{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry185.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry185.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry185.htm","text":"Thus, by his friends encompassed round,\n He spoke, and R\u00e1ma, far renowned,\n To his dear brother thus replied,\n Whom holy rites had purified:\n 'O thou whom Queen Kaikeyi bare\n The best of kings, thy words are fair.\n Our royal father, when of yore\n He wed her, to her father swore\n The best of kingdoms to confer,\n A noble dowry meet for her;\n Then, grateful, on the deadly day\n Of heavenly Gods' and demons' fray,\n A future boon on her bestowed\n To whose sweet care his life he owed.\n She to his mind that promise brought,\n And then the best of kings besought\n To bid me to the forest flee,\n And give the rule, O Prince, to thee.\n Thus bound by oath, the king our lord\n Gave her those boons of free accord.\n And bade me, O thou chief of men,\n Live in the woods four years and ten.\n I to this lonely wood have hied\n With faithful Lakshman by my side,\n And Si*t\u00e1 by no tears deterred,\n Resolved to keep my father's word.\n And thou, my noble brother, too\n Shouldst keep our father's promise true:\n Anointed ruler of the state\n Maintain his word inviolate.\n From his great debt, dear brother, free\n Our lord the king for love of me,\n Thy mother's breast with joy inspire,\n And from all woe preserve thy sire.\n *Tis said, near Gay\u00e1's holy town \u00a01b\n Gay\u00e1, great *saint of high renown,\n This text recited when he paid\n Due rites to each ancestral shade:\n \n \n \u00a0 'A son is born his sire to free\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From Put's infernal pains:\n \u00a0 Hence, saviour of his father, he\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The name of Puttra gains.' \u00a02b\n \n \n Thus numerous sons are sought by prayer,\n In Scripture trained with graces fair,\n \n \n That of the number one some day\n May funeral rites at Gay\u00e1 pay.\n The mighty saints who lived of old\n This holy doctrine ever hold.\n Then, best of men, our sire release\n From pains of hell, and give him peace.\n Now Bharat, to Ayodhya* speed,\n The brave S'atrughna with thee lead.\n Take with thee all the twice-born men,\n And please each lord and citizen.\n I now, O King, without delay\n To Dandak* wood will bend my way,\n And Lakshman and the Maithil dame\n Will follow still, our path the same.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Now, Bharat, lord of men be thou,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And o'er Ayodhy\u00e1 reign:\n \u00a0\u00a0 The silvan world to me shall bow,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 King of the wild domain.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Yea, let thy joyful steps be bent\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To that fair town to-day,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And I as happy and content,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To Dandak wood will stray.\n \u00a0\u00a0 The white umbrella o'er thy brow\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Its cooling shade shall throw:\n \u00a0\u00a0 I to the shadow of the bough\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And leafy trees will go.\n \u00a0\u00a0 S'atrughna, for wise plans renowned,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shall still on thee attend;\n \u00a0\u00a0 And Lakshman, ever faithful found,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be my familiar friend.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Let us his sons, O brother dear,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The path of right pursue,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And keep the king we all revere\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still to his promise true.'\n \n \n \n \n \n216:1b Gay\u00e1 is a very holy city in Behar. Every good Hindu ought once in his life to make funeral offerings in Gay\u00e1 in honour of his ancestors.\n216:2b Put is the name of that region of hell to which men are doomed who leave no son to perform the funeral rites which are necessary to ensure the happiness of the departed. Putra, the common word for a son is said by the highest authority to be derived from Put and tra deliverer.","title":"Book II: Canto CVII.: R\u00e1ma's Speech.","type":"page"}