\n For now the monarch bade combine\n Each custom of his ancient line\n With every rite Ayodhy\u00e1's state\n Observed, her kings to consecrate.\n \n \n Then, summoned by the king's behest,\n The multitudes together pressed,\n And, missing still the royal sire,\n Began, impatient, to inquire:\n 'Who to our lord will tidings bear\n That all his people throng the square?\n Where is the king? the sun is bright,\n And all is ready for the rite.'\n \n \n As thus they spoke, Sumantra, tried\n In counsel, to the chiefs replied,\n Gathered from lands on every side:\n 'To R\u00e1ma's house I swiftly drave,\n For so the king his mandate gave.\n Our aged lord and R\u00e1ma too\n In honour high hold all of you:\n I in your words (be long your days!)\n Will ask him why he thus delays.'\n \n \n Thus spoke the peer in Scripture read,\n And to the ladies' bower he sped.\n Quick through the gates Sumantra hied,\n Which access ne'er to him denied.\n Behind the curtained screen he drew,\n Which veiled the chamber from the view.\n In benediction loud he raised\n His voice, and thus the monarch praised:\n 'Sun, Moon, Kuvera, S'iva bless\n Kakutstha's son with high success!\n The Lords of air, flood, fire decree\n The victory, my King, to thee!\n The holy night has past away,\n Auspicious shines the morning's ray.\n Rise, Lord of men, thy part to take\n In the great rite. Awake! awake!\n Br\u00e1hmans and captains, chiefs of trade,\n All wait in festive garb arrayed;\n For thee they look with eager eyes:\n O Raghu's son, awake! arise.'\n \n \n To him in holy Scripture read,\n Who hailed him thus, the monarch said,\n Upraising from his sleep his head:\n 'Go. R\u00e1ma hither lead as thou\n W (illegible) but now.\n Come, tell me why my mandate laid\n Upon thee thus is disobeyed.\n Away! and R\u00e1ma hither bring;\n I sleep not: make no tarrying.'\n \n \n Thus gave the king command anew:\n Sumantra from his lord withdrew;\n With head in lowly reverence bent,\n And filled with thoughts of joy, he went,\n The royal street he traversed, where\n Waved flag and pennon to the air,\n And, as with joy the car he drove,\n He let his eyes delighted rove.\n On every side, where'er he came,\n He heard glad words, their theme the same,\n As in their joy the gathered folk\n Of R\u00e1ma and the throning spoke.\n Then saw he R\u00e1ma's palace bright\n And vast as Mount Kail\u00e1sa's height,\n That glorious in its beauty showed\n As Indra's own supreme abode:\n With folding doors both high and wide;\n With hundred porches beautified:\n Where golden statues towering rose\n O'er gemmed and coralled porticoes\n Bright like a cave in Meru's side,\n Or clouds through Autumn's sky that ride:\n Festooned with length of bloomy twine,\n Flashing with pearls and jewels' shine,\n While sandal-wood and aloe lent\n The mingled riches of their scent;\n With all the odorous sweets that fill\n The breezy heights of Dardar's hill.\n There by the gate the S\u00e1ras screamed,\n And shrill-toned peacocks' plumage gleamed.\n Its floors with deftest art inlaid,\n Its sculptured wolves in gold arrayed,\n With its bright sheen the palace took\n The mind of man and chained the look,\n For like the sun and moon it glowed,\n And mocked Kuvera's loved abode.\n Circling the walls a crowd he viewed\n Who stood in reverent attitude,\n With throngs of countrymen who sought\n Acceptance of the gifts they brought.\n The elephant was stationed there,\n Appointed R\u00e1ma's self to bear;\n Adorned with pearls, his brow and cheek\n Were sandal-dyed in many a streak,\n While he, in stature, bulk, and pride,\n With Indra's own Air\u00e1vat \u00a01 vied.\n Sumantra, borne by coursers fleet,\n Flashing a radiance o'er the street,\n \u00a0\u00a0 To R\u00e1ma's palace flew,\n And all who lined the royal road,\n Or thronged the prince's rich abode,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Rejoiced as near he drew.\n And with delight his bosom swelled\n As onward still his course he held\n \n \n \n \u00a0\u00a0 Through many a sumptuous court\n Like Indra's palace nobly made,\n Where peacocks revelled in the shade,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And beasts of silvan sort.\n Through many a hall and chamber wide,\n That with Kail\u00e1sa's splendour vied.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Or mansions of the Blest,\n While R\u00e1ma's friends, beloved and tried,\n Before his coming stepped aside,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Still on Sumantra pressed.\n He reached the chamber door, where stood\n Around his followers young and good,\n Bard, minstrel, charioteer,\n Well skilled the tuneful chords to sweep,\n With soothing strain to lull to sleep,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Or laud their master dear.\n Then, like a dolphin darting through\n Unfathomed depths of ocean's blue\n \u00a0\u00a0 With store of jewels decked,\n Through crowded halls that rock-like rose,\n Or as proud hills where clouds repose,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Sumantra sped unchecked--\n Halls like the glittering domes on high\n Reared for the dwellers of the sky\n \u00a0\u00a0 By heavenly architect.\n \n \n \n \n \n110:1 The elephant of Indra.","title":"Book II: Canto XV.: The Preparations.","type":"page"}