The Ramayana/Book II/Canto LII: The Crossing of Gangá

Soon as the shades of night had fled, Uprising from his lowly bed, Ráma the famous, broad of chest, His brother Lakshman thus addressed: 'Now swift upsprings the Lord of Light, And fled, is venerable night,

That dark-winged bird the Koïl now Is calling from the topmost bough, And sounding from the thicket nigh Is heard the peacock's early cry, Come, cross the flood that seeks the sea, The swiftly flowing Jáhnaví.'

King Guha heard his speech, agreed, And called his minister with speed: 'A boat,' he cried, 'swift, strong, and fair, With rudder, oars, and men, prepare, And place it ready by the shore To bear the pilgrims quickly o'er.' Thus Guha spake: his followers all Bestirred them at their master's call; Then told the king that ready manned A gay boat waited near the strand. Then Guha, hand to hand applied. With reverence thus to Ráma cried: 'The boat is ready by the shore: How, tell me, can I aid thee more? O lord of men, it waits for thee To cross the flood that seeks the sea, O godlike keeper of thy vow, Embark: the boat is ready now.'

Then Ráma, lord of glory high, Thus to King Guha. made reply: 'Thanks for thy gracious care, my lord: Now let the gear be placed on board.' Each bow-armed chief, in mail encased, Bound sword and quiver to his waist, And then with Sítá near them hied Down the broad river's shelving side. Then with raised palms the charioteer, In lowly reverence drawing near, Cried thus to Ráma good and true: 'Now what remains for me to do?' With his right hand, while answering The hero touched his friend: 'Go back,' he said, 'and on the king With watchful care attend. Thus far, Sumantra, thou wast guide; Now to Ayodhyá turn,' he cried: 'Hence seek we leaving steeds and car, On foot the wood that stretches far.'

Sumantra, when, with grieving heart, He heard the hero bid him part, Thus to the bravest of the brave, Ikshváku's son, his answer gave: 'In all the world men tell of naught, To match thy deed, by heroes wrought-- Thus with thy brother and thy wife Thrall-like to lead a forest life. No meet reward of fruit repays Thy holy lore, thy saintlike days, Thy tender soul, thy love of truth, If woe like this afflicts thy youth. Thou, roaming under forest boughs

With thy dear brother and thy spouse Shalt richer meed of glory gain Than if three worlds confessed thy reign. Sad is our fate, O Ráma: we, Abandoned and repelled by thee, Must serve as thralls Kaikeyí's will, Imperious, wicked, born to ill.'

Thus cried the faithful charioteer, As Raghu's son, in rede his peer, Was fast departing on his road,-- And long his tears of anguish flowed. But Ráma, when those tears were dried His lips with water purified, And in soft accents, sweet and clear, Again addressed the charioteer: 'I find no heart, my friend, like thine, So faithful to Ikshváku's line. Still first in view this object keep, That ne'er for me my sire may weep. For he, the world's far-ruling king, Is old, and wild with sorrow's sting; With love's great burthen worn and weak: Deem this the cause that thus I speak Whate'er the high-souled king decrees His loved Kaikeyí's heart to please, Yea, be his order what it may, Without demur thou must obey, For this alone great monarchs reign, That ne'er a wish be formed in vain. Then, O Sumantra, well provide That by no check the king be tried: Nor let his heart in sorrow pine: This care, my faithful friend, be thine The honoured king my father greet, And thus for me my words repeat To him whose senses are controlled, Untired till now by grief, and old;

I, Sítá, Lakshman sorrow not, O Monarch, for our altered lot: The same to us, if here we roam, Or if Ayodhyá be our home, The fourteen years will quickly fly, The happy hour will soon be nigh When thou, my lord, again shalt see Lakshman, the Maithlí dame, and me. Thus having soothed, O charioteer, My father and my mother dear, Let all the queens my message learn. But to Kaikeyí chiefly turn, With loving blessings from the three, From Lakshman, Sítá, and from me, My mother, Queen Kausalyá, greet With reverence to her sacred feet. And add this prayer of mine: 'O King; Send quickly forth and Bharat bring, And set him on the royal throne Which thy decree has made his own. When he upon the throne is placed, When thy fond arms are round him laced. Thine aged heart will cease to ache With bitter pangs for Ráma's sake.'

