{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry303.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry303.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry303.htm","text":"No flash of lightning lit the sky.\n No cloudlet marred the blue on high.\n The Saras \u00a03b missed the welcome rain,\n The moon's full beams were bright again.\n Sugr\u00edva, lapped in bliss, forgot\n The claims of faith, or heeded not;\n And by alluring joys misled\n The path of falsehood learned to tread\n In careless ease he passed each hour,\n And dallied in his lady's bower\n Each longing of his heart was stilled,\n And every lofty hope fulfilled.\n With royal Rum\u00e1 by his side,\n Or Tar\u00e1 yet a dearer bride,\n \n \n He spent each joyous day and night\n In revelry and wild delight,\n Like Indra whom the nymphs entice\n To taste the joys of Paradise.\n The power to courtiers' hands resigned,\n To all their acts his eyes were blind.\n All doubt, all fear he cast aside\n And lived with pleasure for his guide.\n But sage Hanum\u00e1n, firm and true,\n Whose heart the lore of Scripture knew,\n Well trained to meet occasion, trained\n In all by duty's law ordained,\n Strove with his prudent speech to find\n *Set* access to the monarch's mind.\n He, skilled in every gentle art\n Of eloquence that wins the heart,\n Sugr\u00edva from his trance to wake,\n His salutary counsel spake:\n \u00a0 'The realm is won, thy name advanced,\n The glory of thy house enhanced,\n And now thy foremost care should he\n To aid the friends who succoured thee.\n He who is firm and faithful found\n To friendly ties in honour bound,\n Will see his name and fame increase\n Wide sway is his who truly boasts\n That friends and treasure, self and hosts,\n Are blest in one harmonious whole,\n Are subject to his firm control.\n Do thou, whose footsteps never stray\n From the clear bounds of duty's way.\n Assist, as honour bids thee, now\n Thy friends, observant of thy vow.\n For if all cares we lay not by.\n And to our friend's assistance fly.\n We, after, toil in idle haste,\n And all the late endeavour waste.\n Up! nor the promised help delay\n Until the hour have slipped away.\n Up! and with Raghu's son renew\n The search for Sit\u00e1 lost to view.\n The hour is come: he hears the call,\n But not on thee reproaches fall\n From him who labours to repress\n His eager spirit's restlessness.\n Long joined to thee in friendly ties\n He made thy fame and fortune rise,\n In gentle gifts by none excelled.\n In splendid might unparalleled.\n Up, to his succour, King! repay\n The favour of that prosperous day,\n And to thy bravest captains send\n Prompt mandates to assist thy friend,\n Tbe cry for help thou wilt not spurn\n Although no grace demands return:\n And wilt thou not thine aid afford\n To him who realm and life restored?\n Exert thy power, and thou hast won\n The love of Dasaratha's son:\n And will then for his summons wait,\n And till he call thee, hesitate?\n Think not the hero needs thy power\n To save him in the desperate hour:\n He with his arrows could subdue\n The Gods and all the demon crew,\n And only waits that he may see\n Redeemed the promise made by thee.\n For thee he risked his life and fought,\n For thee that great deliverance wrought.\n Then let us trace through earth and skies\n His lady wheresoe'er she lies.\n Through realms above, beneath, we flee,\n And plant our footsteps on the sea.\n Tnen why, O Lord of Vanary, still\n Delay us waiting for thy will?\n Give thy commands, O King, and say\n What task has each and where the way.\n Before thee myriad Vanars stand\n To sweep through heaven, o'er seas and land.'\n \u00a0 Sugriva heard the timely rede\n That roused him in the day of need,\n And thus to Nila prompt and brave\n His hest the imperial Vanar gave:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'Go, Nila, to the distant hosts\n That keep in arms their several posts,\n And all the armies that protect\n The quarters, \u00a01 with their chiefs, collect.\n To all the luminaries placed\n In intermediate regions haste,\n And bid each captain rise and lead\n His squadrons to their king with speed\n Do thou meanwhile with strictest care\n All that the time requires prepare.\n The loitering Vanar who delays\n To gather here ere thrice five days,\n Shall surely die for his offence,\n Condemned for sinful negligence.'\n \n \n \n359:1b The river on which Ayodhy\u00e1 was built.\n359:2b I omit a sloka or f***s on altitude and lugratirade repeated word for word from the la Canto\n359:3b The Indian crane a magnificent bird easily domesticated.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto XXIX.: Hanum\u00e1n's Counsel.","type":"page"}