Page:Valmiki - Ramayana, Griffith, 1895.djvu/29

Canto High destiny is clear impressed On massive jaw and ample chest, His mighty shafts he truly aims, And foemen in the battle tames. Deep in the muscle, scarcely shown, Embedded lies his collar-bone. His lordly steps are firm and free, His strong arms reach below his knee: All fairest graces join to deck His head, his brow, his stately neck, And limbs in fair proportion set: The manliest form e'er fashioned yet. Graced with each high imperial mark, His skin is soft and lustrous dark. Large are his eyes that sweetly shine With majesty almost divine. His plighted word he ne'er forgets; On erring sense a watch he sets. By nature wise, his teacher's skill Has trained him to subdue his will. Good, resolute and pure, and strong, He guards mankind from scathe and wrong, And lends his aid, and ne'er in vain, The cause of justice to maintain. Well has he studied o'er and o'er The Vedas and their kindred lore.

Well skilled is he the bow to draw, Well trained in arts and versed in law ; High-souled and meet for happy fate, Most tender and compassionate ; The noblest of all lordly givers, Whom good men follow, as the rivers Follow the King of Floods, the sea : So liberal, so just is he. The joy of Queen Kauśalyá's heart, In every virtue he has part : Firm as Himálaya's snowy steep, Unfathomed like the mighty deep ; The peer of Vishnu's power and might, And lovely as the Lord of Night; Patient as Earth, but, roused to ire, Fierce as the world -destroying fire ; In bounty like the Lord of Gold, And Justice' self in human mould. With him, his best and eldest son, By all his princely virtues won King Daśaratha willed to share His kingdom as the Regent Heir. But when Kaikeyi, youngest queen, With eyes of envious hate had seen The solemn pomp and regal state Prepared the prince to consecrate, She bade the hapless king bestow Two gifts he promised long ago, That Ráma to the woods should flee, And that her child the heir should be. By chains of duty firmly tied, The wretched king perforce complied. Aryan, Indo-European, not Semitic : our spiritual kith and kin are to be found in India, Persia, Greece, Italy, Germany; not in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Palestine.' Chips from a German Workshop. Vol. I. pp. 8, 4.