Rāmāyaṇacampū 1
English (machine translation) 1
- Language
- English
1.1
May the pair of feet belonging to Heramba, needing no other [aid], / the young sprout at the tip of the tree of the Vedas, / which steals the pride of the lotus, / and bears the weight of a thunderbolt in cleaving the mountains of obstacles, fully expand our fortune! (1)
1.2
If attaining the highest state in this world is accomplished through dharma, / and the authority for that is by words other than man-made [scriptures], / and the condition for their illumination is through the gods of the earth [the brahmins], / where else should my obeisance fall if not to them? (2)
1.3
Fine verse combined with the aesthetic sentiment of connected prose / is indeed delightful, like a song accompanied by the art of instrumental music. / Therefore, for the delight of those who enjoy the path of poets, / may my tongue undertake the composition of a campū. (3)
1.4
With minute fragments of the glory of the bull among the Raghus sung by Vālmīki, / I somehow bring satisfaction now to the wise. / Does a man on earth not offer libations to the ancestors / with the waters of the Gaṅgā procured by the effort of Bhagīratha? (4)
1.5
Hearing the speech of the divine Nārada, / that venerable Prācetasa, foremost among eloquent poets, / reached the holy Tamasā, the destroyer of darkness, frequented by great sages, / for his midday religious observance. (5)
1.5_1
There, as he gazed upon one of a pair of krauñca cranes pierced by a hunter even while pierced by the five arrows [of love], and was filled with compassion, from the lotus mouth of the venerable Vālmīki flowed forth a certain metrical speech in this manner: —
1.6
"May you not attain rest for eternal years, O hunter, / since you killed one of the pair of krauñca cranes infatuated by desire!" (6)
1.6_2
Thereupon, after concluding the duties appropriate to the hour and returning to his hermitage, as the venerable Vālmīki [sat],
1.7
Ambhojabhū, as if unable to bear the grace of speech finding an abode elsewhere, appeared— / he whose creation shines forth like a bunch of peacock feathers / that accomplishes the rites of magical illusions of manifold variety. (7)
1.7_3
(vyājendrajālavidhisādhakapicchikeva is a variant reading)
1.7_4
Then, duly worshipped with supreme joy by the great sage, Parameṣṭhin disappeared after uttering: "Indeed, with this speech which has attended upon you alone in order to reveal its own nature even in the middle world, let the deeds of Rāma be expounded as heard [from Nārada]!"
(upatiṣṭhamānayā is a variant reading)
1.8
Then, by the command of the lotus-born [Brahmā], viewing the deeds of Rāma with his inward vision / as clearly as a myrobalan fruit in the hand, / the great sage, the guide to the path of honey-sweet utterances, / composed the auspicious and delightful courtly poetry called the Rāmāyaṇa. (8)
1.8_5
(bhaṇitīnāṃ is a variant reading)
1.8_6
When the venerable Vālmīki was overcome with anxiety, thinking, "Who is capable of performing this literary composition?",
(loke kaḥ is a reading)
1.9
there arrived two who were mutual matches for each other, deeply learned, / endowed with voices sweet to the ear, / discerning, possessing various marks of kings, / Kuśīlava by nature, bearing the names Kuśa and Lava. (9)
1.9_7
The sage took the two and taught them his work. Seeing them singing here and there, Rāma, delighted in mind, brought them to his residence and, surrounded by his brothers, urged them to sing his own deeds. And then:
1.10
Dwelling near that bull among sages, the abode of metrical speech, / these two youths began to sing in due order the deeds of the hero of the Raghus. (10)
1.11
There is a city of the Raghus, famed among the kings who banish the Dānavas by their command, / named Ayodhyā, in the Kosala country that bestows joy upon the eyes of men. (11)
1.12
In it dwelt Daśaratha, with whom Saṅkrandana [Indra], praised by the gods, shared his seat, / and whose dwelling-place was perfumed with the nectar of mandāra garlands obtained in the world of the gods upon the defeat of the enemies of the gods. (12)
1.13
Now, when Daśaratha, his mind grieved by childlessness, was consulting with his ministers to perform the horse sacrifice for the sake of obtaining sons, Sumantra, his heart glad, related to this Daśaratha the ancient event told by Sanatkumāra: that the birth of princes would surely come about through the grace of the son of Vibhāṇḍaka, the great sage Ṛṣyaśṛṅga, who was adept at suppressing the drought that had befallen the country of Aṅga.
He, too, having his anxiety pacified by the words of Sumantra, brought that sage, his relative, whose household consisted of Śāntā; and having performed on the bank of the Sarayū the horse sacrifice ordained by Vasiṣṭha, he began to perform according to rule the sacrifice for offspring there.
Thereupon all the hosts of gods, headed by Śatamakha [Indra], having descended to earth to receive the sacrificial offerings, reported to the four-faced [Brahmā] their burning by the heat of the summer sun that was the might of the Ten-faced One; and considering the wielder of the Śārṅga bow as their refuge, they approached the Ocean of Milk with him, having commenced various praises.
