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Ravanavadha 6

English (machine translation) 6

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6.1

The fire of love burned the Ten-faced one day and night; / he knew that the daughter of Videha had no interest in anyone other than Rāma.

6.2

He kept awake constantly out of apprehension at the schemes of his enemy; / feeling suspicious, he was afraid of the descendant of Kakutstha.

6.3

Yet he did not feel ashamed, even when reviled as he begged Sītā; / nor did he muster his courage, being utterly infatuated with the daughter of Videha.

6.4

He told his men: "Find out Rāma's doings!"; / and, taking great care, he instructed the demons to guard Sītā.

6.4.p1

Now, miscellaneous [rules].

6.5

Meanwhile Rāma, having slain Mārīca and about to return, / heard harsh, loud-crying jackals howling, betokening misfortune.

6.6

Fearing that the daughter of Videha had been devoured, slain, or died, / he saw from afar the brother of Śatrughna approaching.

6.7

Recognizing that Sītā had been abandoned by the son of Sumitrā—she who was his devoted companion, timid and alone— / the descendant of Kakutstha thought: "When destruction comes, safety is hard to find."

6.7.p1

Hereafter, the verbs beginning with duh.

6.8

Asking Lakṣmaṇa for news of Sītā while praying to the gods for welfare, / the brother, deeply agitated, related everything as it had happened to Rāma.

6.9

Seeing the shelter empty and begging the forest for his beloved, / as if milking his very life out of himself, he held back the sorrow in his heart.

6.10

"Could she have gone to pick flowers from the hermitage trees? / Or has she gone there, where Sutīkṣṇa instructs the ascetics in righteousness?

6.10.p1

Hereafter, miscellaneous [rules].

6.11

Ah, what pain! Alas! Oh, how strange! Ha! O Mother! Fie on the gods! / Alas, Father! Where are you, O fair-browed one?" Thus he lamented much.

6.12

"Here she sat; here she lay down; from here she walked playfully away." / Remembering the princess of Mithilā in this way, the elder brother of Bharata languished.

6.13

"This garland of flowers was made for the night, this for the day; / hanging from the branch, it withers away, as if out of grief, without her.

6.14

She whom we repeatedly watched while she slept, fearing she was dead— / ah, it is hard to die out of season, since we still live on without her!

6.15

This joke brings no joy; do not put me to the test! / Do not conceal yourself from me, O Sītā! Do not play with our life!

6.15.p1

Hereafter, the section on the marker sic.

6.16

I have slain the terrible demon of cruel prowess; / do not hide yourself from your husband, do not fail to embrace your beloved, O dear one!

6.17

Do not imagine a fault where there is none; do not excessively torment your devotee! / Has the lovely woman taken refuge on a mountain, or has she run toward the river?

6.18

Ah, speak to me! Our courage has melted away because of you; / having disappeared, you have, as it were, swallowed our mind and carried off our vital breaths.

6.19

My eye has swelled with weeping, my face has swollen for your sake; / I shall die if you have rejected me; do not keep silent about what you intend to do!

6.20

Lakṣmaṇa, tell me if she spoke of any cause for anger! / When a fault is unknown, how can a remedy be applied?

6.21

Here she anointed me with perfumes; bathing, she sprinkled me here with waters; / here I used to call her to look at her." Remembering thus, he fainted.

6.22

The fire of grief clung to his inner heart, blazing like dry wood; / the cool forest breeze touched him as if smeared upon him, yet brought him no comfort.

6.23

Bathing, he poured out water while weeping without his beloved; / similarly, overcome with sorrow, he offered water libations to his ancestors.

6.24

Though so afflicted, he never abandoned his righteous duty at the proper time; / for the daily duty of the great never lapses in times of distress.

6.25

Time and again he challenged heroes; time and again he called out to the demons: / "Come in battle, you who hate Sītā, and oppose the scion of Raghu!

6.26

O young of birds and beasts whom she nourished as her own / and who shone with the moon! Tell me where she has gone!"

6.27

Desiring to find the daughter of Janaka, Rāma approached the mountain; / he pointed out to Lakṣmaṇa a great battle that had occurred there:

6.28

"O son of Sumitrā, two demons surely clashed here, seeking to slay Sītā; / this fresh blood of the two dripped in the combat.