And say to Bharat: 'See thou treat The queens with all observance meet: What care the king receives, the same Show thou alike to every dame. Obedience to thy father's will Who chooses thee the throne to fill, Will earn for thee a store of bliss Both in the world to come and this.'

Thus Ráma bade Sumantra go With thoughtful care instructed so. Sumantra all his message heard, And spake again, by passion stirred: 'O, should deep feeling mar in aught The speech by fond devotion taught, Forgive whate'er I wildly speak: My love is strong, my tongue is weak. How shall I, if deprived of thee, Return that mournful town to see: Where sick at heart the people are Because their Ráma roams afar. Woe will be theirs too deep to brook When on the empty car they look, As when from hosts, whose chiefs are slain, One charioteer comes home again. This very day, I ween, is food Forsworn by all the multitude, Thinking that thou, with hosts to aid, Art dwelling in the wild wood's shade. The great despair, the shriek of woe They uttered when they saw thee go. Will, when I come with none beside, A hundred-fold be multiplied. How to Kaus'alyá can I say: 'O Queen, I took thy son away, And with thy brother left him well: Weep not for him; thy woe dispel?' So false a tale I cannot frame, Yet how speak truth and grieve the dame? How shall these horses, fleet and bold, Whom not a hand but mine can hold, Bear others, wont to whirl the car Wherein Ikshváku's children are! Without thee, Prince, I cannot, no, I cannot to Ayodhyá go. Then deign, O Ráma, to relent, And let me share thy banishment. But if no prayers can move thy heart, If thou wilt quit me and depart, The flames shall end my car and me, Deserted thus and reft of thee. In the wild wood when foes are near, When dangers check thy vows austere, Borne in my car will I attend. All danger and all care to end. For thy dear sake I love the skill That guides the steed and curbs his will: And soon a forest life will be As pleasant, for my love of thee. And if these horses near thee dwell, And serve thee in the forest well, They, for their service, will not miss The due reward of highest bliss. Thine orders, as with thee I stray. Will I with heart and head obey, Prepared, for thee, without a sigh, To lose Ayodhyá or the sky. As one denied with hideous sin, I never more can pass within Ayodhyá, city of our king, Unless beside me thee I bring. One wish is mine, I ask no more, That, when thy banishment is o'er I in my car may bear my lord, Triumphant, to his home restored. The fourteen years, if spent with thee. Will swift as light-winged moments flee; But the same years, without thee told, Were magnified a hundred-fold. Do not, kind lord, thy servant leave, Who to his master's son would cleave, And the same path with him pursue, Devoted, tender, just and true.'

Again, again Sumantra made His varied plaint, and wept and prayed. Him Raghu's son, whose tender breast Felt for his servants, thus addressed: O faithful servant, well my heart Knows how attached and true thou art. Hear thou the words I speak, and know Why to the town I bid thee go. Soon as Kaikeyí, youngest queen, Thy coming to the town has seen, No doubt will then her mind oppress That Ráma roams the wilderness. And so the dame, her heart content With proof of Ráma's banishment. Will doubt the virtuous king no more As faithless to the oath he swore. Chief of my cares is this, that she, Youngest amid the queens, may see Bharat her son securely reign O'er rich Ayodhyá's wide domain. For mine and for the monarch's sake Do thou thy journey homeward take, And, as I bade, repeat each word That from my lips thou here hast heard.'

Thus spake the prince, and strove to cheer The sad heart of the charioteer, And then to royal Guha said These words most wise and spirited: 'Guha, dear friend, it is not meet That people throng my calm retreat: For I must live a strict recluse, And mould my life by hermits' use. I now the ancient rule accept By good ascetics gladly kept. I go: bring fig-tree juice that I In matted coils my hair may tie.'

Quick Guha hastened to produce, For the king's son, that sacred juice. Then Ráma of his long locks made, And Lakshman's too, the hermit braid.

And the two royal brothers there With coats of bark and matted hair, Transformed in lovely likeness stood To hermit saints who love the wood. So Ráma, with his brother bold, A pious anchorite enrolled, Obeyed the vow which hermits take, And to his friend, King Guha, spake: 'May people, treasure, army share, And fenced forts, thy constant care: Attend to all: supremely hard The sovereign's task, to watch and guard.'

