Padukasahasra 6

May that sandal rule over me, whose grandeur was inferred / through presence and absence / by the dwellers of Sāketa.

We worship the Kosala country, whose stationary and moving beings were effortlessly liberated, / and in which for some years the sandal of the enemy of demons became the deity.

Given to Bharata by Rāma of truthful words like imperial fortune fit for a servant, / you, O foot-protector, placed on the auspicious throne, ruled the earth and enjoyed glorious sovereignty.

O gem-adorned sandal, you nurture the enjoyments of single-minded devotees that arise as a byproduct of worship! / Surely for that very reason the unasked-for kingdom became unavoidable here for the virtuous Bharata.

Dispelling the grief born of Rāma's departure, seated on the gem-encrusted throne, / O gem-adorned footwear, you spread over the earth your own fame as an upper garment, / adorning her with the sole white parasol.

Subservient to Rāma's command, accepting the kingdom and resorting to the jeweled throne worthy of Raghu's line, / you, O foot-covering, made pure once more Bharata's fame / which had been tainted by even the slightest taint of autonomy.

When Rāma roamed with the daughter of Mithilā, desiring to pluck flowers in the Daṇḍaka forests / until the end of the cluster of heads of the heroic descendant of Pulastya, / you, O gem-adorned sandal, bore the burden of royal protection.

O foot-protector, placed upon the auspicious throne's cover amidst a cluster of waving chowries, / you shone like a lotus pond with a flock of quarreling swans / on the slope of Mount Sumeru strewn with divine waters.

Placing you, O gem-adorned sandal, upon the venerable seat of the leader of the Raghus like the embodied fortune of the kingdom, / Bharata, wearing matted locks and holding a rosary, took up the waving chowrie / and served you with single-minded devotion.

When Daśaratha had attained heaven, Bharata was ashamed, and the people of Uttarakosala were deeply distressed, / if you had neglected them, who indeed would have been / the protector of that realm belonging to the lord whose friend was Guha?

O Mother, O gem-adorned sandal, when Bharata was despondent over his brother's separation, you showed compassion to protect [the realm]; / at that time, your title, proclaimed by noisy horns, became nectar to the ears of the entire world.

Bearing the kingdom without distress at that time—after Daśaratha and before Rāma— / through your sharing of equal authority, O Mother, protector of the feet, / the line of the kings of Manu's race was made blessed by you.

During those years no Śūdra practiced austerities, nor did any child fall into the grasp of death; / in your reign, O Mother, footwear of the best of the Raghus, / no other countermeasure was ever required.

O gem-adorned footwear, this earth, on which the entire universe is established, / was born from the lotus feet that depend on you; / having no other refuge, she too was duly given firm support by you in that time [of need].

Afflicted, it seems, by separation from Rāma at that time, the Fortune of the realm took refuge in your lap; / surely to revive her, wet with [coronation] waters, / did you, O goddess, accept her when offered by Bharata.

When the first of the Raghus was attached to the vow of a hero, and Bharata had undertaken for a long time the razor's-edge vow, / you then gave up varied strolls, O foot-covering, / and carried out an unprecedented vow of remaining seated in one place.

O gem-adorned footwear, as though repeatedly consoling you, / who had observed silence and attained immobility due to separation from the feet of the descendant of Kakutstha, / Bharata fanned you then with the cool breezes of the chowrie.

Thinking, 'I must protect the lotus feet of the lord of the Raghus wherever he may wander,' / you, O gem-adorned footwear, instantly made this entire world free of thorns.

O foot-protector, O Mother, to protect Rāma separated from you, and Bharata separated from him, / what became manifest then of Rāma's younger brother and of you, / the entire world

truly stays awake following that vow of wakefulness.

You who are worshipped at the proper times with modesty by the servants in the inner chambers— / you, O foot-protector of the lord of Kosala, experienced the clashing of the crowns of vassal kings.