6.29

This armor dropped down, and this chariot, with its horses, was crushed; / come, let us quickly enter and search this mountain.

6.30

I think my wrath has been held back, despondency has paralyzed my resolve; / my intellect, as it were, has grown decrepit, and my strength has aged through sorrow.

6.31

Look, Lakṣmaṇa, here the two wings of a vulture were made to be cut down! / Surely this destruction was brought about by the night-roamer who wished to devour her."

6.32

Enraged, the tiger of Raghu's line blazed up; in a moment his eyes became bloodshot; / the three worlds perceived him as a menace, filled with blazing rays like the sun.

6.33

His supreme courage was extended, and swelled like [that of one] whose purpose was accomplished; / the great prowess of that enraged hero mounted up.

6.34

His grief was, as it were, drained away; his valor, as it were, obstructed; / he became one with fury, and repeatedly heaved long sighs.

6.35

Then, seizing his bow, Rāma, with the might of an elephant, roared: / "I shall block the path of the sun, I shall shatter the principal mountains!

6.36

I shall empty the water of the ocean, I shall separate the gods from heaven; / I shall crush the serpents in Pātāla, I shall slay the night-roamers!

6.37

Kindling my skill in missile weapons, I shall join Yama with Time; / unwearied, by my own splendor I shall grind the earth into dry dust!

6.38

I shall cut down the prosperity of the yakṣas, I shall destroy the valor of Indra; / I shall break all boundaries, I shall stretch out the wide sky!

6.39

Let not this world deem me devoid of valor, thinking 'he will not harm [us]!'" / Speaking thus, the son of Daśaratha fitted an arrow to his bow.

6.40

The son of Sumitrā turned him back, as he was bent on destroying the universe; / from near the hermitage the two saw a bird resembling a mountain.

6.41

Thinking him to be the killer of Sītā, Rāma rushed forward to kill him; / [the bird cried:] "Do not kill me, Jaṭāyu, O Rāma! I saw Sītā!"

6.42

When he had spoken thus, the descendant of Raghu approached that friend of his father; / he asked the bird for news of the daughter of Janaka and of the battle.

6.42.p1

Then, having named Rāvaṇa, the enemy, the foremost of birds,

6.43

languishing with the pain of his wounds, died in the mountain cave; / having performed the funeral rites of fire and water for him, the two set out once more into the forest.

6.44

The two were seized by a long-armed demon, hungry, / incessantly dragging creatures by force and devouring them.

6.45

The two best of the Raghus severed his arms with their swords; / with his arms cut off, shaking the earth, he fell down bewildered.

6.45.p1

Here end the miscellaneous rules.

6.45.p2

Now begins the section on gerundives.

6.46

To him who asked what was to be asked, the best of the Raghus caused to be spoken what was to be told: / of himself, of his dwelling in the forest, and of the enemy to be conquered.

6.47

"How indeed is the princess of Videha to be recovered? How can the enemy be seen? / And how is separation to be borne? This must be spoken by you to me."

6.48

"O Rāma, I am the son of Śrī, wandering about like one drunk on liquor; / I came to lead a sinful life on account of a sage's curse," he said to him.

6.49

"Having come under your control, purified by your weapon, I tell you: / Sītā has been carried off by Rāvaṇa, taken to Laṅkā by the enemy of the gods.

6.50

On Ṛṣyamūka there is an irreproachable monkey named Sugrīva, / whose brother's death is to be bargained for; he, of charming valor, should be chosen by you.

6.51

Assisted by him as your vehicle, you will slay the master of the maneaters, / the demon of cruel deeds, the enemy of Śakra, who dwells far away.

6.52

That monkey sits longing for his beloved who was seized by Vālin, / like a bull struck with a stick in a cowpen, longing for a cow ready for mating.

6.53

Quickly make an undecaying alliance with that noble one, O Rāma; / then, having reached Laṅkā, you will kill the sinful Ten-necked One.

6.54

There is no falsehood in it; I speak what is to be spoken as truth. / Having entered into friendship with him, you will accomplish the slaughter of your enemy.

6.55

Respected by him as your dependent, praised by him as worthy of service, / approached by him as a master is by a disciple, you will obtain the desired object.