The assembly of the thirty [gods] beheld a dark storm-cloud named Vaikuṇṭha, / which dispels the torment of all the worlds, lovely with the Śārṅga bow, / with a body possessing the fine lustre of a cluster of flax flowers and flashing with the lightning of Lakṣmī, / providing refuge for the cātaka birds of the minds of sages, and yielding the water of compassion: (13)
1.14
Causing, through the shoots of the radiance of his body, oneness with the petals of a blue lotus blooming in the rainy season / all around the depths of the Ocean of Milk; / assuming upon the serpent-bed, white as silk, an indefinable state of sleep / that remains ever vigilant in the protection of the entire world; (14)
1.15
Eagerly intent on splitting simultaneously / the immeasurable distress of Prahlāda, the arrogance of the host of Daityas, / the pillar, and the chest of the enemy, / combining with the body of a man seen by the universe, in the guise of a lion with swift speed, / the world made bright by the lustre of his fangs: (15)
1.16
"To Nārāyaṇa, whose eyes are long as lotuses, / who reduced the glory of the great Bali to mere name, / the cavity of whose navel is the birthplace producing manifold moving and unmoving beings— / to the Supreme Person, obeisance!" (16)
1.17
Gladdening with the streams of rays from his eyes, which stole the beauty of reddish-red day-lotuses, all these immortals headed by Harihaya [Indra], who had risen after bowing thus, their faces resounding with the sound of praise, the lotus-eyed [Lord] spoke clearly:
"Is all well, O immortals? Welcome to you at this time! / Does the play of the thunderbolt still quell the pride of the Danu-born? / And do the paths of policy framed by the intellect of Dhiṣaṇa [Bṛhaspati] / suffice for the preservation and welfare of the city of the thirty [gods]?" (17)
1.18
Hearing the speech of the Lord, preceded by an inquiry of welfare and delightful as a shower of nectar, the assembly of gods, their desires fulfilled, made petition to the Supreme Person.
"O Lord! How could misfortune befall us who have taken refuge in you? And yet—
There is a capital of the night-roamers, Laṅkā by name, / insurmountable to the gods of distinguished majesty; / with the shoots of light rising from its palaces of rubies, / it renders the triad of luminaries mere lamps by day. [18]
1.19
This ancient city, whose ramparts are the mountain ranges, / has long been guarded by a king named Rāvaṇa, / who subdued the king of yakṣas with arms charming as sāla trees, / and who effortlessly overpowers the worlds of night-roamers. [19]
1.20
The edges of his weapons, acting as tongues of the dragon Rāhu of his arm, / swallow the moon consisting of the fame of the world-guardians; / in the forefront of battle, to his enemies / there is indeed no giver of refuge other than this Death. [20]
1.21
Worshipping the lotus-born [Brahmā] with many austerities, / he obtained a boon unattainable by others; / on that account, the emperor of night-roamers / makes the entire world the target of his command. [21]
1.21_8
Because of him we have become, as it were, subordinate to another.
For indeed: / If he at any time ascends a pleasure mountain and walks on foot accompanied by the women of his inner quarters, the lord Sun of a thousand rays, out of fear that a transgression will arise, displaying no scorching heat, contracts his very rays and clings to its peaks.
Even this moon, when the Ten-faced One, surrounded by people bowing with agitation, turns towards the bathhouse to rest from the fatigue of exertion in hunting, generates by the touch of his own rays a completely clear and unbroken stream of water from the spouts of jars made of his own stone held in the palms of new crystal doll-statues fixed at the tops of the most marvelous golden pillars there; and thus for a mere moment he becomes the recipient of his twenty kinds of glances, indicative of favor, which have long been yearned for by Indra.
1.22
The breezes, suspecting the danger of falling even for ripe blossoms, are not capable of stirring in the least among the group of celestial trees headed by the mandāra, brought by that son of Pulastya from Indra's garden to the garden of his own palace, whose irrigation basins are turned to mud by lukewarm flowing waters from the pair of blue-lotus eyes of the enslaved divine beauties and from the golden jars held in their lotus-hands.
Even these sacrificial fires, bearing the name Hutavaha that carries the apprehension of customary usage, carry the burden of the cook's office in his house, headed by the householder's fire Gārhapatya.
Why say more? Having obtained invulnerability from others through the boon of the Four-faced One, thinking that dishonor would never come from a mortal, arrogant, his chest marked with calluses from the wounds made by the spear-like tusks of the world-elephants encountered in battle, Rāvaṇa, overpowering the three worlds like a wild elephant trampling a bed of land-lotuses, never recognizes us at all as belonging to you."
Then the blessed one, Madhusūdana, hearing the speech of the host of gods, / with a smile white as moonlight rising from an emerald mountain, / spoke words that were a sweet stream of nectar: [22]
1.22_9
"It is possible to bring about the destruction of that yātudhāna who commits offences against you this very moment.
