{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry278.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry278.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry278.htm","text":"Cheered by the words that R\u00e1ma spoke,\n Joy in the V\u00e1nar's breast awoke,\n And, as his friendly mood he knew,\n His thoughts to King Sugriva flew:\n ' Again,' he mused,'my high-sou'ed lord\n Shall rule, to kingly state restored;\n Since one so mighty comes to save,\n And freely gives the help we crave.\"\n Then joyous Hanum\u00e1n, the best\n Of all the V\u00e1nar kind, addressed\n These words to R\u00e1ma, trained of yore\n In all the arts of speakers' lore: \u00a01\n 'Why do your feet this forest tread\n By silvan life inhabited,\n This awful maze of tree and thorn\n Which Pamp\u00e1's flowering groves adorn?\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke: obedient to the eye\n Of R\u00e1ma Lakshman made reply,\n The name and fortune to unfold\n Of Raghu's son the lofty-souled:\n 'True to the law, of fame unstained,\n The glorious Das'aratha reigned.\n And, steadfast in his duty, long\n Kept the four castes \u00a02from scathe and wrong.\n Through his wide realm his will was done,\n And, loved by all, he hated none.\n Just to each creature great and small,\n Like the Good Sire he cared for all.\n The Agnishtom,\u00a03 as priests advised,\n \n \n And various rites he solemnized.\n Where ample largess ever paid\n The Brahmans for their holy aid.\n Here R\u00e1ma stands, his heir by birth,\n Whose name is glorious in the earth:\n Sure refuge he of all oppressed,\n Most faithful to his sire's behest.\n He, Das'aratha's eldest born\n Whom gifts above the rest adorn,\n Lord of each high imperial sign, \u00a01b\n The glory of his kingly line,\n Reft of his right, expelled from home,\n Came forth with me the woods to roam,\n And Sit\u00e1 too, his faithful dame,\n Forth with her virtuous husband came,\n Like the sweet light when day is done\n Still cleaving to her lord the sun.\n And me his sweet perfections drew\n To follow as his servant true.\n Named Lakshman, brother of my lord\n Of grateful heart with knowledge stored\n Most meet is he all bliss to share,\n Who makes the good of all his care.\n While, power and lordship caat away,\n In the wild wood he chose to stay,\n A giant came,--his name unknown,--\n And stole the princess left alone.\n Then Dit\u00ed's son \u00a02b who, cursed of yore.\n The semblance of a Rakshas wore,\n To King Sugr\u00edva bade us turn\n The robber's name and home to learn.\n For he, the V\u00e1nar chief, would know\n The dwelling of our secret foe.\n Such words of hope spake Dit\u00ed's son,\n And sought the heaven his deeds had won.\n Thou hast my tale. From first to last\n Thine ears have heard whate'er has past.\n Rama the mighty lord and I\n For refuge to Sugr\u00edva fly.\n The prince whose arm bright glory gained.\n O'er the whole earth as monarch reigned,\n And richest gifts to others gave,\n Is come Sugr\u00edva's help to crave;\n Son of a king the surest friend\n Of virtue, him who loved to lend\n His succour to the suffering weak,\n Is come Sugr\u00edva's aid to seek.\n Yes, Raghu's son whose matchless hand\n Protected all this sea-girt land,\n The virtuous prince, my holy guide,\n For refuge seeks Sugr\u00edva's side.\n His favour sent on great and small\n Should ever save and prosper all.\n He now to win Sugr\u00edva's grace\n Has sought his woodland dwelling-place.\n \n \n Son of a king of glorious fame;--\n Who knows not Das'aratha's name?--\n From whom all princes of the earth\n Received each honour due to worth;--\n Heir of that best of earthly kings,\n R\u00e1ma the prince whose glory rings\n Through realms below and earth and skies,\n For refuge to Sugr\u00edva flies.\n Nor should the V\u00e1nar king refuse\n The boon for which the suppliant sues,\n But with his forest legions speed\n To save him in his utmost need.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Sumitr\u00e1's son, his eyes bedewed\n With piteous tears, thus sighed and sued.\n Then, trained in all the arts that guide\n The speaker, Hanum\u00e1n replied:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Yea, lords like you of wisest thought,\n Whom happy fate has hither brought,\n Who vanquish ire and rule each sense,\n Must of our lord have audience.\n Reft of his kingdom, sad, forlorn,\n Once B\u00e1li's hate now B\u00e1li's scorn,\n Defeated, severed from his spouse,\n Wandering under forest boughs,\n Child of the Sun, our lord and king\n Sugr\u00edva will his succours bring,\n And all our V\u00e1nar hosts combined\n Will trace the dame you long to find.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 With gentle tone and winning grace\n Thus spake the chief of V\u00e1nar race,\n And then to Raghu's son he cried:\n 'Come, haste we to Sugriv\u00e1's side.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke, and for his words so sweet\n Good Lakshman' paid all honour meet;\n Then turned and cried to Raghu's son:\n 'Now deem thy task already done,\n Because this chief of V\u00e1nar kind,\n Son of the God who rules the wind,\n Declares Sugr\u00edva's self would be\n Assisted in his need by thee.\n Bright gleams of joy his cheek o'erspread\n As each glad word of hope he said;\n And ne'er will one so valiant deign\n To cheer our hearts with hope in vain.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke, and Han\u00fam\u00e1n the wise\n Cast off his mendicant disguise,\n And took again his V\u00e1nar form,\n Son of the God of wind and storm.\n High on his ample back in haste\n Baghu's heroic sons he placed.\n And turned with rapid steps to find\n The sovereign of the V\u00e1nar kind.\n \n \n \n \n327:1 \"In our own metrical romances, or wherever a poem is meant not for readers but for chanters and oral reciters, these formulae, to meet the same recurring case, exist by scores. Thus every woman in these metrical romances who happens to be young, is described as \"so bright of ble,\" or complexion; always a man goes \"the mountenance of a mule\" before he overtakes or is overtaken. And so on through. a vast bead-roll of cases. In the same spirit Homer has his eternal \u03b4\u1fbd\u03b1\u1fe4 \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03b4\u03c1\u03b1 \u03b9\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd, or \u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u1fbd\u03b1\u03c0\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03b2\u03bf\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b5\u03c6\u03b7, &c.\nTo a reader of sensibility, such recurrences wear an air of child-like simplicity, beautifully recalling the features of Homer's primitive age. But they would have appeared faults to all commonplace critics in literary ages.\"\nDE QUINCEY. Homer and the Homerid\u00e6.\n327:2 Brahmans the sacerdotal caste. Kshatriyas the royal and military, Vaisyas the mercantile, and Sudras the servile.\n327:3 A protracted sacrifice extending over several days. See Book I. p, 21 Note.\n327:1b Possessed of all the auspicious personal marks that indicate capacity of universal sovereignty. See Book I. p. 2, and, Note 3.\n327:2b Kabandha. See Book III. Canto LXXlII.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto IV: Lakshman's Reply.","type":"page"}