6.56

Even the ocean is not impossible to cross for him who possesses excellent servants; / his anger must be appeased by you, and your grief must be wiped away by him."

6.57

Like one who has sacrificed with the Rājasūya, radiant as the sun in splendor, / speaking no falsehood, pleasing to behold, the night-roamer mounted into the sky.

6.58

Looking upon the creepers bearing fruit without cultivation, the two sons of Daśaratha / then wandered about, having forgotten gems, food, drink, and base metals.

6.59

Crossing without distress the rivers resembling the Bhidya and the Uddhya, / they reached in the forest Śabarī, famed like the star Sidhya.

6.60

Wearing pure bark garments, with a girdle made of spotless grasses, / emaciated, dark as a lump of collyrium, bearing a staff, seated on an antelope skin,

6.61

virtuous like an uncompounded word, of distinct form, free from corruption, / ungraspable through freedom from desire, allied with the gods, blameless,

6.62

constantly engaged in pious duties, feeding on uncultivated fruits— / seeing her, Rāma cast off his fatigue, like a draught-animal unyoked.

6.63

Then he said to her: "Do you perform the duty to the ancestors / at the time of the new moon with delicious, uncooked fruits?

6.64

Do you purify the oblation that must necessarily be purified for the portion of the gods? / Do you bow to the Soma that is to be pressed at the sacrifice by the twice-born?

6.65

Is the water for sipping at the twilight devotions not neglected by you in the proper manner? / Do you honor a guest arriving at the proper time like the sacrificial fire brought forward?

6.66

Does no outcast person, an enemy to virtue, enter your dwelling / to obstruct your rites to the gods, O blessed lady?

6.67

Do you constantly take delight in the tales of those who perform the Kuṇḍapāyya, / of those who pile the sacrificial fire, and of those who offer the Upacāyya, O auspicious one?"

6.67.p1

Now begins the section on miscellaneous rules.

6.68

"Does your asceticism increase, O timid one? Have you conquered the leaders of obstacles? / Have you subdued desire and delusion, or attained [perfection] through humility?

6.69

Do you not grow weary performing austerities? Have you properly pleased your teachers? / You have not shrunk from the restraints; have you found satisfaction in your own tapas?"

6.70

Then she, having respectfully brought water for the feet, the honey-offering, and other gifts, / and having honored the two venerable ones with fruits, reported health and welfare everywhere.

6.70.p1

From here on begins the section on primary affixes.

6.71

"Sugrīva, the delight of monkeys, will be the maker of your alliance; / swiftly you will see the princess of Mithilā." Having spoken thus, she vanished.

6.72

Delighting the foremost sages and pleasing the forest-dwellers, / the two heroic descendants of Raghu then entered the forests around Lake Pampā.

6.73

"Look, Lakṣmaṇa, at Pampā, adorned by charming, calling swarms of bees, / cuckoos, and curlews—a torment to my heart!

6.74

Look at the radiant water-born [lotuses] that surpass the stars, / churning the mind, tormenting one whose beloved is away.

6.75

Evidently beauty everywhere depends on one's beloved, / since, with my dear one gone, the swans and cuckoos utter ugly cries.

6.76

At the birds pecking as pairs, at the trees scattering blossoms, / who is ignorant, or who has no beloved, that he would not swoon?

6.77

We are brought low by these birds breathing forth loud cries, / drinking honey eagerly, smelling deeply the fragrance of the flowers.

6.78

Alas, we are undone once more by trees bearing waves of blooms, / capable of tormenting people, agitating our hearts!

6.79

By the breezes giving misery to men like me, bearing the highest fragrance, / as if smearing the body, who with a heart would not be inflamed?

6.80

Drips of dew-drops, radiant as beautiful pearls, / held on the fluttering leaf-tips, cause the mind to melt away.

6.81

When indeed shall I be the end of this sorrow? / Yama does not make me happy by taking away my life.

6.82

I burn with the sips of spring like a mountain with fierce forest fires; / what lead is there here by which, alas, my fever might subside?

6.83

As if possessed by an evil spirit, as if seized by an alligator in the ocean, / my mind, seeing the forest reaches, remembers home.

6.84

The trees, their branches shaking from the wind's blow, like dancers / encircled by buzzing bee-singers, are indeed unbearable."

