{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry433.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry433.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry433.htm","text":"Thus Saram\u00e1 her story told:\n And Sit\u00e1's spirit was consoled.\n As when the first fresh rain is shed\n The parching earth is comforted.\n Then, filled with zeal for Sit\u00e1's sake,\n Again in gentle tones she spake,\n And, skilled in arts that soothe and please,\n Addressed the queen in words like these;\n 'Thy husband, lady, will I seek,\n Say the fond words thy lips would apeak,\n And then, unseen of any eye,\n Back to thy side will swiftly fly.\n My airy flights are speedier far\n Than Garuda's and the tempest are.'\n \n \n Then Sit\u00e1 spake: her former woe\n Still left her accents faint and low:\n 'I know thy steps, which naught can stay,\n Can urge through heaven and hell their way.\n Then if thy love and changeless will\n Would serve the helpless captive still,\n Go forth and learn each plot and guile\n Planned by the lord of Lank\u00e1's isle.\n With magic art like maddening wine\n He cheats these weeping eyes of mine.\n Torments me with his suit, nor spares\n Reproof or flattery, threats or prayers.\n These guards surround me night and day;\n My heart is sad, my senses stray;\n And helpless in my woe I fear\n The tyrant R\u00e1van even here.'\n \n \n Then Saram\u00e1 replied:'I go\n To learn the purpose of thy foe,\n Soon by thy side again to stand\n And tell thee what the king has planned.'\n She sped, she heard with eager ears\n The tyrant speak his hopes and fears.\n Where, gathered at their master's call,\n The nobles filled the council hall;\n Then swiftly, to her promise true,\n Back to the As'oka grove she flew.\n The lady on the grassy ground,\n Longing for her return, she found;\n Who with a gentle smile, to greet\n The envoy, led her to a seat\n Through her worn frame a shiver ran\n As Saram\u00e1 her tale began:\n 'There stood the royal mother: she\n Besought her son to set thee free,\n \n \n And to her counsel, tears and prayers,\n The elder nobles added theirs:\n 'O be the Maith\u00edl queen restored\n With honour to her angry lord.\n Let Janasth\u00e1n's* unhappy fight\n Be witness of the hero's might.\n Hanu\u00fam\u00e1n o'er the waters came\n And looked upon the guarded dame.\n Let Lank\u00e1's chiefs who fought and fell\n The prowess of the leader tell.'\n In vain they sued, in vain she wept,\n His purpose still unchanged he kept.\n As clings the miser to his gold,\n He would not loose thee from his hold.\n No, never till in death he lies,\n Will Lank\u00e1's lord release his prize.\n Soon slain by R\u00e1ma's arrows all\n The giants with their king will fall,\n And R\u00e1ma to his home will lead\n His black-eyed queen from bondage freed.'\n \n \n An awful sound that moment rose\n From Lank\u00e1's fast-approaching foes,\n Where drum and shell in mingled peal\n Made earth in terror rock and reel.\n The hosts within the walls arrayed\n Stood trembling, in their hearts dismayed;\n Thought of the tempest soon to burst,\n Aud Lank\u00e1's lord, their ruin, cursed.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto XXXIV.: Saram\u00e1's Tidings.","type":"page"}