{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry205.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry205.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry205.htm","text":"So Raghu's son, his foemen's dread,\n With S\u00edt\u00e1 and his brother sped,\n Girt round by many a twice-born sage,\n To good Sutikshna's hermitage. \u00a01\n Through woods for many a league he passed,\n O'er rushing rivers full and fast,\n Until a mountain fair and bright\n As lofty Meru rose in sight.\n Within its belt of varied wood\n Ikshv\u00e1ku'a sons and S\u00edt\u00e1 stood,\n Where trees of every foliage bore\n Blossom and fruit in endless store.\n There coats of bark, like garlands strung,\n Before a lonely cottage hung,\n And there a hermit, dust-besmeared,\n A lotus on his breast, appeared.\n Then R\u00e1ma with obeisance due\n Addressed the sage, as near he drew:\n 'My name is R\u00e1ma, lord; I seek\n Thy presence, saint, with thee to speak.\n O sage, whose merits ne'er decay,\n Some word unto thy servant say.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 The sage his eyes on R\u00e1ma bent,\n Of virtue's friends pre\u00ebminent;\n Then words like these he spoke, and pressed\n The son of Raghu to his breast:\n 'Welcome to thee, illustrious youth,\n Best champion of the rights of truth!\n By thine approach this holy ground\n A worthy lord this day has found.\n I could not quit this mortal frame\n Till thou shouldst, come, O dear to fame:\n To heavenly spheres I would not rise,\n Expecting thee with eager eyes.\n \n \n \n I knew that thou, unkinged, hadst made\n Thy home in Chitrak\u00fata's shade.\n E'en now, O R\u00e1ma, Indra, lord\n Supreme by all the Gods adored,\n King of the Hundred Offerings, \u00a01b said,\n When he my dwelling visited,\n That the good works that I have done\n My choice of all the worlds have won.\n Accept this meed of holy vows,\n And with thy brother and thy spouse,\n Roam, through my favour, in the sky\n Which saints celestial glorify.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 To that bright sage, of penance stern,\n The high-souled R\u00e1ma spake in turn,\n As V\u00e1sava \u00a02b who rules the skies\n To Brahm\u00e1's gracious speech replies:\n I of myself those worlds will win,\n O mighty hermit pure from sin:\n But now, O saint, I pray thee tell\n Where I within this wood may dwell:\n For I by S'arabhanga old,\n The son of Gautama, was told\n That thou in every lore art wise,\n And seest all with loving eyes.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus to the saint, whose glories high\n Filled all the world, he made reply:\n And thus again the holy man\n His pleasant speech with joy began:\n 'This calm retreat, O Prince, is blest\n With many a charm: here take thy rest.\n Here roots and kindly fruits abound,\n And hermits love the holy ground.\n Fair silvan beasts and gentle deer\n In herds unnumbered wander here:\n And as they roam, secure from harm,\n Our eyes with grace and beauty charm:\n Except the beasts in thickets bred,\n This grove of ours has naught to dread.\"\n \u00a0\u00a0 The hermit's speech when R\u00e1ma heard,--\n The hero ne'er by terror stirred,--\n On his great bow his hand he laid,\n And thus in turn his answer made:\n 'O saint, my darts of keenest steel,\n Armed with their murderous barbs, would deal\n Destruction mid the silvan race\n That flocks around thy dwelling-place.\n Most wretched then my fate would be\n For such dishonour shown to thee:\n And only for the briefest stay\n Would I within this grove delay.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke and ceased. With pious care\n He turned him to his evening prayer,\n Performed each customary rite,\n And sought his lodging for the night,\n With S\u00edt\u00e1 and his brother laid\n \n \n \n Beneath the grove's delightful shade,\n First good S\u00fat\u00edkshnu, when he saw\n The shades of night around them draw,\n \u00a0\u00a0 With hospitable care\n The princely chieftains entertained\n With store of choicest food ordained\n \u00a0\u00a0 For holy hermit's fare.\n \n \n \n \n236:1 Near the celebrated R\u00e1magiri or R\u00e1ma's Hill, now R\u00e1m-tek, near Nagpore --the scene of the Yaksha's exile in the Messenger Cloud.\n236:1b A hundred As'vamedhas or sacrifices of a horse raise the sacrificer to the dignity of Indra.\n236:2b Indra.","title":"BOOK III: Canto VII.: Sut\u00edkshna.","type":"page"}