Valmiki Ramayana 1.2: dvitīyaḥ sargaḥ

1.2.1

nāradasya tu tad vākyaṃ śrutvā vākyaviśāradaḥ
pūjayām āsa dharmātmā sahaśiṣyo mahāmuniḥ

Válmíki, graceful speaker,heard,
To highest admiration stirred.
To him whose fame the tale rehearsed
He paid his mental worship first;
Then with his pupil humbly bent
Before the saint most eloquent.
Thus honoured and dismissed the seer
Departed to his heavenly sphere.
Then from his cot Válmíki hied
To Tamasá's sequestered side,
Not far remote from Gangáa's tide.
He stood and saw the ripples roll
Pellucid o'er a pebbly shoal.
To Bharadvája by his side
He turned in ecstasy, and cried:
'See, pupil dear, this lovely sight,
The smooth-floored shallow, pure and bright,
With not a speck or shade to mar,
And clear as good men's bosoms are.
Here on the brink thy pitcher lay,
And bring my zone of bark, I pray.
Here will I bathe: the rill has not,
To lave the limbs a fairer spot.
Do quickly as I bid, nor waste
The precious time; away, and haste.'
Obedient to his master's best
Quick from the cot he brought the vest;
The hermit took it from his hand,
And tightened round his waist the band;
Then duly dipped and bathed him there,
And muttered low his secret prayer.
To spirits and to Gods he made
Libation of the stream, and strayed
Viewing the forest deep and wide
That spread its shade on every side.
Close by the bank he saw a pair
Of curlews sporting fearless there.
But suddenly with evil mind
An outcast fowler stole behind,
And, with an aim too sure and true,
The male bird near the hermit slew.

1.2.2

yathāvat pūjitas tena devarṣir nāradas tadā
āpṛṣṭvaivābhyanujñātaḥ sa jagāma vihāyasaṃ

1.2.3

sa muhūrtaṃ gate tasmin devalokaṃ munis tadā
jagāma tamasātīraṃ jāhnavyās tv avidūrataḥ

1.2.4

sa tu tīraṃ samāsādya tamasāyā mahāmuniḥ
śiṣyam āha sthitaṃ pārśve dṛṣṭvā tīrtham akardamam

1.2.5

akardamam idaṃ tīrthaṃ bharadvāja niśāmaya
ramaṇīyaṃ prasannāmbu sanmanuṣyamano yathā

1.2.6

nyasyatāṃ kalaśas tāta dīyatāṃ valkalaṃ mama
idam evāvagāhiṣye tamasātīrtham uttamam

1.2.7

evam ukto bharadvājo vālmīkena mahātmanā
prāyacchata munes tasya valkalaṃ niyato guroḥ

1.2.8

sa śiṣyahastād ādāya valkalaṃ niyatendriyaḥ
vicacāra ha paśyaṃs tat sarvato vipulaṃ vanam

1.2.9

tasyābhyāśe tu mithunaṃ carantam anapāyinam
dadarśa bhagavāṃs tatra krauñcayoś cārunisvanam

1.2.10

tasmāt tu mithunād ekaṃ pumāṃsaṃ pāpaniścayaḥ
jaghāna vairanilayo niṣādas tasya paśyataḥ

1.2.11

taṃ śoṇitaparītāṅgaṃ veṣṭamānaṃ mahītale
bhāryā tu nihataṃ dṛṣṭvā rurāva karuṇāṃ giram