6.85

The two best of Raghu's race, striding like yearling deers, / cutters of their enemies' powers, went to Ṛṣyamūka.

6.86

Thinking them spies of Vālin, the monkey Sugrīva thought: / "Harassed by my kinsman, how can I remain alive?"

6.87

Considering the two Raghus to be slayers of their foes, / he went with his retinue to the Malaya mountain that rose as if measuring the sky.

6.88

The monkey-elephant, being in a tight spot, dispatched Māruti as messenger— / giver of relief, an elephant among monkeys, dispeller of grief, composed.

6.89

He, whose guise inspired confidence, who knew the path, focused, / knowing the minds of those who wish to conquer, leapt up into the sky.

6.90

He reached Ṛṣyamūka, where wind-struck trees swayed like drunkards / and bees sang loudly like singers of the Sāman.

6.91

Having come to that lovely mountain, the monkey, an bringer of joy, / disguised as a mendicant worthy of alms, spoke to the two heroes wearing armor:

6.92

"Why are you two mighty ones, like two elephants in clumps of grass, / discussing between yourselves this lord of mountains, impassable even for Śaṅkara,

6.93

thronged with cruel carnivores that sleep in caves, together with night-wanderers, / covered with high mountain-trees, beyond the reach of human beings?

6.94

With a splendor like infants, how have you reached these rugged rocky paths / that tire the veins, rich in lions that terrify living beings?

6.95

Or how did you cross the fearsome rivers washing away their banks? / Tell me, how were you not encountered by elephants that tear down riverbanks?"

6.96

Rāma spoke to Hanūmat: "O wise one, we have come to this sky-licking mountain / by our father's wish, protecting sages who cook little for themselves.

6.97

Know our father to be the famous Daśaratha on earth, / who cooks immeasurably, a supreme master enjoying all things.

6.98

By trickery, our beloved has been abducted from the forest / by a wound-striking demon whose form never sees the sun; we seek her."

6.99

Māruti replied to Rāma: "There is a monkey named Vālin, / who in battle could pacify even the forehead-scorching sun.

6.100

By him of terrible gaze his brother Sugrīva was cast out; / I have come, an obedient messenger, from him who desires your friendship.

6.101

Though a speaker of pleasant words, I speak no untruth, O scorcher of foes! / With his friendship you will slay the ten-necked tormentor of enemies.

6.102

Silent when it comes to falsehood, I tell you this truth: / come, make the all-enduring monkey Sugrīva your friend."

6.103

Taking Rāma, the wish-granting tree whose branches are all-touching fame, / the monkey went to the sky-scraping, fruit-rich Malaya.

6.104

Sugrīva, overcome with weariness, seeing Rāma approach like the cloud-making season, / did not think the sun that was Vālin to be fearful.

6.105

By the fire they made friendship, bringing joy to each other, / and then deliberated upon actions that bring welfare.

6.106

The descendant of Kakutstha held in high esteem whatever the monkeys did at will: / becoming sated, shouting, leaping, lying down, and standing.

6.107

Then Sugrīva told Rāma, who resembled the subduer of Bali / and was lord of the monkeys' earth, of Vālin's prowess in battle:

6.108

"On the whole earth there is none strong like Vālin; / I speak this to touch your heart, not to disparage you.

6.109

With arrows that travel far and reach their end, you who have reached the pinnacle of majesty, / if angry, could overcome even Saṃkrandana, let alone Vālin.

6.110

Yet by the boon of a sage, Vālin has become a slayer of thieves in battle, / of uncheckable march, like the dawn sun rising to dispel darkness.

6.111

Because of my deep longing, my timid mind does not believe / that the impending slaying of Vālin, which will dispel my suffering, is at hand, O Rāma!

6.112

Seeing you, the head-smiter of foes, arrived, / I consider Vālin's royal fortune to have the marks of a husband-slaying woman.

6.113

Enraged, he hurls uncarved mountain-peaks that slay enemies in war, / killing elephants like artisans with clapping hands; he must be conquered by you with strategy.

6.114

Valiant in enriching Indra, he accomplished the difficult slaying / of the buffalo demon, the enemy of the gods, pleasing Indra.

6.115

Becoming pleasant [to the gods] by hurling him dead for a yojana, / and wishing to become dear to heaven, though capable, he did not torment the whole [earth]."

