Paumacariya 25

English (machine translation) 25

Language: English

25.1

Then once, Queen Aparājitā, sleeping comfortably, / saw excellent dreams in the last watch of the night:

25.2

A lion having the colour of the excellent kunda flower, the sun, and likewise the moon; / having seen these, she awoke and recounted the dreams to her husband.

25.3

Hearing of the excellent dreams, the king, proficient in the meaning of the treatises, / said: "O fair one, these indicate an excellent person, a son!"

25.4

After that, Sumitrā saw dreams at the end of the night: / Lakṣmī holding a lotus, and the moon and sun blazing with rays;

25.5

Standing herself on the peak of a very lofty mountain, / she saw the auspicious earth extending to the edge of the great ocean.

25.6

Then at sunrise, going with great modesty, she related them to her husband; / by him too it was declared to her: "Gentle lady, you will have a son!"

25.7

In time, heavy with pregnancy, at an auspicious lunar day and moment, / Aparājitā gave birth to a son whose face was like a blooming, excellent lotus.

25.8

A great birth celebration was held for him by the delighted Daśaratha, / and the name Padma was given to him whose eyes were like lotus petals.

25.9

Directly after that, Saumitri gave birth to a boy of supreme beauty; / for him too a great rejoicing was made with special honour by the king.

25.10

In the houses of enemies, terrible and dire omens arose, / while in the cities of kinfolk, they reported vast bliss and fortune.

25.11

Because he was dark as the petal of a blue lotus and possessed of bodily marks, / he was given the name Lakṣmaṇa in accordance with his virtues.

25.12

Then both those boys, crawling and toddling about, / grew up as abodes of fortune, their bodies adorned with ornaments.

25.13

Full of affection from many births, following one another's will, the excellent princes, / delighting the hearts of their kinsfolk, were protected with care.

25.14

Then Kaikeyī gave birth to Prince Bharata and likewise Śatrughna; / a great birth celebration was also held for them by the king.

25.15

Then, seeing those four lion-like princes endowed with energy, beauty, and strength, / capable of learning and retaining the arts, the king became concerned.

25.16

There was a great city named Kāmpilya; in it was one named Bhārgava; / his wife was Airāṇī, and their son was Atirakṣita.

25.17

He had been excessively pampered, behaved discourteously, and was deeply despised by the people; / he was expelled from the city by his father out of fear of dishonour.

25.18

Wearing only two rags of cloth, he arrived at the great city of Rājagṛha; / there was a man named Vaitravatsa, exceedingly proficient in archery.

25.19

Surrounded by a thousand pupils, in his presence / he then learned by degrees, and became the foremost of them all.

25.20

The lord of Rājagṛha, hearing of him as exceptionally skilled at hitting the mark with the bow, / had an archery contest held between him and the resident pupils.

25.21

Having seen his arrow-shooting, the king said: "Then you have been poorly taught!" / Hearing the king's words, he approached his teacher once again.

25.22

Having committed an outrage at night against the daughter of the Vaiśya teacher, / he departed, fled, and arrived at the city of Sāketa.

25.23

Then he showed all his skill in weapons to Daśaratha; / well-pleased, that best of men entrusted his princes to him.

25.24

Whatever treasure of archery [and] weapons he possessed, beginning with the bow, / completely passed over to them, like the moon's reflection in water.

25.25

Those excellent princes, having attained greatness through many kinds of learning, / became renowned in fame, just like the four oceans.

Knowing his sons to be thus skilled in the arts, their minds proficient in discernment, knowledge, strength, and power, / the king, well-pleased, honored the teacher with honor, gifts, and riches, with a pure mind.

25.27

Thus ends the twenty-fifth chapter, titled "The Disposition of the Four Brothers," in the Paümacariya.

Linked texts (1)

Paümacariya — Vimalasūri, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit