{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry182.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry182.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry182.htm","text":"Vas'ishtha with his soul athirst\n To look again on Rama, first\n In line the royal widows placed,\n And then the way behind them traced.\n The ladies moving, faint and slow,\n Saw the fair stream before them flow,\n And by the bank their steps were led\n Which the two brothers visited.\n Kausalya with her faded cheek\n Arid weeping eyes began to speak,\n And thus in mournful tones addressed\n The queen Sumitra and the rest:\n 'See in the wood the bank's descent,\n Which the two orphan youths frequent,\n Whose noble spirits never fall,\n Though woes surround them, reft of all.\n Thy son with love that never tires\n Draws water hence which mine requires,\n This day, for lowly toil unfit.\n His pious task thy son should quit.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 As on the long-eyed lady strayed,\n On holy grass, whose points were laid\n Directed to the southern sky,\n When Rama's humble gift she spied\n Thus to the queens Kausalya cried:\n 'The gift of Rama's hand behold,\n His tribute to the king high-souled,\n Offered to him, as texts require,\n Lord of Ikshhvaku's line, his sire!\n Not such I deem the funeral food\n Of kings with godlike might endued.\n Can he who knew all pleasuies, he\n Who ruled the earth from sea to sea,\n The mighty lord of monarchs, feed\n On Ingudi's extracted seed?\n In all the world there cannot be\n A woe, I ween, more sad to see,\n Than that my glorious son should make\n His funeral gilt of such a cake.\n The ancient text I oft have heard\n This day is true in every word:\n 'Ne'er do the blessed Gods refuse\n To eat the food their children use.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 The ladies soothed the weeping dame:\n \n \n To Rama's hermitage they came,\n And there the hero met their eyes\n Like a God fallen from the skies.\n Him joyless, reft of all, they viewed,\n And tears their mournful eyes bedewed.\n The truthful hero left his seat,\n And clasped the ladies' lotus feet,\n And they with soft hands brushed away\n The dust that on his shoulders lay.\n Then Lakshman, when he saw each queen\n With weeping eyes and troubled mien,\n Near to the royal ladies drew\n And paid them gentle reverence too.\n He, Das'aratha's offspring, signed\n The heir of bliss by Fortune kind,\n Received from every dame no less\n Each mark of love and tenderness.\n And Sita came and bent before\n The widows, while her eyes ran o'er,\n And pressed their feet with many a tear.\n They when they saw the lady dear\n Pale, worn with dwelling in the wild.\n Embraced her as a darling child:\n Daughter of royal Janak, bride\n Of Das'aratha's son, they cried,\n 'How couldst thou, offering of a king,\n Endure this woe and suffering\n In the wild forest? When I trace\n Each sign of trouble on thy face-\n That lotus which the sun has dried,\n That lily by the tempest tried,\n That gold whereon the dust is spread,\n That moon whence all the light is fled--\n Sorrow assails my heart, alas!\n As fire consumes the wood and grass.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then Rama, as she spoke distressed,\n The feet of Saint Vas'ishtha pressed,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Touched them with reverential love,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then near him took his seat:\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus Indra clasps in realms above\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Heavenly Teacher's \u00a01 feet.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then with each counsellor and peer,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bharat of duteous mind,\n \u00a0\u00a0 With citizens and captains near,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sat humbly down behind.\n \u00a0\u00a0 When with his hands to him upraised,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In devotee's attire.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Bharat upon his brother gazed\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whose glory shone like fire,\n \u00a0\u00a0 As when the pure Maheridra bends\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To the great Lord of Life,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Among his noble crowd of friends\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This anxious thought was rife:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'What words to Raghu's son to-day\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Will royal Bharat speak,\n \u00a0\u00a0 Whose heart has been so prompt to pay\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obeisance fond and meek?'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then steadfast Rama, Lakshman wise,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bharat for truth renowned,\n \n \n Shone like three fires that heavenward rise\n \u00a0\u00a0 With holy priests around.\n \n \n \n \n213:1 Vrihaspati, the preceptor of the Gods.","title":"Book II: Canto CIV.: The Meeting With The Queens.","type":"page"}