Nevertheless, making unfailing the decree of the Lotus-seated One [Brahmā], and also to fulfill the wish of Daśaratha, the friend of Indra, who desires sons on the surface of the earth, I will surely slay him, armed and having assumed a mortal disguise." Having spoken thus, he vanished.
Then that assembly of gods, with joy unfolding, knowing by the command of Hṛṣīkeśa that their hardships were alleviated and that the fourteen worlds were freed from the Ten-faced One, departed from the Ocean of Milk.
Then the Grandfather [Brahmā] said to those immortals:
1.22_10
"In order to assist the consort of Lakṣmī who is about to descend, you should beget upon young women such as apsarases offspring of celebrated power, bearing the guises of vānaras, bears, cow-tailed monkeys, and black-faced monkeys.
Indeed, long ago, at the beginning of my yawning, Jāmbavān was born."
Then those gods did so.
Then from the sacrificial fire a man born of Prajāpati arose with a golden vessel, and gave to Daśaratha, who desired sons, milk-rice that was like nectar.
1.23
First the king bestowed half the milk-rice upon Kausalyā; / he gave half, sweet with affection, to the daughter of the king of Kekaya. / These two queens, considering the intention of their husband whose mind was wavering, / by their own two half-shares made Sumitrā's desire fulfilled. [23]
1.24
When the final ablution was completed and the people had departed from the banks of the Sarayū in accordance with propriety, / Daśaratha, his desire fulfilled, went to his city which was equal to the city of Indra. [24]
1.25
Owing solely to the weakness of the limbs of the queens whose splendor was charming, / ornaments were slowly discarded, and the signs of pregnancy shone forth. [25]
1.26
With the three folds gradually disappearing and the deep recess of the navel becoming shallow, / the slender waist of the daughter of the king of Kosala slowly became visible to the eye. [26]
1.27
The belly of the slender-limbed woman once more assumed / the appearance of resembling a banyan leaf gradually, / because the Primal Person, for the revival of those oppressed by the serpent of the Ten-faced One, / was residing [there] under the guise of an embryo. [27]
1.28
The waist of the dark-eyed lady, imperceptible because of its thinness, / was [verily] the sky; / with the emergence of the embryo, on the pretext of Viṣṇu's stride, / even leaving behind thinness, it was the sky indeed. [28]
1.29
When five planets were in their exaltation, the preceptor of the gods was with the moon on the ninth lunar day, / in the ascendant of Cancer joined with Punarvasu, and the Sun had entered Aries, / to burn all the rākṣasa-fuel, from the pure fire-stick of Ayodhyā / there manifested an unprecedented, transcendent, matchless luster. [29]
1.30
Then Hari, under the name of Rāma, perfuming the words of the poet, / out of compassion adorned the lineage of the Raghus. [30]
1.31
After him were born three, possessing the splendor of the three sacrificial fires, / emulating their elder brother by their various extraordinary virtues. [31]
1.32
Among them, Bharata was the son of Kaikeyī, radiant with humility; / the other two, Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna, took their rise in Sumitrā. [32]
1.33
These heroes grew, consecrated to the welfare of the world, / like the four arms of Mukunda, the delight of the world. [33]
1.33_11
Then one day Daśaratha—whose chariot was surrounded by the ranks of the gods fleeing when the host of Daityas assaulted them, puffed up by war [waged with] immeasurable sorcery—beheld the son of Kuśika, the venerable one who officiated for Triśaṅku, an abode of wonders born of ascetic practice: like a verse composition, displaying different sections; like Prākrit grammar, showing changes in sounds; like Budha, the son of Soma.
Then, having been honored in accordance with rule, he was entreated thus for the protection of the sacrifice by the son of Gādhi, whose heart was unfathomable, distinguished by boundless greatness:
"O King, by your son Rāma, who is charming with modesty, who has his bow as his companion, and has only the son of Sumitrā for his retinue, having the sacrifice protected, crossing over the peril caused by the rākṣasas, I wish to take my final ablution."
Hearing these words of the great sage, harsh to the ear, the husband of Kauśalyā had his heart pierced as by a dart on account of excessive affection for his son.
1.34
Then, as the venerable Viśvāmitra was unswerving in his resolve through manifold arguments, Daśaratha was addressed thus by the family priest, who was devoted to the welfare of the Solar race:
"You should pay honor to this son of Kuśika, of consummate fortune. / In order to make the earth free of rākṣasas, let Rāma depart together with Lakṣmaṇa." (34)
1.35
Thus, his fortitude restored by Vasiṣṭha, Daśaratha fulfilled the desire of the son of Kuśika by giving his sons.
