{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry315.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry315.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry315.htm","text":"He gathered next a chosen band\n For service in the southern land.\n He summoned N\u00edla son of Fire,\n And, offspring of the eternal Sire,\n J\u00e1mbav\u00e1n bold and strong and tall.\n And Hanum\u00e1n, the best of all,\n And many a valiant lord beside,\u00a01b\n With Angad for their chief and guide.\n 'Go forth,' he cried, 'with all this host\n Exploring to the southern coast:\n The thousand peaks that Vindhya shows\n Where every tree and creeper grows:\n Where Narmad\u00e1's \u00a02b sweet waters run,\n And serpents bask them in the sun:\n Where Krishnaven\u00ed,\u00a03b currents flee,\n And sparkles fair God\u00e1vai\u00ed.\u00a04b\n \n \n Through Mekhal,\u00a05b pass and Utkal's,\u00a06b land:\n Go where Das'\u00e1rna's,\u00a07b cities stand.\n Avant\u00ed,\u00a08b seek, of high renown,\n And Abravanti's,\u00a09b glorious town.\n Search every hill and brook and cave\n Where Dandak's woods their branches wave\n Avomukh's,\u00a010b woody hill explore\n Whose sides are bright with richest ore,.\n lifting his glorious head on high\n From bloomy groves that round him lie.\n \n \n Search well his forests where the breeze\n Blows fragrant from the sandal trees.\n Then will you see K\u00e1ver\u00ed's\u00a01 stream\n Whose pleasant waters glance and gleam,\n And to the lovely banks entice\n The sportive maids of Paradise.\n High on the top of Malaya's\u00a02 hill,\n In holy musing, calm and still,\n Sits, radiant as the Lord of Light,\n Agastya,\u00a03 noblest anchorite.\n Soon as that lofty-thoughted lord\n His high permission shall accord,\n Pass T\u00e1mraparn\u00ed's\u00a04 flood whose isles\n Are loved by basking crocodiles.\n The sandal woods that fringe her side\n Those islets and her waters hide;\n While, like an amorous matron, she\n Speeds to her own dear lord the sea.\n Thence hasting on your way behold\n The P\u00e1ndyas'\u00a05 gates of pearl and gold.\n Then, with your task maturely planned,\n On ocean's shore your feet will stand.\n Where, by Agastya's high decree,\n Mahendra,\u00a06 planted in the sea,\n With tinted peaks against the tide\n Rises in solitary pride,\n And glorious in his golden glow\n Spurns back the waves that beat below.\n Fair mountain, bright with creepers' bloom\n And every tint that trees assume,\n Where Yaksha, God, and heavenly maid\n Meet wandering in the lovely shade,\n At changing moon and solemn tide\n By Indra's presence glorified.\n One hundred leagues in fair extent\n An island\u00a07 fronts the continent:\n No man may tread its glitering shore\n With utmost heed that isle explore,\n For the fair country owns the sway\n Of R\u00e1van whom we burn to day.\n \n \n A mighty monster stands to keep\n The passage of the southern deep,\n Lifting her awful arms on high\n She grasps e'en shadows as they fly.\n Speed through that isle, and onward still\n Where in mid sea the Flowery Hill\u00a01b\n Haises on high his bloomy head\n By saints and angels visited.\n There, with a hundred gleaming peaks\n Bright as the sun, the sky he seeks,\n One glorious peak the Lord of Day\n Gilds ever with his loving ray;\n Thereon ne'er yet the glances fell\n Of thankless wretch or infidel.\n Bow to that hill in reverence due,\n And then once more your search pursue.\n Beyond that glorious mountain hie,\n And S\u00faryav\u00e1n,\u00a02b proud hill is nigh.\n Your rapid course yet farther bend\n Where Vaidyut's\u00a03b airy peaks ascend.\n There trees of noblest sort, profuse\n Of wealth, their kindly gifts produce.\n Their precious fruits, O V\u00e1nars, taste,\n The honey sip, and onward haste.\n Next will ye see Mount Kunjar rise,\n Who cheers with beauty hearts and eyes.\n There is Agastya's\u00a04b mansion, decked\n Bv heaven's all moulding architect.