{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry300.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry300.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry300.htm","text":"Each V\u00e1nar councillor and peer\n In crowded numbers gathered near\n Sugriva, mournful king, while yet\n His vesture from the wave was wet,\n Before the chief of Raghu's seed\n Unwearied in each arduous deed,\n They stood and raised the reverent hand\n As saints before Lord Brahm\u00e1 stand,\n Then Hanum\u00e1n of massive mould,\n Like some tall hill of glistering gold,\n Son of the God whose wild blasts shake\n The forest, thus to R\u00e1ma spake:\n 'By thy kind favour, O my lord,\n Sugr\u00edva, to his home restored\n Triumphant, has regained to-day\n His rank and power and royal sway.\n He now will call each faithful friend,\n Enter the city, and attend\n With sage advice and prudent care\n To every task that waits him there.\n Then balm and unguent shall anoint\n Our monarch, as the laws appoint,\n And gems and precious wreaths shall be\n His grateful offering, King, to thee.\n Do thou, O R\u00e1ma, with thy friend\n Thy steps within the city bend;\n Our ruler on his throne install,\n And with thy presence cheer us all.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Then, skilled in lore and arts that guide\n The speaker, Raghu's son replied:\n 'For fourteen years I might not break\n The mandate that my father spake;\n Nor can I, till that time be fled,\n The street of town or village tread.\n Let King Sugr\u00edva seek the town\n Most worthy of her high renown,\n There let him be without delay\n Anointed, and begin his sway.\n \u00a0\u00a0 This answered, to Sugr\u00edva then\n Thus spake anew the king of men:\n 'Do thou who knowest right ordain\n Prince Angad consort of thy reign;\n For he is noble, true, and bold,\n And trained a righteous course to hold\n Gifts like his sire's thait youth adorn\n Born eldest to the eldest born.\n \n \n This is the month of Sr\u00e1vana\u00a01first\n Of those that see the rain-clouds burst.\n Four months, thou knowest well, extends\n The season when the rain descends.\n No time for deeds of war is this.\n Seek thou thy fair metropolis,\n And I with Lakshman, O my friend,\n The time upon this hill will spend.\n An ample cavern opens there\n Made lovely by the mountain air,\n And lotuses and lilies fill\n The pleasant lake and murmuring rill.\n When K\u00e1rtik's \u00a02 month shall clear the skies,\n Then tempt the mighty enterprise.\n Now, chieftain to thy home repair,\n And be anointed sovereign there.'\n \n \n Sugr\u00edva heard: he bowed his head:\n Within the lovely town he sped\n Which Bali's royal will had swayed,\n Where thousand V\u00e1nar chiefs arrayed\n Gathered in order round their king,\n And led him on with welcoming.\n Low on the earth the lesser crowd\n Fell in prostration as they bowed.\n Sugr\u00edva looked with grateful eyes,\n Spake to them all and bade them rise.\n Then through the royal bowers he strode\n Wherein the monarch's wives abode.\n Soon from the inner chambers came\n The V\u00e1nar of exalted fame;\n And joyful friends drew near and shed\n King-making balm upon his head,\n Like Gods anointing in the skies\n Their sovereign of the thousand eyes. \u00a03\n Then brought they, o'er their king to hold\n The white umbrella decked with gold,\n And chouries with their waving hair\n In golden handles wondrous fair;\n And fragrant herbs and seed and spice,\n And sparkling gems exceeding price,\n And every bloom from woods and leas,\n \n \n And gum distilled from milky trees;\n And precious ointment white as milk,\n And spotless robes of cloth and silk,\n Wreaths of sweet flowers whose glories gleam\n In grassy grove, on lake or stream.\n And fragrant sandal and each scent\n That makes the soft breeze redolent;\n Grain, honey, odorous seed, and store\n Of oil and curd and golden ore;\n A noble tiger's skin, a pair\n Of sandals wrought with costliest care,\n Eight pairs of damsels drawing nigh\n Brought unguents stained with varied dye.\n Then gems and cates and robes displayed\n Before the twice-born priests were laid,\n That they would deign in order due\n To consecrate the king anew.\n The sacred grass was duly spread\n And sacrificial flame was fed,\n Which Scripture-learned priests supplied\n With oil which texts had sanctified.\n Then, with all rites ordained of old,\n High on the terrace bright with gold,\n Whereon a glorious carpet lay,\n And fresh-culled garlands sweet and gay,\n Placed on his throne, Sugr\u00edva bent\n His looks toward the Orient.\n In horns from forehead of the bull.\n In pitchers bright and beautiful,\n In urns of gold the V\u00e1nara took\n Pure water brought from stream and brook,\n From every consecrated strand\n And every sea that beats the land.\n Then, as prescribed by sacred lore\n And many a mighty sage of yore, \u00a01b\n The leaders of the V\u00e1nars poured\n The sacred water on their lord. \u00a02b\n From every V\u00e1nar at the close\n Of that imperial rite arose\n Shouts of glad triumph, loud and long\n Repeated by the high-souled throng.\n Sugr\u00edva, when the rite was done,\n Obeyed the hest of Raghu's son.\n Prince Angad to his breast he strained.\n And partner of his sway ordained.\n Once more from all the host rang out\n The loud huzza and jovful shout.\n 'Well done! well done!' each V\u00e1nar cried.\n And good Sugr\u00edva glorified.\n \n \n Then with glad voices loudly raised\n Were R\u00e1ma and his brother praised;\n And bright Kishkindha shone that day\n With happy throngs and banners gay.\n \n \n \n \n356:1 S'r\u00e1van: July-August. But the rains begin a month earlier, and what follows must not be taken literally. The text has p\u00farvo' yam v\u00e1rshiko m\u00e1sah S'r\u00e1vanah ###. The Bengal recension has the same, and Gorresio translates: ' Equesto il mese S'r\u00e2vana (Inglio-agosto) primo della stagione plovosa, in cui diligano le acque.'\n356:2 K\u00e1rtik: Ootober-November.\n356:3 \"Indras, as the nocturnal sun, hides himself, transformed, in the starry heavens: the stars are his eyes. The hundred- eyed or all-seeing (panopt\u00eas) Argos placed as a spy over the actions of the cow beloved by Zeus, in the Hellenic equivalent of this form of Indras.\" DE GUBERNATIS, Zoological Mythology, Vol. I, p. 418.\n356:1b Baudh\u00e1yana and others.\n356:2b Sugr\u00edva appears to hare been consecrated with all the ceremonies that attended the Abhisheka or coronation of an Indian prince of the Aryan race. Compare the preparations made for Rama's consecration, Book II. Canto III. Thus Homer frequently introduces into Troy the rites of Hellenic worship.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto XXVI.: The Coronation.","type":"page"}