He who is attained through yoga by men whose minds are detached from worldly existence / followed Kauśika by the command of his father, that very Rāma. (35)
1.36
There, in order to protect the sacrifice, the great sage Viśvāmitra, / leading Rāma together with the son of Sumitrā, said this: (36)
1.37
"Acquired by the power of my austerities, Balā and Atibalā / exist in me, O descendant of Kakutstha; these two knowledges I bestow on you." (37)
1.38
Then, pointing out a certain region to the son of Daśaratha who had received the knowledges, the venerable one spoke thus:
"Here formerly, in the fire of the eye on the forehead of the supreme Lord, the destroyer of the cities, / the Mind-born one, instantly becoming like a moth, cast off his limbs (aṅga); / therefore they know this region by the name of Aṅga." (38)
1.39
Then, having crossed the Sarayū issuing from Lake Mānasa, as the two sons of Daśaratha set foot on the border of the two regions named Malada and Karūṣa, which had acquired their names from washing away the filth of Indra, which had increased upon the slaying of Vṛtra, he spoke to them again thus:
"By the grace of the Creator, a certain yakṣa named Suketu obtained a daughter named Tāṭakā. / Sunda, having married her, begot upon her the vile Mārīca." (39)
1.40
"Once, when Sunda was slain, Mārīca attacked the pot-born sage [Agastya], and through his curse became a demon; Tāṭakā too became a man-eater."
"She, bringing ruin to the land along with her son who possesses the strength of a thousand elephants endowed by Brahmā, must be slain by you." Hearing him, Rāma hesitated over the killing of a woman.
Moreover, pointing to Mantharā, the daughter of Virocana, who bore a burden of offenses against the earth and was slain by Indra, and to the mother of Bhārgava, whose destruction was wrought by Janārdana, he dispelled the great hesitation of the son of Daśaratha regarding the killing of Sunda's wife.
The slaying of Sunda's beloved was promised by him who had heard the account; / his bow seemed to echo that very [promise] under the guise of the twanging sound of its string. (40)
1.41
At that moment, fearful, ruddy with drops of blood like a twilight harbinger of flesh-eating goblins, / Tāṭakā swiftly blocked the path of the sage, / turning the city of Death, through the killing within her power, into one whose great crossroads were congested with crowds of his servants sporting when their work was done. (41)
1.42
Then the evil report of Tāṭakā entered the ear of the son of Daśaratha, / and likewise the bowstring quickly reached [his ear] with the desire to slay her. (42)
1.43
Then, to the arrow of Rāma, who had fixed his resolve on the coming battle, / Tāṭakā made her own vital breaths a hero's drink. (43)
1.44
The sage bestowed upon the slayer of Tāṭakā the divine weapons, the Jṛmbhaka and the rest, devised by Bhṛśāśva, / by the command of the chastiser of Jambha. (44)
1.45
There, pointing out a certain region that surpassed the realm of Brahmā, he said:
"In this forest, devotedly frequented daily by pure Brahmins devoted to the Absolute, / who have allayed the weariness of worldly existence, / Vāmana, intent on restraining Bali, roamed as a celibate student for the sake of subduing Bali. (45)
1.46
"This extremely dark row of trees belonging to the hermitage of Vāmana, / who removed the distress of the gods, who has an unborn form, the beggar of the whole world, / having pervaded the ends of the sky and the directions, seems eager even itself to measure the world." (46)
1.47
Thus, as the two sons of Daśaratha proceeded, their distress in the wilderness gone / by means of the sanctifying stories spoken by Kauśika, sweet to the path of the ear and endowed with manifold sentiments, / such great length of the road seemed at once to shrink. (47)
1.48
Then, having entered Siddhāśrama, Viśvāmitra commenced the sacrifice.
Immediately after, seeing that flock of demons descend from mid-air, terrifying as the army of Death, the disciples of the son of Kuśika, fleeing with the sacrificial sticks and kuśa grass falling from their hands, reported in agitation to the descendant of Raghu, who was eager for battle:
"Seizing mountain peaks and hurling them all around, laughing, in fury / clapping their hands, standing here and there, dancing again and again, / sprinkling the earth with blood, binding sky-dwellers with a garland made of entrails, / scorching with eyes like fire, the night-roamers block the opening of the heavens." (48)
1.49
As though through the merit of contact with the son of Gādhi, who had transitioned to another caste, / the noble Rāma, though eligible for the staff of pippala according to the kṣatriya code, held in his hand the staff to punish the flesh-eaters. (49)
1.50
Mārīca, of base mind, after staging a battle, was in an instant hurled by the arrow of the lord of the Raghus; / his body sinking in the midst of the ocean out of fear, he assumed an appearance indistinguishable from a merman. (50)
1.51
Subāhu, mad with battle, severed by the arrow of the descendant of Kakutstha, / unwelcome to the sages, was made a guest of the Lord of the Dead. (51)
1.52
Touching the bamboo shaft, accompanied by an arrow possessing a heart-captivating tip discharged swiftly by Rāma, / the life-breath of the flesh-eaters went out from their hearts, / like an impassioned woman distressed by love, going out with a lover touching her lineage and possessing pleasing fruits. (52)
1.53
Then the sage, free from obstacles to his sacrifice through the slaughter of the night-roamers, completed the final ablution rites that gladdened every heart, / and thought to unite Rāma, joined in battle with the fortune of victory, with the unfeigned fortune [Sītā] whose form had arisen from a sacrificial ground. // 53
1.53_12
Then Kauśika, setting out toward Mithilā, spoke thus to the descendant of Kakutstha:
“Long ago indeed, a royal sage named Kuśa, sprung from the one whose seat is the lotus [Brahmā], had four sons led by Kuśāmba, who were the founders of the cities named Kauśāmbī, Mahodaya, Dharmāraṇya, and Girivraja.