The wretched hen in wild despair
With fluttering pinions beat the air,
And shrieked a long and bitter cry
When low on earth she saw him lie,
Her loved companion, quivering, dead,
His dear wings with his lifebiood red;
And for her golden crested mate
She mourned, and was disconsolate.
The hermit saw the slaughtered bird,
And all his heart with ruth was stirred.
The fowler's impious deed distressed
His gentle sympathetic breast,
And while the curlew's sad cries rang
Within his ears, the hermit sang:
'No fame be thine for endless time,
Because, base outcast, of thy crime,
Whose cruel hand was fain to slay
One of this gentle pair at play!'
E'en as he spoke his bosom wrought
And laboured with the wondering thought
What was the speech his ready tongue
Had uttered when his heart was wrung.
He pondered long upon the speech,
Recalled the words and measured each,
And thus exclaimed the saintly guide
To Bharadvája by his side:
'With equal lines of even feet,
With rhythm and time and tone complete,
The measured form of words I spoke
In shock of grief be termed a s'loke.'
And Bharadvája, nothing slow
His faithful love and zeal to show,
Answered those words of wisdom, 'Be
The name, my lord, as pleases thee.'
As rules prescribe the hermit took
Some lustral water from the brook.
But still on this his constant thought
Kept brooding, as his home he sought;
While Bharadvája paced behind,
A pupil sage of lowly mind,
And in his hand a pitcher bore
With pure fresh water brimming o'er.
Soon as they reached their calm retreat
The holy hermit took his seat;
His mind from worldly cares recalled,
And mused in deepest thought enthralled.
Then glorious Brahmá, Lord Most High.
Creator of the earth and sky,
The four-faced God, to meet the sage
Came to Válmíki's hermitage.
Soon as the mighty God he saw,
Up sprang the saint in wondering awe.
Mute, with clasped hands, his head he bent,
And stood before him reverent.
His honoured guest he greeted well,
Who bade him of his welfare tell;
Gave water for his blessed feet,
Brought offerings, and prepared a seat,
In honoured place the God Most High
Sate down, and bade the saint sit nigh.
There sate before Válmíki's eyes
The Father of the earth and skies;
But still the hermit's thoughts were bent
On one thing only, all intent
On that poor curlew's mournful fate
Lamenting for her slaughtered mate;
And still his lips, in absent mood,
The verse that told his grief, renewed:
'Woe to the fowler's impious hand
That did the deed that folly planned;
That could to needless death devote
The curlew of the tuneful throat!'
The heavenly Father smiled in glee,
And said, 'O best of hermits', see,
A verse, unconscious thou hast made;
No longer be the task delayed.
Seek not to trace, with labour vain,
The unpremeditated strain.
The tuneful lines thy lips rehearsed
Spontaneous from thy bosom burst,
Then come, O best of seers, relate
The life of Ráma good and great,
The tale that saintly Nárad told,
In all its glorious length unfold.
Of all the deeds his arm has done
Upon this earth, omit not one,
And thus the noble life record
Of that wise, brave, and virtuous lord.

1.2.12

tathā tu taṃ dvijaṃ dṛṣṭvā niṣādena nipātitam
ṛṣer dharmātmanas tasya kāruṇyaṃ samapadyata

1.2.13

tataḥ karuṇaveditvād adharmo 'yam iti dvijaḥ
niśāmya rudatīṃ krauñcīm idaṃ vacanam abravīt

1.2.14

mā niṣāda pratiṣṭhāṃ tvam agamaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ
yat krauñcamithunād ekam avadhīḥ kāmamohitam

1.2.15

tasyaivaṃ bruvataś cintā babhūva hṛdi vīkṣataḥ
śokārtenāsya śakuneḥ kim idaṃ vyāhṛtaṃ mayā

1.2.16

cintayan sa mahāprājñaś cakāra matimān matim
śiṣyaṃ caivābravīd vākyam idaṃ sa munipuṃgavaḥ

1.2.17

pādabaddho 'kṣarasamas tantrīlayasamanvitaḥ
śokārtasya pravṛtto me śloko bhavatu nānyathā

1.2.18

śiṣyas tu tasya bruvato muner vākyam anuttamam
pratijagrāha saṃhṛṣṭas tasya tuṣṭo 'bhavad guruḥ

1.2.19

so 'bhiṣekaṃ tataḥ kṛtvā tīrthe tasmin yathāvidhi
tam eva cintayann artham upāvartata vai muniḥ

1.2.20

bharadvājas tataḥ śiṣyo vinītaḥ śrutavān guroḥ
kalaśaṃ pūrṇam ādāya pṛṣṭhato 'nujagāma ha

1.2.21

sa praviśyāśramapadaṃ śiṣyeṇa saha dharmavit
upaviṣṭaḥ kathāś cānyāś cakāra dhyānam āsthitaḥ

1.2.22

ājagāma tato brahmā lokakartā svayaṃ prabhuḥ
caturmukho mahātejā draṣṭuṃ taṃ munipuṃgavam

1.2.23

vālmīkir atha taṃ dṛṣṭvā sahasotthāya vāg yataḥ
prāñjaliḥ prayato bhūtvā tasthau paramavismitaḥ

1.2.24

pūjayām āsa taṃ devaṃ pādyārghyāsanavandanaiḥ
praṇamya vidhivac cainaṃ pṛṣṭvānāmayam avyayam

