<SPAN name="toc427" id="toc427"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="pdf428" id="pdf428"></SPAN>
<SPAN name="CantoIII-XVI" id="CantoIII-XVI" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XVI. Winter.</span></h2>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">While there the high-souled hero spent</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">His tranquil hours in sweet content,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The glowing autumn passed, and then</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Came winter so beloved of men.</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">One morn, to bathe, at break of day</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To the fair stream he took his way.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Behind him, with the Maithil dame</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bearing a pitcher Lakshmaṇ came,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And as he went the mighty man</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thus to his brother chief began:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“The time is come, to thee more dear</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Than all the months that mark the year:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The gracious seasons' joy and pride,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By which the rest are glorified.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A robe of hoary rime is spread</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">O'er earth, with corn engarlanded.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The streams we loved no longer please,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But near the fire we take our ease.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Now pious men to God and shade</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Offer young corn's fresh sprouted blade,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And purge away their sins with rice</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bestowed in humble sacrifice.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Rich stores of milk delight the swain,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And hearts are cheered that longed for gain,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Proud kings whose breasts for conquests glow</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Lead bannered troops to smite the foe.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Dark is the north: the Lord of Day</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To Yáma's south<SPAN id="noteref_452" name="noteref_452" href="#note_452"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">452</span></span></SPAN> has turned away:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And she—sad widow—shines no more,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Reft of the bridal mark<SPAN id="noteref_453" name="noteref_453" href="#note_453"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">453</span></span></SPAN> she wore.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Himálaya's hill, ordained of old</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The treasure-house of frost and cold,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Scarce conscious of the feebler glow,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Is truly now the Lord of Snow.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Warmed by the noontide's genial rays</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Delightful are the glorious days:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But how we shudder at the chill</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of evening shadows and the rill!</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How weak the sun, how cold the breeze!</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How white the rime on grass and trees!</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The leaves are sere, the woods have lost</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Their blossoms killed by nipping frost.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Neath open skies we sleep no more:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">December's nights with rime are hoar:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Their triple watch<SPAN id="noteref_454" name="noteref_454" href="#note_454"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">454</span></span></SPAN> in length extends</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With hours the shortened daylight lends.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">No more the moon's sun-borrowed rays</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Are bright, involved in misty haze,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As when upon the mirror's sheen</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The breath's obscuring cloud is seen.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">E'en at the full the faint beams fail</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To struggle through the darksome veil:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Changed like her hue, they want the grace</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That parts not yet from Sítá's face.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Cold is the western wind, but how</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Its piercing chill is heightened now,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Blowing at early morning twice</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As furious with its breath of ice!</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">See how the dewy tears they weep</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The barley, wheat, and woodland steep,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Where, as the sun goes up the sky,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The curlew and the sáras cry.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">See where the rice plants scarce uphold</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Their full ears tinged with paly gold,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bending their ripe heads slowly down</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fair as the date tree's flowery crown.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Though now the sun has mounted high</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Seeking the forehead of the sky,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Such mist obscures his struggling beams,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">No bigger than the moon he seems.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Though weak at first, his rays at length</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Grow pleasant in their noonday strength,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And where a while they chance to fall</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fling a faint splendour over all.</div>
<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page249"></span><SPAN name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">See, o'er the woods where grass is wet</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With hoary drops that cling there yet,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With soft light clothing earth and bough</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">There steals a tender glory now.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Yon elephant who longs to drink,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Still standing on the river's brink,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Plucks back his trunk in shivering haste</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">From the cold wave he fain would taste.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The very fowl that haunt the mere</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Stand doubtful on the bank, and fear</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To dip them in the wintry wave</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As cowards dread to meet the brave.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The frost of night, the rime of dawn</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bind flowerless trees and glades of lawn:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Benumbed in apathetic chill</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of icy chains they slumber still.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">You hear the hidden sáras cry</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">From floods that wrapped in vapour lie,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And frosty-shining sands reveal</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Where the unnoticed rivers steal.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The hoary rime of dewy night,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And suns that glow with tempered light</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Lend fresh cool flavours to the rill</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That sparkles from the topmost hill.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The cold has killed the lily's pride:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Leaf, filament, and flower have died:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With chilling breath rude winds have blown,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The withered stalk is left alone.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">At this gay time, O noblest chief,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The faithful Bharat, worn by grief,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Lives in the royal town where he</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Spends weary hours for love of thee.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">From titles, honour, kingly sway,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">From every joy he turns away:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Couched on cold earth, his days are passed</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With scanty fare and hermit's fast.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">This moment from his humble bed</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He lifts, perhaps, his weary head,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And girt by many a follower goes</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To bathe where silver Sarjú flows.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How, when the frosty morn is dim,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Shall Sarjú be a bath for him</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Nursed with all love and tender care,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">So delicate and young and fair.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How bright his hue! his brilliant eye</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With the broad lotus leaf may vie.