6.116

For the monkey of low intellect who wished to know the power of his missiles, / Rāma, to give him confidence, cleaved seven trees that touched the sky.

6.117

Then, with the sacrificial animal Vālin to be slaughtered, his fear dispelled by Rāma the priest, / Sugrīva approached his brother's dwelling, roaring boldly.

6.118

Vālin came out of the cave like a lion attacking a deer, / bringing fear to his brother in battle, filling the quarters with his roar.

6.119

As the two fought, bewildered by their resemblance with no distinction between them, / the delighter of Ikṣvāku's race held back his raised arrow.

6.120

Exhausted, the monkey, resembling a deer, fled swiftly to Ṛṣyamūka, / intensely battered by the dweller of the Kiṣkindhā mountain, sighing warmly.

6.121

Having distinguished the enemy of Vālin with a garland, Rāma, / slayer of monkeys, summoned him again to fight, in order to kill him who was Aṅgada's treasure.

6.122

As those two monkey generals clashed in combat, / Rāma, standing afar, loosed an arrow that severed the body and destroyed the life of Vālin.

6.123

Seeing Vālin, the slayer of his foes, fallen, / the monkeys, crying out for their kinsman, fled helpless in the ten directions.

6.124

“Fie on the son of Daśaratha!” said the sages dwelling in the forest. / Drinking wine, the monkey women approached him wailing.

6.125

Proud of his valour, the lord of monkeys rebuked Rāma loudly, / fainting from the pain of his wound, [treating him] like an evil man though he fancied himself good:

6.126

“Falsely do you offer oblations in sacrifice, O Rāghava, an ascetic in disguise! / By slaying one engaged with another, you equal the wicked who murder brāhmaṇas.

6.127

A wrongdoer among the righteous, the son of a meritorious king— / O you of wicked conduct, what will you say after killing me, who am guiltless?

6.128

The king, an accumulator of the sacred fires, a presser of Soma, offered sacrifices / in the sacred fires shaped like chariot wheels and the like; why was your father not respected by you?

6.129

The action of a hunter selling meat is despised; / yet by slaying me without hesitation, you, a witness of sin, have committed that very act.

6.130

Certainly your father did not deliberately make you king, a villain / who struck down me, an innocent fighter alongside another.

6.131

The five five-clawed creatures which were declared fit to eat by brāhmaṇas who know the rites, / O son of Kauśalyā, beginning with the hare—among them I, a monkey, am not even one.

6.132

Corrupt in righteousness yourself, how will you protect your subjects? / Or how are you not ashamed before Saumitri, your own younger brother?

6.133

I consider you who struck [me] down in a combat not born of kṣatriyas to be a baseborn wretch, / O elder brother of Lakṣmaṇa, an evil-doer dispatched by our younger brother!”

6.134

Rāma answered Vālin: “I have not done what was left undone / by past and ancient sacrificers and Soma-pressers, O lord of monkeys!

6.135

For with nets and nooses on the neck they sought the death of beasts / who approached them and who lived with other men's wives.

6.136

And I have heard that a woman was enjoyed by your younger brother, / and, censured by the learned, you have approached her, O branch-ranging monkey!”

6.137

Then Vālin, as if filled with shame, propitiated Rāghava; / and with great care he entrusted his dear son Aṅgada to the descendant of Kakutstha.

6.138

Dying, having regained his good nature, he said to Sugrīva: / “Do you remember that we were brought up by the same mother?

6.139

Remember all that—how we lived together on great mountains, and how we drank honey; / for this is the time for kinsmen [to be united].

6.140

Destiny surely did not ordain happiness for both of us at once; / therefore our state was constantly troubled.” Thus he spoke.

6.141

He gave his beloved and foremost golden garland to his brother; / and having assigned the kingdom and the pleasures of life, he died, tormented by his wound.

6.142

Having performed his funeral rites at Rāghava’s command, / Sugrīva quickly set his mind on entering the cave of the Kiṣkindhā mountain.

6.143

Being praised on all sides loudly by the monkeys calling out his name, / following after the two bulls of Raghu's line, the splendid king of monkeys / entered the Kiṣkindhā mountain whose slopes were leafy as the time of the rains drew near, / where bees hummed, drunk with honey.

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