Kuśanābha, for his part, begot a hundred daughters upon Ghṛtācī.
The Wind, desiring these maidens who were in the bloom of youth, was rejected; overcome with anger at their refusal, he caused deformity in their limbs.
1.54
Then Kuśanābha, learning of the affair and considering forbearance alone to be the remedy, gave them in marriage to King Brahmadatta, the son of Cūlī and born of Somadā, and they were restored to their natural form.
Desiring a son once more, Kuśanābha, through the grace of his father, begot my revered father of unfathomable strength, named Gādhi.”
Thus the son of Daśaratha, having passed the watches of the night effortlessly listening to the story of Kauśika’s birth, performed his morning rites at the river named Śoṇa, whose face had been reddened in the eastern quarter with the radiant glow of dawn as lovely as a cluster of bandhūka blossoms; and he set out along the path approaching the Gaṅgā in the company of the sage, who had finished his daily vows.
Having pure water [and milk] from birth, giving joy to the bull [and dharma], / beloved of the sacred scriptures, he reached that river as one would a cow. // 54
1.55
Then, to Rāma who wished to hear the tale of the Bhāgīrathī, the venerable sage said this:
“Long ago, Sumeru had a daughter named Manoramā; / with her alone, the emperor among mountains became a householder. // 55
1.56
From him were born two daughters: one of the two was Mandākinī, / the other was the venerable wife herself of the Moon-crested God. // 56
1.57
The gods obtained that river and led her to heaven; / the mountain gave Gaurī, who was performing austerities, to the Great God. // 57
1.58
Seeing the seed of Śiva and his consort deposited upon the earth as they were united, / the Fire-god, implored by the deities, received it. // 58
1.59
Then Ambikā’s anger, arising from her failure to obtain a son, / made the immortals childless and the earth possessed of many husbands. // 59
1.60
Then, addressed by the gods accompanied by Brahmā, who desired a commander of their army, / Fire without delay poured that divine seed into the river Jāhnavī. // 60
1.61
She too, unable to bear that fiery splendour cast in by the Seven-flamed One, / wearied, abandoned it in a reed forest in a wilderness on the borders of the Himālaya. // 61
1.62
There, to the delight of the Kṛttikās, at once arose that splendour with six lotus-faces, / born of six mothers, which destroyed the darkness that was Tāraka. // 62
1.63
Listen, my child, to the threefold path of the river of the heaven-dwellers, / like that of a deity eating oblations as prescribed in a sacrifice. // 63
1.64
King Sagara of the solar line resided in the city of Ayodhyā, / having passed beyond the first stage of life together with Keśinī and Sumati. // 64
1.65
Desiring offspring together with his wives, he performed austerities for a hundred years; / pleased at heart, Bhṛgu granted him the blessing of heirs. // 65
1.66
Of the two, Keśinī, the princess of Vidarbha, obtained a son, Asamañja; / and the younger Sumati, sixty thousand sons. // 66
1.67
Banishing Asamañja because of his improper conduct, / he commenced a horse sacrifice and let loose the steed. // 67
1.68
In the guise of a flesh-eater, that very horse was stolen by Hari; / then the sons of Sumati set forth to search for the lost steed. // 68
1.69
All the sons of Sagara, digging up the earth together with its mountains, / shattered the darkness of the serpent realm with the rays of their nails. // 69
1.70
Blazing with penance and destroying the mass of ignorance, / in the fire that was Kapila, those heroes became like moths. // 70
1.71
He then spoke to Aṃśumat, the son of Asamañja and his grandson: / ‘Go recover the steed, that you may complete the sacrifice!’ // 71
1.72
He went to that chasm, and seeing his forefathers turned to ashes, / weeping and wishing to offer them water, he found the horse as he wandered about. // 72
1.73
Garuḍa, their maternal uncle, spoke to him there in this manner: / ‘Bring the Gaṅgā down here, long-lived one; she is their supreme resort.’ // 73
1.74
Then, having heard the fate of his sons and recovered the horse, / Sagara completed the sacrificial session and went to heaven out of grief for his sons. // 74
1.75
Then this Aṃśumat, after ruling the kingdom for a long time, / entrusted the burden of the earth to Dilīpa and performed penance in the Himālayas. // 75
1.76
When Dilīpa too had gone to heaven, Bhagīratha, having heard the account, / resolved to make the immortal river a river of mortals. // 76
1.77
Then, as Bhagīratha reached Gokarṇa and practised penance, / the god, a treasure of compassion, agreed to bear the river of the gods. // 77
1.78
Then, covering the space of the quarters and the sky with masses of waves, / jagged with pearly stars mixed with the conch of the hare-marked Moon, // 78
1.79
