{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry241.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry241.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry241.htm","text":"She stooped, her hands with flowers to fill,\n But gazed upon the marvel still:\n Gazed on its back and sparkling side\n Where silver hues with golden vied.\n Joyous was she of faultless mould,\n With glossy skin like polished gold.\n And loudly to her husband cried\n And bow-armed Lakshman by his side:\n Again, again she called in glee:\n 'O come this glorious creature see;\n Quick, quick, my lord, this deer to view.\n And bring thy brother Lakshman too.'\n As through the wood her clear tones rang,\n Swift to her side the brothers sprang.\n With eager eyes the grove they scanned,\n And saw the deer before them stand.\n But doubt was strong in Lakshman's breast,\n Who thus his thought and fear expressed:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Stay, for the wondrous deer we see\n The fiend M\u00e1r\u00edcha's self may be.\n Ere now have kings who sought this place\n To take their pastime in the chase,\n Met from his wicked art defeat,\n And fallen slain by like deceit.\n He wears, well trained in magio guile,\n The figure of a deer a while,\n Bright as the very sun, or place\n Where dwell the gay Gaudharya race.\n No deer, O R\u00e1ma, e'er was seen\n Thus decked with gold und jewels' sheen.\n 'Tis magic, for the world has ne'er,\n Lord of the world, shown aught so fair.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 But S\u00edt\u00e1 of the lovely smile,\n A captive to the giant's wile,\n Turned Lakshman's prudent speech aside\n And thus with eager words replied:\n Mv honoured lord, this deer I see\n With beauty rare enraptures me.\n Go, chief of mighty arm, and bring\n For my delight this precious thing.\n Fair creatures ot the woodland roam\n Untroubled near our hermit home.\n The forest cow and stag are there,\n The fawn, the monkey, and the bear,\n Where spotted deer delight to play,\n \n \n And strong and beauteous Kinnars \u00a01 stray.\n But never, as they wandered by,\n Has such a beauty charmed mine eye\n As this with limbs so fair and slight,\n So gentle, beautiful and bright.\n O see, how fair it is to view\n With jewels of each varied hue:\n Bright as the rising moon it glows,\n Lighting the wood where'er it goes.\n Ah me, what form and grace are there!\n Its limbs how fine, its hues how fair!\n Transcending all that words express,\n It takes my soul with loveliness.\n O, if thou would, to please me, strive\n To take the beauteous thing alive,\n How thou wouldst gaze with wondering eyes\n Delighted on the lovely prize!\n And when our woodland life is o'er,\n And we enjoy our realm once more,\n The wondrous animal will grace\n The chambers of my dwelling-place,\n And a dear treasure will it be\n To Bharat and the queens and me,\n And all with rapture and amaze\n Upon its heavenly form will gaze.\n But if the beauteous deer, pursued,\n Thine arts to take it still elude,\n Strike it, O chieftain, and the akin\n Will be a treasure, laid within.\n O, how I long my time to pass\n Sitting upon the tender grass,\n With that soft fell beneath me spread\n Bright with its hair of golden thread!\n This strong desire, this eager will,\n Befits a gentle lady ill:\n But when I first beheld, its look\n My breast with fascination took.\n See, golden hair its flank adorns,\n And sapphires tip its branching horns.\n Resplendent as the lunar way,\n Or the first blush of opening day,\n With graceful form and radiant hue\n It charmed thy heart, O chieftain, too.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He heard her speech with willing ear,\n He looked again upon the deer.\n Its lovely shape his breast beguiled\n Moved by the prayer of Janak's child,\n And yielding for her pleasure's sake,\n To Lakshman R\u00e1ma turned and spake:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Mark, Lakshman, mark how S\u00edt\u00e1's breast\n With eager longing is possessed.\n To-day this deer of wondrous breed\n Must for his passing beauty bleed,\n Brighter than e'er in Nandan strayed,\n Or Chaitraratha's heavenly shade.\n \n \n How should the groves of earth possess\n Such all-surpassing loveliness!