{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/rama/ry497.htm","path":"hin/rama/ry497.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry497.htm","text":"But R\u00e1ma bade the chariot stay,\n And halting in his airy way,\n In Bharadv\u00e1's holy shade\n His homage to the hermit paid.\n 'O saint,' he cried, 'I yearn to know\n My dear Ayodhy\u00e1's weal and woe.\n O tell me that the people thrive,\n And that the queens are yet alive.'\n \u00a0\u00a0 Joy gleamed in Bhardv\u00e1ja's eye,\n Who gently smiled and made reply:\n 'Thy brother, studious of thy will,\n Is faithful and obedient still.\n In tangled twine he coils his hair:\n Thy safe return is all his care.\n Before thy shoes he humbly bends,\n And to thy house and realm attends.\n When first these dreary years began,\n When first I saw the banished man,\n With Sit\u00e1, in his hermit coat,\n At this sad heart compassion smote.\n My breast with tender pity swelled:\n I saw thee from thy home expelled,\n Reft of all princely state, forlorn,\n A hapless wanderer travel-worn,\n Firm in thy purpose to fulfil\n Thy duty and thy father's will.\n But boundless is my rapture now:\n Triumphant, girt with friends, art thou.\n Where'er thy wandering steps have been,\n Thy joy and woe mine eyes have seen.\n Thy glorious deeds to me art known,\n The Br\u00e1hmans saved, the foes o'erthrown.\n Such power have countless seasons spent\n In penance and devotion lent.\n Thy virtues, best of chiefs, I know,\n And now a boon would fain bestow.\n This hospitable gift \u00a01 receive:\n Then with the dawn my dwelling leave.'\n The bended head of R\u00e1ma showed\n His reverence for the grace bestowed;\n Then for each brave companion's sake\n He sought a further boon and spake:\n \u00a0\u00a0 'O let that mighty power of thine\n The road to fair Ayodhy\u00e1 line\n With trees where fruit of every hue\n The V\u00e1nars' eye and taste may woo,\n And flowers of every season, sweet\n With stores of honeyed juice, may meet,'\n The hero ceased: the hermit bent\n His reverend head in glad assent;\n And swift, as Bharadv\u00e1ja willed,\n The prayer of R\u00e1ma was fulfilled.\n For many a league the lengthening road\n Trees thick with fruit and blossom showed\n With luscious beauty to entice\n The taste like trees of Paradise.\n The V\u00e1nars passed beneath the shade\n Of that delightful colonnade,\n Still tasting with unbounded glee\n The treasures of each wondrous tree.","title":"BOOK VI: Canto CXXVI.: Bharat Consoled.","type":"page"}