{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry316.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry316.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry316.htm","text":"Then to Sushen Sugr\u00edva bent,\n And thus addressed him reverent:\n 'Two hundred thousand of our best\n With thee, my lord, shall seek the west.\n Explore Sur\u00e1shtra's\u00a03 distant plain,\n Explore V\u00e1hl\u00edka's\u00a04 wild domain,\n And all the pleasant brooks that flee\n Through mountains to the western sea.\n Search clustering groves on mountain\n heights,\n And woods the whom of anchorites.\n Search where the breezy hills are high,\n Search where the desert regions lie.\n Search all the western land beset\n \n \n With woody mountains like a net.\n The country's farthest limit reach,\n And stand upon the ocean beach.\n There wander through the groves of palm\n Where the soft air is full of balm.\n Through grassy dell and dark ravine\n Seek R\u00e1van and the Maithil queen.\n Go visit Somagiri's\u00a01b steep\n Where Sindhu\u00a02b mingles with the deep.\n There lions, borne on swift wings, roam\n The levels of their mountain home,\n And elephants and monsters bear,\n Caught from the ocean, to their lair.\n You V\u00e1nars, changing forms at will.\n With rapid search must scour the hill,\n And his sky-kissing peak of gold\n Where loveliest trees their blooms unfold.\n There golden-peaked, ablaze with light,\n Uprises P\u00e1riy\u00e1tra's\u00a03b height\n Where wild Gandharvas, fierce and fell,\n In bands of countless myriads dwell.\n Pluck ye no fruit within the wood;\n Beware the impious neighbourhood,\n Where, very mighty, strong, and hard\n To overcome, the fruit they guard.\n Yet search for Janak's daughter still,\n For V\u00e1nars there need fear no ill.\n Near, bright as turkis, Vajra\u00a04b named,\n There stands a hill of diamond framed.\n Soaring a hundred leagues in pride,\n With trees and creepers glorified.\n Search there each cave and dark abyss\n By waterfall and precipice.\n Far in that sea the wild waves beat\n On Chakrav\u00e1n's\u00a05b firm-rooted feet.\n Where the great discus,\u00a06b thousand rayed,\n By V\u00edsvakarm\u00e1's\u00a07b art was made.\n When Panchajan\u00a08b the fiend was slain.\n And Hayagr\u00edva,\u00a09b fierce in vain,\n \n \n Thence taking shell and discus went\n Lord Vishnu, God preeminent.\n On sixty thousand hills of gold\n With wondering eyes shall ye behold,\n Where in his glory every one\n Is brilliant as the morning sun.\n Full in the midst King Meru,\u00a01 best\n Of mountains, lifts his lofty crest,\n On whom of yore, as all have heard,\n The sun well-pleased this boon conferred:\n 'On thee, O King, on thee and thine\n Light, day and night, shall ever shine.\n Gandharvas, Gods who love thee well\n And on thy sacred summits dwell,\n Undimmed in lustre, bright and fair,The golden sheen shall ever share.'\n The Vis'vas,\u00a02 Vasus\u00a03 they who ride\n The tempest,\u00a04 every God beside,\n Draw nigh to Meru's lofty crest\n When evening darkens in the west,\n And to the parting Lord of Day\n The homage of their worship pay,\n Ere yet a while, unseen of all,\n Behind Mount Asta's \u00a05 peaks he fall.\n Wrought by the heavenly artist's care\n A glorious palace glitters there,\n And round about it sweet birds sing\n Where the gay trees are blossoming:\n \n \n The home of Varun \u00a01b high souled-lord,\n Wrist-girded with his deadly cord.\u00a02b\n With ten tall stems, a palm between\n Meru and Asta's hill is seen:\n Pure silver from the base it springs,\n And far and wide its lustre flings.\n Seek R\u00e1vanthe dame by brook,\n In pathless glen, in leafy nook\n On Meru's crest a hermit lives\n Bright with the light that penance gives:\n S\u00e1varni \u00a03b is he named, renowned\n As Brahm\u00e1's peer, with glory crowned.\n There bowing down in reverence speak\n And ask him of the dame you seek.\n Thus far the splendid Lord of Day\n Pursues through heaven his ceaseless way,\n Shedding on every spot his light;\n Then sinks behind Mount Asta's height,\n Thus far advance: the sunless sea\n Beyond is all unknown to me.\n Sushen of mighty arm, long tried\n In peril, shall your legions guide,\n Receive his words with high respect,\n And ne'er his lightest wish neglect.\n He is my consort's sire, and hence\n Deserves the utmost reverence.'\n \n \n \n \n376:1 S'ail\u00fasha, Gramini, Siksha, Suka, Babhru.\n376:2 The distant south beyond the confines of the earth is the home of departed spirits and the city of Yama the God of Death.\n376:3 Sur\u00e1shtra, the 'good country,' is the modern Surat.\n376:4 A country north-west of Afghanistan, Ba\u00edkh\n376:1b The Moon-mountain here is mythical.\n376:2b Sindhu is the Indus.\n376:3b P\u00e1riy\u00e1tra, or as more usually written P\u00e1rip\u00e1tra, is the central or western portion of the Vindhya chain which skirts the province of Malwa.\n376:4b Vajra means both diamond and thunderbolt, the two substances being supposed to be identical.\n376:5b Chakrav\u00e1n means the discus-bearer.\n376:6b The discus is the favourite weapon of Vishnu\n376:7b The Indian Hephaistos or Vulcan.\n376:8b Panchajan was a demon who lived in the sea in the form of a conch shell. WILSON'S Vishnu Pura'na,* V. 21.\n376:9b Hayagr\u00edva,Horse-necked, is the name of a Daitya who at the dissolution of the universe caused by Brahm\u00e1's sleep, seized and carried off the Vedas. Vishnu slew him and recovered the sacred treasures.\n377:1 Meru stands in the centre of Jambudw\u00edpa and consequently of the earth. \"The sun travels round the world, keeping Meru always on his right. To the spectator who fronts him, therefore, as he rises Meru must be always on the north; and as the sun's rays do not penetrate beyond the centre of the mountain, the regions beyond, or to the north of it must be in darkness, whilst those on the south of it must be in light: north and south being relative, not absolute, terms, depending on the position of the spectator with regard to the Sun and Meru.\" WILSON'S Vishnu Pura'na, Vol. II. p. 243. Note.\n377:2 The Vis'vadevas are a class of deities to whom sacrifices should be daily offered, as part of the ordinary worship of the householder. According to the V\u00e1yun Pur\u00e1na this is a privilege conferred on them by Brahm\u00e1 and the Pitris as a reward for religious austerities practised by them upon Him\u00e1laya.\n377:3 The eight Vasus were originally personifications like other Vedic deities, of natural phenomena, such as Fire, Wind, &c. Their appellations are variously given by different authorities.\n377:4 The Maruts or Storm-Gods, frequently addressed and worshipped as the attendants and allies of Indra.\n377:5 The mountain behind which the sun sets.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto XLII.: The Army of The West.","type":"page"}