tiring Aruṇa because the horses of the Sun were drawn along by her waves, / causing Indra to hasten in search of his elephant concealed by her foam, // 79
1.80
dragging along the trees of the Nandana garden, inferable only by the tips of their exposed branches, / causing the Lord of the Day to be bewildered as to the directions along the sky-path turned into a single sheet of water, // 80
1.81
tossing about like rafts the celestial chariots whirling in the abysses of her eddies, / her banks darkened with lines made by moss-like blue clouds, // 81
1.82
filled with immense pride, the river of the realm of the gods / plunged into the deep forest of the matted locks of Pārvatī’s beloved. // 82
1.83
Finding no way out from Śambhu’s braided hair, the river of the immortals / took on the likeness of a drop of dew clinging to the tip of a blade of dūrvā grass. // 83
1.84
Not seeing that river there, Bhagīratha, / his hopes dashed by the cruelty of fate, praised the Supreme Lord. // 84
1.85
Divided into seven streams, the Gaṅgā fell upon the mountain’s peak; / cast also into Lake Bindu by him who was pleased by the hymn of praise. // 85
1.86
Among them, three went to the eastern quarter, three to the western; / and another followed the path of Bhagīratha, who was intent upon the rites for his ancestors. // 86
1.87
This very daughter of Bhagīratha flooded the sacrificial ground of Jahnu; / he drank her up, and then, appeased, released her through the path of his ear. // 87
1.88
Having conveyed his ancestors to heaven by means of that river, the Jāhnavī, / Bhagīratha reached his city, his purpose fully accomplished. // 88
1.88_13
Then the son of Daśaratha, having heard the story of the Bhāgīrathī, crossed that river, beheld the city of Viśālā, and asked the son of Gādhi: “Whose is this?”
He too replied in this manner:
“Long ago indeed, when a dispute arose between the gods and the asuras over the nectar, the Omniform One displayed a delusion that enchanted the entire universe and caused the destruction of the Daiteyas through the wielder of the thunderbolt.
Their mother Diti, exceedingly enraged and desiring to obtain some son capable of subduing the One of a Hundred Sacrifices, performed severe austerities at Kuśaplava for a long time at the word of her husband, the son of Marīci.
1.89
The wielder of the thunderbolt, serving her under a deceitful guise, observing her as impure when she had fallen asleep with her tresses touching her feet, entered her womb, split the fetus into seven parts, and came forth.
Diti also, learning the fate of her son, had those pieces made into the seven Maruts by the breaker of citadels and entered heaven.
Then:
There was a king born of Ikṣvāku by Alambusā;
he founded here, by his own name, the city named Viśālā. (89)
1.90
Then the revered Viśvāmitra, together with the princes, having received hospitality from the king residing there named Sumati, spent the night there and set out towards Mithilā; pointing out the hermitage of Gautama, foremost among the great ascetics, he related the story connected with Gautama’s wife in this manner:
‘Mahendra approached Gautama's lawful wife here along a path tread only by the ignoble;
and that sage, in fury, made Vṛṣan castrated and his wife invisible. (90)
1.91
“When Rāma enters this forest, you shall be released from the curse.”
Having spoken thus to his wife, Gautama departed for the snowy mountain to perform austerities. (91)
1.92
Thus, when the incident was known to the host of deities then,
Vṛṣan, through the power of the ancestors, received the testicles of a ram. (92)
1.93
“Therefore let Gautama receive her, freed from sin.”
Saying thus, Kauśika went to her hermitage together with Rāma. (93)
1.94
Dust alone became the cause of such great sorrow and joy
for the lawful wife of Gautama;
for by the quality of passion she underwent a transformation,
and by the dust of Rāma's feet she returned to her natural state. (94)’
1.95
Having accepted the hospitality offered by Ahalyā and Gautama in that place, Viśvāmitra, accompanied by the princes, proceeded to the sacrificial hall of Janaka in the vicinity of Mithilā.
Then, when he was duly honored by Janaka, Śatānanda, the family priest of the line of Nimi, spoke thus to the delight of the Raghus:
“Remaining in conduct appropriate for a kṣatriya, this sage went to the hermitage of the son of Brahmā;
receiving hospitality there, and realizing that it was limitless due to the power of Surabhi,
she was begged by him; then, when the best of sages did not consent, he dragged away
that crying [cow], but terrified by her who assumed abundant force, he became a fugitive. (95)
1.95_14
While Viśvāmitra, repeatedly terrified by her army, had acquired the knowledge of various weapons through the power of austerities and once again began battle for the sake of Surabhi, the husband of Arundhatī stood firm, blocking the succession of divine missiles with his staff of Brahmā.