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By fortune stamped for happy fate,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">His graceful form is tall and straight.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In duty skilled, his words are truth:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He proudly rules each lust of youth.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Though his strong arm smites down the foe,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In gentle speech his accents flow.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Yet every joy has he resigned</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And cleaves to thee with heart and mind.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thus by the deeds that he has done</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A name in heaven has Bharat won,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For in his life he follows yet</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thy steps, O banished anchoret.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thus faithful Bharat, nobly wise,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The proverb of the world belies:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“No men, by mothers' guidance led,</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">The footsteps of their fathers tread.”</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How could Kaikeyí, blest to be</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Spouse of the king our sire, and see</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A son like virtuous Bharat, blot</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Her glory with so foul a plot!”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Thus in fraternal love he spoke,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And from his lips reproaches broke:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But Ráma grieved to hear him chide</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The absent mother, and replied:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“Cease, O beloved, cease to blame</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Our royal father's second dame.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Still speak of Bharat first in place</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of old Ikshváku's princely race.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My heart, so firmly bent but now</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To dwell in woods and keep my vow,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Half melting as I hear thee speak</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of Bharat's love, grows soft and weak,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With tender joy I bring to mind</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">His speeches ever sweet and kind.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That dear as Amrit took the sense</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With most enchanting influence.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Ah, when shall I, no more to part,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Meet Bharat of the mighty heart?</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">When, O my brother, when shall we</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">The good and brave Śatrughna see?”</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thus as he poured his fond lament</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The son of Raghu onward went:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">They reached the river, and the three</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bathed them in fair Godávarí.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Libations of the stream they paid</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To every deity and shade,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With hymns of praise, the Sun on high</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And sinless Gods to glorify.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fresh from the purifying tide</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Resplendent Ráma came,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With Lakshmaṇ ever by his side,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And the sweet Maithil dame.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">So Rudra shines by worlds adored,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">In glory undefiled,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">When Nandi<SPAN id="noteref_455" name="noteref_455" href="#note_455"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">455</span></span></SPAN> stands beside his lord,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And King Himálaya's child.<SPAN id="noteref_456" name="noteref_456" href="#note_456"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">456</span></span></SPAN></div>
</div></div>
<div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
<SPAN name="toc429" id="toc429"></SPAN>
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<SPAN name="CantoIII-XVII" id="CantoIII-XVII" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XVII. Súrpanakhá.</span></h2>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The bathing and the prayer were o'er;</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He turned him from the grassy shore,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And with his brother and his spouse</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Sought his fair home beneath the boughs.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Sítá and Lakshmaṇ by his side,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">On to his cot the hero hied,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And after rites at morning due</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Within the leafy shade withdrew.</div>
<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page250"></span><SPAN name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Then, honoured by the devotees,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As royal Ráma sat at ease,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With Sítá near him, o'er his head</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A canopy of green boughs spread,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He shone as shines the Lord of Night</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By Chitrá's<SPAN id="noteref_457" name="noteref_457" href="#note_457"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">457</span></span></SPAN>
side, his dear delight.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With Lakshmaṇ there he sat and told</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Sweet stories of the days of old,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And as the pleasant time he spent</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With heart upon each tale intent,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A giantess, by fancy led,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Came wandering to his leafy shed.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fierce Śúrpaṇakhá,—her of yore</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The Ten-necked tyrant's mother bore,—</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Saw Ráma with his noble mien</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bright as the Gods in heaven are seen;</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him from whose brow a glory gleamed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Like lotus leaves his full eyes beamed:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Long-armed, of elephantine gait,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With hair close coiled in hermit plait:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In youthful vigour, nobly framed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By glorious marks a king proclaimed:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Like some bright lotus lustrous-hued,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With young Kandarpa's<SPAN id="noteref_458" name="noteref_458" href="#note_458"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">458</span></span></SPAN> grace endued:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As there like Indra's self he shone,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She loved the youth she gazed upon.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She grim of eye and foul of face</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Loved his sweet glance and forehead's grace:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She of unlovely figure, him</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of stately form and shapely limb:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She whose dim locks disordered hung,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him whose bright hair on high brows clung:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She whose fierce accents counselled fear,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him whose soft tones were sweet to hear:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She whose dire form with age was dried,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him radiant in his youthful pride:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She whose false lips maintained the wrong,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him in the words of virtue strong:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She cruel-hearted, stained with sin,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him just in deed and pure within.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She, hideous fiend, a thing to hate,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Him formed each eye to captivate:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fierce passion in her bosom woke,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And thus to Raghu's son she spoke:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“With matted hair above thy brows,</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With bow and shaft and this thy spouse,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How hast thou sought in hermit dress</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The giant-haunted wilderness?</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">What dost thou here? The cause explain:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Why art thou come, and what to gain?”</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As Śúrpaṇakhá questioned so,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Ráma, the terror of the foe,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In answer to the monster's call,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With fearless candour told her all.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“King Daśaratha reigned of old,</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Like Gods celestial brave and bold.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">I am his eldest son and heir,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And Ráma is the name I bear.