\n The hair lies smooth and bright and fine,\n Or waves upon each curving line,\n And drops of living gold bedeck\n The beauty of his side and neck.\n O look, his crimson tongue between\n His teeth like flaming fire is seen,\n Flashing, whene'er his lips he parts,\n As from a cloud the lightning darts.\n O see his sunlike forehead shine\n With emerald tints and almandine,\n While pearly light and roseate glow\n Of shells adorn his neck below.\n No eye on such a deer can rest\n But soft enchantment takes the breast:\n No man so fair a thing behold\n Ablaze with light of radiant gold.\n Celestial, bright with jewels' sheen,\n Nor marvel when his eyes have seen,\n A king equipped with bow and shaft\n Delights in gentle forest craft,\n And as in boundless woods he strays\n The quarry for the venison slays.\n There as he wanders with his train\n A store of wealth he oft may gain.\n He claims by right the precious ore.\n He claims the jewels' sparkling store.\n Such gains are dearer in his eyes\n Than wealth that in his chamber lies.\n The dearest things his spirit knows,\n Dear as the bliss which Sukra chose.\n But oft the rich expected gain\n Which heedless men pursue in vain.\n The sage, who prudent counsels know,\n Explain and in a moment show.\n This best of deer, this gem of all,\n To yield his precious spoils must fall,\n And tender S\u00edt\u00e1 by my side\n Shall sit upon the golden hide.\n Ne'er could I find so rich a coat\n On spotted deer or sheep or goat.\n No buck or antelope has such,\n So bright to view, so soft to touch.\n This radiant deer and one on high\n That moves in glory through the sky,\n Alike in heavenly beauty are,\n One on the earth and one a star.\n But, brother, if thy fears be true,\n And this bright creature that we view\n Be fierce M\u00e1r\u00edcha in disguise,\n Then by this hand he surely dies.\n For that dire fiend who spurns control\n With bloody hand and cruel soul,\n Has roamed this forest and dismayed\n The holiest saints who haunt the shade.\n Great archers, sprung of royal race.\n Pursuing in the wood the chase,\n Have fallen by his wicked art,\n And now my shaft shall strike his heart.\n Vat\u00e1pi, by his magic power\n \n \n Made heedless saints his flesh devour,\n Then, from within their frames he rent\n Forth bursting from imprisonment,\n But once his art in senseless pride\n Upon the mightiest saint he tried,\n Agastya's self, and caused him taste\n The baited meal before him placed.\n V\u00e1t\u00e1pi, when the rite* was o'er,\n Would take the giant form he wore,\n But Saint Agastya knew his wile\n And checked the giant with smile\n 'Vat\u00e1pi, thou with cruel spite\n Hast conquered many an achorite\n The noblest of the Brahman ask*--\n And now thy ruin comes at last'\n Now if my power he thus defies,\n This giant, like Vat\u00e1pi dies,\n Daring to scorn a man like me,\n A self subduing devotee.\n Yea, as Agastya slew the foe,\n My hand shall lay Mancha low\n Clad in thine arms thy bow in hand,\n To guard the Maithil lady stand,\n With watchful eye and thoughtful breast\n Keeping each word of my behest\n I go, and hunting through the brake\n This wondrous deer will bring or take.\n Yea surely I will bring the spoil\n Returning from my hunter's toil\n See, Lakshman how my contort's eyes\n Are longing for the lovely prize\n This day it falls, that I may win\n The treasure of so fair a skin.\n Do thou and S\u00edt\u00e1 watch with care\n Lest danger seize you unaware.\n Swift from my bow one shaft will fly;\n The stricken deer will fall and die\n Then quickly will I stop the game\n And bring the trophy to my dame.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Jatavus, guardian good and wise,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our old and faithful friend,\n \u00a0\u00a0 The best and strongest bird that flies,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His willing aid will lend\n \u00a0\u00a0 The Maithil lady well protect,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For every chance provide,\n \u00a0\u00a0 And in thy tender care suspect\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A foe on every side.\n \n \n \n \n279:1 A race of beings of human shape but with the heads of horses, like centaurs reversed.","title":"BOOK III: Canto XLIII.: The Wondrous Deer.","type":"page"}