{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry284.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry284.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry284.htm","text":"'I strove to soothe and lull to rest\n The fury of his troubled breast:\n Well art thou come, dear lord,' I cried.\n 'By whose strong arm thy foe has died.\n Forlorn I languished here, but now\n My saviour and defence art thou.\n Once more receive this regal shade \u00a01\n Like the full moon in heaven displayed;\n And let the chouries*, \u00a02 thus restored,\n Wave glorious o'er the rightful lord.\n I kept my watch, thy word obeyed,\n And by the cave a year I stayed.\n But when I saw that stream of blood\n Rush from the cavern in a flood,\n My sad heart broken with dismay.\n And every wandering sense astray,\n I barred the entrance with a stone,--\n A crag from some high mountain thrown--\n Turned from the spot I watched in vain.\n And to Kishkindh\u00e1 came again.\n My deep distress and downcast mien\n By citizen and lord were seen.\n They made me king against my will:\n Forgive me if the deed was ill.\n True as I ever was I see\n My honoured king once more in thee;\n I only ruled a while the state\n When thou hadst left us desolate.\n \n \n This town with people, lords, and lands,\n Lay as a trust in guardian hands:\n And now, my gracious lord, accept\n The kingdom which thy servant kept.\n Forgive me, victor of the foe,\n Nor let thy wrath against me glow.\n See joining suppliant hands I pray,\n And at thy feet my head I lay.\n Believe my words: against my will\n The royal seat they made me fill.\n Unkinged they saw the city, hence\n They made me lord for her defence.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 But B\u00e1li, though I humbly sued,\n Reviled me in his furious mood:\n 'Out on thee, wretch!' in wrath he cried\n With many a bitter taunt beside\n He summoned every lord, and all\n His subjects gathered at his call.\n Then forth his burning anger broke,\n And thus amid his friends he spoke:\n 'I need not tell, for well ye know,\n How fierce M\u00e1y\u00e1v\u00ed, fiend and foe,\n Came to Kishkindh\u00e1's gate by night,\n And dared me in his wrath to fight.\n I heard each word the demon said:\n Forth from my royal hall I sped;\n And, foe in brother's guise concealed,\n Sugr\u00edva followed to the field.\n The mighty demon through the shade\n Beheld me come with one to aid:\n Then shrinking from unequal fight.\n He turned his back in swiftest flight.\n From vengeful foes his life to save\n He sought the refuge of a cave.\n Then when I saw the fiend had fled\n Within that cavern dark and dread,\n Thus to my brother cruel-eyed.\n Impatient in my wrath, I cried:\n 'I seek no more my royal town\n Till I have struck the demon down.\n Here by the cavein's mouth remain\n Until my hand the foe have slain.'\n Upon his faith my heart relied,\n And swift within the depths I hied.\n A year went by: in every spot\n I sought the fiend, but found him not.\n At length my foe I saw and slew.\n Whom long I feared when lost to view;\n And all his kinsmen by his side\n Beneath my vengeful fury died.\n The monster, as he reeled and fell,\n Poured forth his blood with roar and yell;\n And, filling all the cavern, dyed\n The portal with the crimson tide.\n Upon my foeman slain at last\n One look, one pitying look, I cast.\n I sought again the light of day:\n The cave was closed and left no way.\n To the barred mouth I sadly came,\n And called aloud Sugr\u00edva's name.\n But all was still: no voice replied,\n \n \n And hope within my bosom died.\n With furious efforts, vain at first,\n Through bars of rock my way I burst.\n Then, free once more, the path that brought\n My feet in safety home I sought.\n 'Twas thus Sugr\u00edva dared despise\n The claim of brothers' friendly ties.\n With crags of rock he barred me in,\n And for himself the realm would win.\n \u00a0\u00a0 Thus B\u00e1li spoke in words severe;\n And then, unmoved by ruth or fear,\n Left me a single robe and sent\n His brother forth in banishment.\n He cast me out with scathe and scorn,\n And from my side my wife was torn,\n Now in great fear and ill at ease\n I roam this land with woods and seas,\n Or dwell on Rishyam\u00faka's hill,\n And sorrow for my consort still.\n Thou hast the tale how first arose\n This bitter hate of brother foes.\n Such are the griefs neath which I pine,\n And all without a fault of mine.\n O swift to save in hour of fear,\n My prayer who dread this B\u00e1li, hear\n With gracious love assistance deign,\n And mine oppressor's arm restrain.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then Raghu's son, the good and brave,\n With a gay laugh his answer gate:\n 'These shafts of mine which ne'er can fail,\n Before whose sheen the sun grows pale,\n Winged by my fury, fleet and fierce,\n The wicked B\u00e1li's heart shall pierce.\n Yea, mark the words I speak, so long\n Shall live that wretch who joys in wrong,\n Until these angered eyes have seen\n The robber of thy darling queen.\n I, taught by equal suffering, know\n What waves of grief above thee flow.\n This hand thy captive wife shall free,\n And give thy kingdom back to thee.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Sugr\u00edva joyed as R\u00e1ma spoke,\n And valour in his breast awoke.\n His eye grew bright, his heart grew bold,\n And thus his wondrous tale he told:\n \n \n \n \n334:1 The canopy or royal umbrella, one of the usual Indian regalia.\n334:2 Whisks made of the hair of the Yak or Bos grunniers, also regal insignia.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto X.: Sugr\u00edva's Story.","type":"page"}