{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry213.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry213.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry213.htm","text":"Arrived at Panchavat\u00ed's shade\n Where silvan life and serpents strayed,\n R\u00e1ma in words like these addressed\n Lakshman of vigour unrepressed:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Brother, our home is here: behold\n The grove of which the hermit told:\n The bowers of Panchavat\u00ed see\n Made fair by every blooming tree.\n Now, brother, bend thine eyes around;\n With skilful glance survey the grouud:\n Here be some spot selected, best\n Approved for gentle hermits' rest,\n Where thou, the Maithil dame, and I\n May dwell while seasons sweetly fly.\n Some pleasant spot be chosen where\n Pure waters gleam and trees are fair,\n Some nook where flowers and wood are found\n And sacred grass and springs abound.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then Lakshman, Sit\u00e1 standing by,\n Raised reverent hands, and made reply:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'A hundred years shall flee, and still\n Will I obey my brothers will:\n Select thyself a pleasant spot;\n Be mine the care to rear the cot.'\n The glorious chieftain, pleased to hear\n That loving speech that soothed his ear,\n Selected with observant care\n A spot with every charm most fair.\n He stood within that calm retreat,\n A shade for hermits' home most meet,\n And thus Sumitr\u00e1's son addressed,\n While his dear hand in his he pressed:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'See, see this smooth and lovely glade\n Which flowery trees encircling shade:\n Do thou, beloved Lakshman rear\n A pleasant cot to lodge us here.\n I see beyond that feathery brake\n The gleaming of a lilied lake,\n Where flowers in sunlike glory throw\n Fresh odours from the wave below.\n Agastva's words now find we true,\n He told the charms which here we view:\n \n \n Here are the trees that blossom o'er\n God\u00e1var\u00ed's most lovely shore.\n Whose pleasant flood from side to side\n With swans and geese is beautified,\n And fair banks crowded with the deer\n That steal from every covert near.\n The peacock's cry is loud and shrill\n From many a tall and lovely hill,\n Green-belted by the trees that wave\n Full blossoms o'er the rock and cave.\n Like elephants whose huge fronts glow\n With painted streaks, the mountains show\n Long lines of gold and silver sheen\n With copper's darker hues between.\n With every tree each hill is graced,\n Where creepers blossom interlaced.\n Look where the S\u00e1l's long branches sway,\n And palms their fanlike leaves display;\n The date-tree And the Jak are near,\n And their long stems Tam\u00e1las rear.\n See the tall Mango lift his head,\n As'okas all their glory spread,\n The Ketak her sweet buds unfold,\n And Champacs hang their cups of gold. \u00a01\n The spot is pure and pleasant here\n Are multitudes of birds and deer.\n O Lakshman, with our father's friend\n What happy hours we here shall spend!'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke: the conquering Lakshman heard.\n Obedient to his brother's word.\n Raised by his toil a cottage stood\n To shelter R\u00e1ma in the wood\n Of ample size, with leaves o'erlaid,\n Of hardened earth the walls were made.\n The strong bamboos his hands had felled\n For pillars fair the roof upheld,\n And rafter, beam, and lath supplied\n Well interwrought from side to side.\n Then Sam\u00ed \u00a02 boughs he deftly spread\n Enlaced with knotted cord o'erhead,\n Well thatched above from ridge to eaves\n With holy grass, and reed, and leaves.\n The mighty chief with careful toil\n Had cleared the ground and smoothed the soil\n \n \n Where now, his loving labour done,\n Rose a fair home for Raghu's son.\n Then when his work was duly wrought,\n God\u00e1var\u00eds sweet stream he sought,\n Bathed, plucked the lilies, and a store\n Of fruit and berries homeward bore.\n Then sacrifice he duly paid,\n And wooed the Gods their hopes to aid,\n And then to R\u00e1ma proudly showed\n The cot prepared for his abode,\n Then Raghu's son with S\u00edt\u00e1 gazed\n Upon the home his hands had raised,\n And transport thrilled his bosom through\n His leafy hermitage to view.\n The glorious son of Raghu round\n His brother's neck his arms enwound,\n And thus began his sweet address\n Of deep-felt joy and gentleness:\n 'Well pleased am I, dear lord, to see\n This noble work performed by thee.\n For this,--sole grace I can bestow,--\n About thy neck mine arms I throw.\n So wise art thou, thy breast is filled\n With grateful thoughts, in duty skilled,\n Our mighty father, free from stain,\n In thee, his offspring, lives again.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus spoke the prince, who lent a grace\n To fortune, pride of Raghu's race;\n Then in that spot whose pleasant shade\n Gave store of fruit, content he stayed.\n With Lakshman and his Maithil spouse\n He spent his day's neath sheltering boughs,\n As happy as a God on high\n Lives in his mansion in the sky.\n \n \n \n \n247:1 The original verses merely name the trees. I have been obliged to amplify slightly and to omit some quas versu dicere non est; e.g. the tinis'a (Dalbergia ougeiniensis), punn\u00e1ga (Rottleria tinctoria) tilaka (not named), syandana (Dalbergia ougeiniensis again) vandana (unknown) nipa (Nauclea Kadamba) lakucha (Artoearpus lacucha), dhava (Grislea tomentosa), As'vakarna (another name for the S\u00e1l), S'am\u00ed (Acacia Suma) khad*ra (Mimosa*catechu) kins'*ka (Buteafrondosa) p\u00e1tala (Bignonia suaveolens).\n247:2 Acacia Suma.","title":"BOOK III: Canto XV.: Panchavatt.","type":"page"}