Then he, feeling mortified and deciding that the spiritual luster of a brāhmaṇa is far superior to the martial luster of a kṣatriya, performed extremely intense austerities in the southern quarter for the attainment of that.
Then the solar kṣatriya Triśaṅku, seeking to attain heaven in his own body, was rejected by Vasiṣṭha, and having been reduced to the state of a caṇḍāla by his sons, Mahodaya and others, who were angered by his insistence, took refuge with this very [sage].
He too began a sacrifice for the fulfillment of his desire.
1.96
When the brāhmaṇas assembled there, he, by a curse, made the sons of Vasiṣṭha dog-eaters, because they did not come out of disgust for Triśaṅku.
Then, even when the host of consumers of sacrificial oblations did not descend from heaven,
This great soul, by the power of his austerities, raised Triśaṅku to heaven,
clad in blue garments, whose royal dress was obscured, and whose appearance was indistinguishable from a rainy midnight. (96)
1.97
The One of a Hundred Sacrifices, filled with anger, cast down this [Triśaṅku] as he was approaching heaven;
then, relying on this [sage’s] peg-like command, Triśaṅku obtained a firm standing in the sky. (97)
1.97_15
Then, having abandoned the work of creating another universe at the entreaty of the host of gods, while he was performing abundant austerities at Puṣkara in the western direction because an obstacle to austerities had arisen there, Śunaḥśepa, the middle son of Ṛcīka, being led to the state of a human victim having been bought with many cows for the sake of expiating the loss of King Ambarīṣa’s sacrificial victim, begged for refuge.
This venerable sage, intent on saving him in exchange for his own sons, gave to them—Haviṣyanda and others who turned their faces away—the state of the sons of Vasiṣṭha by a curse; and through Indra and Upendra, who were pleased by two verses, he caused both Ambarīṣa and Śunaḥśepa to have their desires fulfilled.
Then, as he was performing austerities, a breach of austerities embraced him for a long time due to his association with Menakā.
Afterward, overcome by remorse, he performed terrible austerities on the northern mountain upon the bank of the Kauśikī.
1.98
There, having cursed Rambhā, who had been sent by the enemy of Jambha, saying, ‘Become a rock!’, while he was performing austerities in the eastern quarter with breath suppressed, the Lotus-seated One, whose friend the sun was distressed by the heat of the fire of his austerities, appeared and said: ‘Because you have conquered your senses, you are a brahmarṣi; let Vasiṣṭha also address you thus.’
He obtained the status of a brahmarṣi by the direction of Vasiṣṭha,
just as a twice-born achieves Vedic luster from the sacrament of investiture. (98)
1.99
Thus praised by the family priest of Janaka, the son of Gādhi,
having spent the night there with the two royal sons,
duly offered the water of guest-offering, containing flowers and tips of darbha grass,
to the Vedic luminary, the beloved of the lotus. (99)
1.100
Then, having entered the capital of Janaka—where the royal road was armored by the radiance of the eyes of city women, an impudent thief stealing the dark splendor accumulated by clusters of blossoming blue water-lilies, as their gaze continuously fell out of eagerness to gaze upon Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa—Viśvāmitra spoke thus to the two sons of Daśaratha:
‘In this city indeed, through the good fortune of King Janaka who has commenced a sacrifice, the divine, treasure-bearing Earth brought forth an exceptional jewel of a daughter who bears the name Sītā.
Moreover, what further greatness belongs to her?
The goddess whose garment is the ocean, whose seat is the Golden Mountain,
whose necklace is the river that is the sole kinship of Sagara's sons to the path of heaven,
and whose pleasure-hill is the tusk of the First Person's boar form—
her, Sītā's mother, the world calls the confinement chamber in Mithilā. (100)
1.101
There, for Sītā's marriage, Janaka established as the wager
the stringing of the bow, a feat difficult even for the immortals. (101)
1.102
Then the great sage approached the assembly of King Janaka,
which was like the Sudharmā;
and the two princes of Kosala, carrying their bows,
arrived, eager to behold the bow. (102)
1.103
There, Kauśika, duly worshipped and having recounted the story of Daśaratha's sons, instructed Rāma to string the bow presented by Janaka with the words: "This was entrusted by the immortals, headed by Indra, to Devarāta, the most distinguished elder of our family, and preserved by me especially as Sītā's bride-price."
