{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry331.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry331.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry331.htm","text":"Then came the vultures' mighty king\n Where sat the V\u00e1nars sorrowing,--\n Samp\u00e1ti, \u00a02 best of birds that fly\n On sounding pinions through the sky,\n Jat\u00e1yus' brother, famed of old,\n Most glorious and strong and bold.\n Upon the slope of Vindhya's hill\n He saw the V\u00e1nars calm and still.\n \n \n These words he uttered while the sight\n Filled his fierce spirit with delight:\n 'Behold how Fate with changeless laws\n Within his toils the sinner draws,\n And brings me, after long delay,\n A rich and noble feast to-day,\n These V\u00e1nars who are doomed to die\n My hungry maw to satisfy.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He spoke no more: and Angad heard\n The menace of the mighty bird;\n And thus, while anguish filled his breast,\n The noble Hanum\u00e1n addressed:\n 'Vivasvat's \u00a01 son has sought this place\n For vengeance on the V\u00e1nar race.\n See, Yama, wroth for S\u00edt\u00e1's sake,\n Is come our guilty lives to take.\n Our king's decree is left undone,\n And naught achieved for Raghu's son.\n In duty have we failed, and hence\n Comes punishment for dire offence.\n Have we not heard the marvels wrought\n By King Jat\u00e1yus, \u00a02 how he fought\n With R\u00e1van's might, and, nobly brave,\n Perished, the Maithil queen to save?\n There is no living creature, none,\n But loves to die for Raghu's son,\n And in long toils and dangers we\n Have placed our lives in jeopardy\n Blest is Jat\u00e1yus, he who gave\n His life the Maithil queen to save,\n And proved his love for R\u00e1ma well\n When by the giant's hand he fell\n Now raised to bliss and high renown\n He fears not fierce Sugr\u00edva's frown.\n Alas, alas! what miseries spring\n From that rash promise of the king! \u00a03\n His own sad death, and R\u00e1ma sent\n With Lakshman forth to banishment:\n The Maithil lady borne away:\n Jat\u00e1yus slain in mortal fray:\n The fall of B\u00e1li when the dart\n Of R\u00e1ma quivered in his heart:\n And, after toil and pain and care,\n Our misery and deep despair.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 He ceased: the feathered monarch heard,\n His heart with ruth and wonder stirred:\n 'Whose is that voice,' the vulture cried,\n 'That tells me how Jat\u00e1yus died,\n And shakes my inmost soul with woe\n For a loved brother's overthrow?\n After long days at length I hear\n The glorious name of one so dear.\n Once more, O V\u00e1nar chieftains, tell\n How King Jat\u00e1yus fought and fell.\n \n \n But first your aid, I pray you, lend,\n And from this peak will I descend.\n The sun has burnt my wings, and I\n No longer have the power to fly.'\n \n \n \n \n385:1 The name of various kinds of grass used at sacrificial ceremonies, especially, of the Ku'sa grass, Poa cynosuroides, which was used to strew the ground in preparing for a sacrifice, the officiating Brahmans being purified by sittihg on it.\n385:2 Samp\u00e1ti is the eldest son of the celebrated Garuda the king of birds.\n386:1 Vivasvat or the Sun is the father of Yama the God of Death.\n386:2 Book III. Canto LI.\n386:3 Das'aratha's rash oath and fatal promise to his wife Kaikey\u00ed.","title":"BOOK IV: Canto LVI.: Samp\u00e1ti.","type":"page"}