1.2.25

athopaviśya bhagavān āsane paramārcite
vālmīkaye maharṣaye saṃdideśāsanaṃ tataḥ

1.2.26

upaviṣṭe tadā tasmin sākṣāl lokapitāmahe
tad gatenaiva manasā vālmīkir dhyānam āsthitaḥ

1.2.27

pāpātmanā kṛtaṃ kaṣṭaṃ vairagrahaṇabuddhinā
yas tādṛśaṃ cāruravaṃ krauñcaṃ hanyād akāraṇāt

1.2.28

śocann eva muhuḥ krauñcīm upaślokam imaṃ punaḥ
jagāv antargatamanā bhūtvā śokaparāyaṇaḥ

1.2.29

tam uvāca tato brahmā prahasan munipuṃgavam
śloka eva tvayā baddho nātra kāryā vicāraṇā

1.2.30

macchandād eva te brahman pravṛtteyaṃ sarasvatī
rāmasya caritaṃ sarvaṃ kuru tvam ṛṣisattama

1.2.31

dharmātmano guṇavato loke rāmasya dhīmataḥ
vṛttaṃ kathaya dhīrasya yathā te nāradāc chrutam

1.2.32

rahasyaṃ ca prakāśaṃ ca yad vṛttaṃ tasya dhīmataḥ
rāmasya saha saumitre rākṣasānāṃ ca sarvaśaḥ

His every act to day displayed,
His secret life to none betrayed:
How Lakshman, how the giants fought;
With high emprise and hidden thought:
And all that Janak's child befell
Where all could see, where none could tell,
The whole of this shall truly be
Made known, O best of saints, to thee.
In all thy poem, through my grace,
No word of falsehood shall have place.
Begin the story, aud rehearse
The tale divine in charming verse.
As long as in this firm-set land
The streams shall flow, the mountains stand,
So long throughout the world, be sure,
The great Rámáyan shall endure.
While the Rámáyan's ancient strain
Shall glorious in the earth remain,
To higher spheres shalt thou arise
And dwell with me above the skies!
He spoke, and vanished into air,
And left Válmíki wondering there.
The pupils of the holy man,
Moved by their love of him, began
To chant that verse, and ever more
They marvelled as they sang it o'er:
'Behold, the four-lined balanced rime,
Repeated over many a time,
In words that from the hermit broke
In shock of grief, becomes a s'loke.'
This measure now Válmíki chose
Wherein his story to compose.
In hundreds of such verses, sweet
With equal lines and even feet,
The saintly poet, lofty-souled,
The glorious deeds of Ráma told.

1.2.33

vaidehyāś caiva yad vṛttaṃ prakāśaṃ yadi vā rahaḥ
tac cāpy aviditaṃ sarvaṃ viditaṃ te bhaviṣyati

1.2.34

na te vāg anṛtā kāvye kā cid atra bhaviṣyati
kuru rāmakathāṃ puṇyāṃ ślokabaddhāṃ manoramām

1.2.35

yāvat sthāsyanti girayaḥ saritaś ca mahītale
tāvad rāmāyaṇakathā lokeṣu pracariṣyati

1.2.36

yāvad rāmasya ca kathā tvatkṛtā pracariṣyati
tāvad ūrdhvam adhaś ca tvaṃ mallokeṣu nivatsyasi

1.2.37

ity uktvā bhagavān brahmā tatraivāntaradhīyata
tataḥ saśiṣyo vālmīkir munir vismayam āyayau

1.2.38

tasya śiṣyās tataḥ sarve jaguḥ ślokam imaṃ punaḥ
muhur muhuḥ prīyamāṇāḥ prāhuś ca bhṛśavismitāḥ

1.2.39

samākṣaraiś caturbhir yaḥ pādair gīto maharṣiṇā
so 'nuvyāharaṇād bhūyaḥ śokaḥ ślokatvam āgataḥ

1.2.40

tasya buddhir iyaṃ jātā vālmīker bhāvitātmanaḥ
kṛtsnaṃ rāmāyaṇaṃ kāvyam īdṛśaiḥ karavāṇy aham

1.2.41

udāravṛttārthapadair manoramais tadāsya rāmasya cakāra kīrtimān
samākṣaraiḥ ślokaśatair yaśasvino yaśaskaraṃ kāvyam udāradhīr muniḥ