\n Near Bhogavat\u00ed\u00a05b stands, the place\n Where dwell the hosts of serpent race:\n A broad-wayed city, walled and barred,\n Which watchful legions keep and guard,\n The fiercest of the serpent youth,\n Each awful for his venomed tooth:\n And throned in his imperial hall\n Is V\u00e1suki\u00a06b who rules them all.\n Explore the serpent city well,\n Search town and tower and citadel,\n And scan each field and wood that lies\n Around it, with your watchful eyes.\n Beyond that spot your way pursue:\n A noble mountain shall ye view,\n Named Rishabh, like a mighty bull,\n With gems made bright and beautiful.\n \n \n All trees of sandal flourish there\n Of heavenly fragrance, rich and rare.\n But, though they tempt your longing eyes,\n Avoid to touch them, and be wise.\n For Rohitas, a guardian band\n Of fierce Gandharvas, round them stand,\n Who five bright sovereign lords\u00a01 obey,\n In glory like the God of Day.\n Here by good deeds a home is won.\n With shapes like fire, the moon, the sun.\n Here they who merit heaven by worth\n Dwell on the confines of the earth.\n There stay; beyond it, dark and drear,\n Lies the departed spirits' sphere,\n And, girt with darkness, far from bliss,\n Is Yama's sad metropolis.\u00a02\n So far, my lords, o'er land and sea\n Vour destined course is plain and free.\n Beyond your steps you may not set,\n Where living thing ne'er journeyed yet.\n With utmost care these realms survey,\n And all you meet upon the way.\n And, when the lady's course is traced,\n Back to your king, O V\u00e1nars, haste.\n And he who tells me he has seen.\n After long search, the Maithil queen,\n Shall gain a noble guerdon: he\n In power and bliss shall equal me.\n Dear as my very life, above\n His fellows in his master's love;\n I call him, yea though stained with crime.\n My kinsman from that happy time.'\n \n \n \n \n374:1b Suhotra, S'ar\u00e1ri, S'aragulma, Gain, Gav\u00e1k-ha, Gavaya, Sushena, Gandham\u00e1dana, Ulk\u00e1mukha, and Ananga.\n374:2b The modern Nerbudda.\n374:3b Krishnaven\u00ed is mentioned in the Vishnu Purnna as 'the deep Krishnaven' '* but there appears to be no clue to its identification.\n374:4b The modern Godavery.\n374:5b The Mekbaias or Mekalas according to the Pat\u00e1nas live in the Vindhya hills, but here they appear among the peoples of the south.\n374:6b Utkal is still the native nameof Oriss*.\n374:7b The land of the people of the 'ten forts.' Professor Hall in a note on WlL.- SONS Vishnu Purana, Vol. II. p.160 says: \"The oral traditions of the vicinity to this day assign the nameof Dasarna to a region lying to the east of the District of Cbundeyree.\"\n374:8b Avant\u00ed is one of the ancient names of the celebrated Ujjayin or Oujein in Central India.\n374:9b Not identified\n374:10b Ayemukh means iron faced. The mountun is not identified.\n375:1 The K\u00e1ver\u00ed or modern Cauvery is well known and has always borne the same appellation, being the Chaberis of Ptolemy.\n375:2 One of the seven principal mountain chains: the southern portion of the Western Gh\u00e1ts.\n375:3 Agastya is the great sage who has already frequently appeared as R\u00e1ma's friend and benefactor.\n375:4 T\u00e1mraparni is a river rising in Malaya.\n375:5 The P\u00e1ndyas are a people of the Decean.\n375:6 Mahendra is the chain of hills that extends from Orissa and the northern Sircars to Gondw\u00e1na, part of which near Ganjam is still called Mahendra Malay or hills of Mahendra.\n375:7 Lank\u00e1, Sinhaladv\u00edpa, Sarandib, or Ceylon,\n375:1b The Flowery Hill of course is mythical.\n375:2b The whole of the geography south of Lank\u00e1 is of course mythical. S\u00faryav\u00e1n means Sunny.\n375:3b Vaidyut means connected with lightning.\n375:4b Agastya is here placed far to the south of Lank\u00e1. Earlier in this Canto he was said to dwell on Malaya.\n375:5b Bhogavat\u00ed has been frequently mentioned: it is the capital of the serpent Gods or demons, and usually represented as being in the regions under the earth.\n375:6b V\u00e1suki is according to some accounts the king of the N\u00e1gas or serpent Gods.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto XLI.: The Army of The South.","type":"page"}