Ikshváku's son, the good and brave, This last farewell to Guha gave, And then, with Lakshman and his bride, Determined, on his way he hied. Soon as he viewed, upon the shore, The bark prepared to waft them o'er Impetuous Gangá's rolling tide, To Lakshman thus the chieftain cried: 'Brother, embark; thy hand extend, Thy gentle aid to Sítá lend: With care her trembling footsteps guide, And place the lady by thy side.' When Lakshman heard, prepared to aid His brother's words he swift obeyed. Within the bark he placed the dame, Then to her side the hero came. Next Lakshman's elder brother, lord Of brightest glory, when on board, Breathing a prayer for blessings, meet For priest or warrior to repeat, Then he and car-borne Lakshman bent, Well-pleased, their heads, most reverent, Their hands, with Sítá, having dipped, As Scripture bids, and water sipped, Farewell to wise Sumantra said, And Guha, with the train he led. So Ráma took, on board, his stand, And urged the vessel from the land. Then swift by vigorous arms impelled Her onward course the vessel held, And guided by the helmsman through The dashing waves of Gangá flew. Half way across the flood they came, When Sítá, free from spot and blame, Her reverent hands together pressed, The Goddess of the stream addressed: 'May the great chieftain here who springs From Das'aratha, best of kings, Protected by thy care, fulfil His prudent father's royal will. When in the forest he has spent His fourteen years of banishment, With his dear brother and with me His home again my lord shall see, Returning on that blissful day. I will to thee mine offerings pay, Dear Queen, whose waters gently flow, Who canst all blessed gifts bestow. For, three-pathed Queen, though wandering here, Thy waves descend from Brahmá's sphere, Spouse of the God o'er floods supreme, Though rolling here thy glorious stream. To thee, fair Queen, my head shall bend, To thee shall hymns of praise ascend, When my brave lord shall turn again, And, joyful, o'er his kingdom reign. To win thy grace, O Queen divine, A hundred thousand fairest kine, And precious robes and finest meal Among the Bráhmans will I deal. A hundred jars of wine shall flow, When to my home, O Queen, I go; With these, and flesh, and corn, and rice, Will I, delighted, sacrifice. Each hallowed spot, each holy shrine That stands on these fair shores of thine, Each fane and altar on thy banks Shall share my offerings and thanks. With me and Lakshman, free from harm, May he the blameless, strong of arm, Reseek Ayodhyá from the wild, O blameless Lady undefiled!'

As, praying for her husband's sake, The faultless dame to Gangá spake, To the right bank the vessel flew With her whose heart was right and true. Soon as the bark had crossed the wave, The lion leader of the brave, Leaving the vessel on the strand, With wife and brother leapt to land. Then Ráma thus the prince addressed Who filled with joy Sumitrá's breast: 'Be thine alike to guard and aid In peopled spot, in lonely shade. Do thou, Sumitrá's son, precede: Let Sítá walk where thou shalt lead. Behind you both my place shall be, To guard the Maithil dame and thee. For she, to woe a stranger yet, No toil or grief till now has met; The fair Videhan will assay The pains of forest life to-day. To-day her tender feet must tread Rough rocky wilds around her spread: No tilth is there, no gardens grow, No crowding people come and go.'

The hero ceased: and Lakshman led Obedient to the words he said: And Sítá followed him, and then Came Raghu's pride, the lord of men. With Sítá walking o'er the sand They sought the forest, bow in hand, But still their lingering glances threw Where yet Sumantra stood in view. Sumantra, when his watchful eye The royal youths no more could spy, Turned from the spot whereon he stood Homeward with Guha from the wood.

Still on the brothers forced their way Where sweet birds sang on every spray, Though scarce the eye a path could find Mid flowering trees where creepers twined Far on the princely brothers pressed, And stayed their feet at length to rest Beneath a fig tree's mighty shade With countless pendent shoots displayed. Reclining there a while at ease, They saw, not far, beneath fair trees A lake with many a lotus bright That bore the name of Lovely Sight. Ráma his wife's attention drew, And Lakshman's, to the charming view: 'Look, brother, look how fair the flood Glows with the lotus, flower and bud.'

They drank the water fresh and clear, And with their shafts they slew a deer. A fire of boughs they made in haste, And in the flame the meat they placed. So Raghu's sons with Sítá shared The hunter's meal their hands prepared, Then counselled that the spreading tree Their shelter and their home should be.