Obtaining the authority suitable for protecting the world, taking your place on the auspicious throne praised by Bharata, / O Mother, footwear of Mādhava, you too appeared to have descended / into the midst of the kings of Manu's race.

On the royal throne, O footwear of the leader of Raghu's line, the timely lustration was performed for you / by the auspicious lamps that were the gems in the crowns of vassals, / turned round repeatedly in deep adoration.

The crowns of earthly rulers who were rivals, and of those who were supplicants seeking life, / simultaneously touched your royal footstool at that time, / O footwear of Rāghava.

Bowing down, O footwear of the lord of Raṅgam, the people of Uttarakosala / honored you greatly in the royal assembly / with special offerings brought from afar.

O foot-protector of the Lord of Raṅgam, formerly, even while Rāma was in the forest, / through you the realm of the Raghus was one where doors were unbolted, horses uncurbed, / and travelers slept comfortably at will.

Worshipping you with unswerving devotion, O gem-adorned sandal, the second son of Daśaratha, / matched with the first only in glory, / himself became worthy of adoration by the gods of heaven.

Not touching the foot that was fit for the forest, / seated in the rank fit for a king,
by constantly staying on the assembly throne, / you removed the obstacle to the unrestrained movement of heaven's dwellers.

If you were seated upon the royal throne, / O foot-protector of Raṅgeśa, it is no wonder;
mounting which in succession long ago, / the emperors of Raghu's line adorned their heads with you.

If your royal throne had turned for a moment / facing the south, O goddess,
how could Rāma have had / the sport of hunting down the demons, O golden footwear?

As soon as the capital of the Rākṣasas was intended to be conquered / by you, O footwear of Rāghava,
just so soon was it crushed like a garland by your leaders of the troops / of monkeys in the garden branches, blinded by arrogance.

Touching you seated upon the royal throne, / O footwear of Rāghava,
the diadems of earthly rulers attained an even greater auspiciousness, / even though such [status] was already established before.

When he refused the white parasol / offered by his father, O gem footwear,
by that very [parasol] held up for your sake, / full shade fell upon the head of Bharata.

O two sandals, when the Lord of the Raghus / freely departed out of desire to roam in the forest,
you two, attaining supreme sovereignty, / protected the earth without injury.

If by merely clinging to the feet of the hero of Raghu's race / you were counted among his personal retinue,
how then, O two sandals, on the day of your assumption of authority, / did they become your retinue?

The council of subjects desiring the four aims of human life, / honoured by Vasiṣṭha and other chiefs,
became at that time, O golden sandal, / a market for buying and selling for your people.

Though capable with a single body hidden beneath human form / of banishing his adversaries,
the Lord assumed the divisions of Bharata and the others, / O foot-protector, in order to worship you himself.

Carrying out your command, Bharata conquered / the hostile forces led by Magadha, Aṅga, Kaliṅga, and Vaṅga, / who sought a weak point, together with their armies, / O sandal of the foremost of the Raghus.

When that supreme sovereignty over the Solar Dynasty, which could not be borne by any other, / was placed upon you by the chief ministers,
then, O footwear of the Lord of the Raghus on the jeweled throne, / the guardians of the world gazed upon you reverently, as upon Śrī herself.

Having avoided travel on the paths of Daṇḍakā, / producing the rise of all wealth in its fullness,
that pair of you, O footwear, mounting the jeweled throne of the Lord of the Raghus, / rendered the orb of the earth free of enemy kings' dwellings.

Having attained your rising at that time, / you dispelled that indescribable darkness,
like the body that brings forth those born in Manu's line, / the mother of the sun, O gem sandal.

Thus ends the sixth section, 'Acceptance of Authority', / in the Thousand Verses on the Sandals of the Glorious Raṅganātha / composed by the glorious Vedāntācārya, the Lion among poets and logicians, / the master of all systems, the venerable Veṅkaṭanātha.

7. The Section on the Consecration (30)