Then:
As Rāma displayed the strength of his arms, the raising of the bowstring was not on the bow's bamboo alone,
but the elevation of virtue was also on the solar lineage adorned by himself;
not only was that bow drawn back completely, but Sītā's heart was swiftly drawn as well;
and the shattering was not merely of it, but also of the pretended pillar-like arms of the kings. (103)
1.104
By the sound blocking the space between heaven and earth, produced from the bow broken by Rāma's draw,
it acted as the rumble of rainclouds to the flock of swans that was the fame of proud warriors;
it acted as the proclamation of an auspicious day at the first entrance of the Fortune of Heroes;
it acted indeed as the celebratory wedding drums in the mind of Sītā at her marriage. (104)
1.105
The loud sound, newly born from the bow snapped by that hard pull,
instantly welcomed by the lords of the quarters with the trumpeting of the directional elephants,
spread abroad the sound of the departure drums of the maiden who is Rāma's fame,
setting forth in her curiosity to wander through the world. (105)
1.106
There, Daśaratha, summoned by messengers dispatched by Janaka who had resolved upon Sītā's marriage, arrived in Mithilā with the consent of his family priest.
He whose fame shines as a fore-mark at the start of celestial nymphs' musical assemblies,
through whom the First Man had a worthy son, and through whom alone the earth was truly ruled by a good king,
and upon beholding the fringe of the fluttering chariot banner of that hero facing upward,
Indra in the crises of battle was freed from his distress. (106)
1.107
Janaka summoned his younger brother, Kuśadhvaja,
who had been installed in the city of Sāṅkāśya after slaying Sudhanvan in battle. (107)
1.108
Then Daśaratha, worshipped by the two of them along with his family priest, performed there the auspicious tonsure rite for his sons.
By his father's command, the descendant of Raghu accepted Sītā from Janaka,
as fire accepts the offering from the sacrificer according to the precept of Vedic tradition. (108)
1.109
This is a wonder:
Fitting a string onto the divine bow, Rāma took Sītā
at the word of Kuśika's son;
then Lakṣmaṇa, his younger brother, also took Urmilā,
having placed many virtues in the mind of Mithilā's king. (109)
1.110
Then Bharata and Śatrughna, by Kuśadhvaja's direction,
became householders with Māṇḍavī and Śrutakīrti. (110)
1.111
Now Daśaratha, returning from Videha along with his sons whose marriages were completed, saw mid-journey the sage Rāma, descendant of Bhṛgu, whose unbearable rage was like the fire blazing at the time of universal dissolution, whose prowess was terrifying and unrestrainable, who had offered ancestral oblations made of streams of blood subject to the edge of his battle-axe which scraped away all the pride of the kṣatriya class, who was foremost among the proud, exceedingly resplendent, and who, though dressed in bark garments befitting ascetic practice, had not had his passion for battle stolen away due to the force of past impressions.
And though his joy had faded upon merely seeing him, he performed worship together with the great sages and asked: "Noble sir, is all well?"
Then the lord of the Bhṛgus, paying no heed to that gracious speech of Daśaratha,
spoke this to the humble Rāma:
"You who acquired fame from an old bow and have not known my axe,
I wished to know the might of your arms on this bow!" (111)
1.112
Taking it, quickly stringing it, fitting an arrow to it,
and discerning [the sage's] wealth of asceticism,
the wise Rāma, his mind having pity for the other's life,
desisted from the terrible battle that had arisen. (112)
1.113
Both of those sprung from the lineage of Bhṛgu—
the bow-staff and Jamadagni's son—
assuming complete humbleness,
had their string and virtues conferred upon the descendant of Raghu. (113)
1.114
As both the bow and Rāma, descendant of Bhṛgu, obtained the cord and virtues at once,
straightness turned into crookedness, and crookedness likewise turned into straightness. (114)
1.115
Then, in an instant, the descendant of Raghu blocked the Bhārgava's path to heaven with an unerring arrow.
For that was fitting:
Surely, a transgression committed by a person against a great man
brings forth an entirely corresponding result;
since the Bhārgava, having caused a moment's obstruction to the journey of the bearer of the Raghu lineage,
incurred the loss of his supreme destination. (115)
1.116
Then Daśaratha, having closely embraced and kissed the head of Rāma—who had become possessed of the abundance of power transferred from Jamadagni's son and whose arms were as attractive as the coils of the lord of serpents—entered Ayodhyā, which was encircled by the Sarayū river flowing around its borders like a moat, while his white parasol seemed like an umbrella of peacock feathers through the side-glances, eclipsing the beauty of tāpiñca flowers, cast from closely packed lattice windows by the city's noblewomen who reverently gazed at the sons accompanied by their wives.
The first of the aesthetic sentiments, skilled in union with youth,
attended upon the four sons of the lord of the Ikṣvākus,
who attained boundless pleasure through those brides
whose erotic signs were unclear because of modest shame. (116)
1.117
Just as a wise man of needle-sharp intellect finds supreme joy through sacred knowledge
which has the vision of the three Vedas,
so Rāma attained the highest delight with that princess. (117)
1.117_16
Thus ends the Bālakāṇḍa in the Campūrāmāyaṇa composed by the King of Vidarbha.