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">This brother, Lakshmaṇ, younger born,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Most faithful love to me has sworn.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My wife, this princess, dear to fame,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Is Sitá the Videhan dame.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Obedient to my sire's behest</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And by the queen my mother pressed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To keep the law and merit win,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">I sought this wood to harbour in.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But speak, for I of thee in turn</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thy name, and race, and sire would learn.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thou art of giant race, I ween.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Changing at will thy form and mien.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Speak truly, and the cause declare</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">That bids thee to these shades repair.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Thus Ráma spoke: the demon heard,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And thus replied by passion spurred:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“Of giant race, what form soe'er</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My fancy wills, 'tis mine to wear.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Named Śúrpaṇakhá here I stray,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And where I walk spread wild dismay.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">King Rávaṇ is my brother: fame</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Has taught perchance his dreaded name,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Strong Kumbhakarṇa slumbering deep</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In chains of never-ending sleep:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Vibhíshaṇ of the duteous mind,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In needs unlike his giant kind:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Dúshaṇ and Khara, brave and bold</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Whose fame by every tongue is told:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Their might by mine is far surpassed;</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But when, O best of men, I cast</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">These fond eyes on thy form, I see</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My chosen love and lord in thee.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Endowed with wondrous might am I:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Where'er my fancy leads I fly.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The poor misshapen Sítá leave,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And me, thy worthier bride receive.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Look on my beauty, and prefer</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A spouse more meet than one like her:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">I'll eat that ill-formed woman there:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thy brother too her fate shall share.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But come, beloved, thou shalt roam</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With me through all our woodland home;</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Each varied grove with me shalt seek,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">And gaze upon each mountain peak.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">As thus she spoke, the monster gazed</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With sparkling eyes where passion blazed:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Then he, in lore of language learned,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">This answer eloquent returned:</div>
</div></div>
<div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
<SPAN name="toc431" id="toc431"></SPAN>
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<SPAN name="CantoIII-XVIII" id="CantoIII-XVIII" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">Canto XVIII. The Mutilation.</span></h2>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">On her ensnared in Káma's net</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">His eyes the royal Ráma set,</div>
<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page251"></span><SPAN name="Pg251" id="Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></SPAN>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And thus, her passion to beguile,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Addressed her with a gentle smile:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“I have a wife: behold her here,</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My Sítá ever true and dear:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And one like thee will never brook</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Upon a rival spouse to look.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But there my brother Lakshmaṇ stands:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Unchained is he by nuptial bands:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A youth heroic, loved of all,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Gracious and gallant, fair and tall.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With winning looks, most nobly bred,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Unmatched till now, he longs to wed.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Meet to enjoy thy youthful charms,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">O take him to thy loving arms.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Enamoured on his bosom lie,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fair damsel of the radiant eye,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As the warm sunlight loves to rest</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Upon her darling Meru's breast.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">The hero spoke, the monster heard,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">While passion still her bosom stirred.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Away from Ráma's side she broke,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And thus in turn to Lakshmaṇ spoke:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“Come, for thy bride take me who shine</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">In fairest grace that suits with thine.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Thou by my side from grove to grove</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Of Daṇḍak's wild in bliss shalt rove.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Then Lakshmaṇ, skilled in soft address,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Wooed by the amorous giantess,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With art to turn her love aside,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To Śúrpaṇakhá thus replied:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“And can so high a dame agree</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The slave-wife of a slave to be?</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">I, lotus-hued! in good and ill</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Am bondsman to my brother's will.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Be thou, fair creature radiant-eyed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My honoured brother's younger bride:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With faultless tint and dainty limb,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">A happy wife, bring joy to him.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He from his spouse grown old and grey,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Deformed, untrue, will turn away,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Her withered charms will gladly leave,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And to his fair young darling cleave.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For who could be so fond and blind,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">O loveliest of all female kind,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To love another dame and slight</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Thy beauties rich in all delight?”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Thus Lakshmaṇ praised in scornful jest</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The long-toothed fiend with loathly breast,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Who fondly heard his speech, nor knew</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">His mocking words were aught but true.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Again inflamed with love she fled</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To Ráma, in his leafy shed</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Where Sítá rested by his side,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And to the mighty victor cried:</div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“What, Ráma, canst thou blindly cling</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To this old false misshapen thing?</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Wilt thou refuse the charms of youth</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For withered breast and grinning tooth!</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Canst thou this wretched creature prize</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And look on me with scornful eyes?</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">This aged crone this very hour</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Before thy face will I devour:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Then joyous, from all rivals free.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Through Daṇḍak will I stray with thee.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">She spoke, and with a glance of flame</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Rushed on the fawn-eyed Maithil dame:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">So would a horrid meteor mar</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Fair Rohiṇí's soft beaming star.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But as the furious fiend drew near,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Like Death's dire noose which chills with fear,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The mighty chief her purpose stayed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And spoke, his brother to upbraid:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">“Ne'er should we jest with creatures rude,</span></div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Of savage race and wrathful mood.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Think, Lakshmaṇ, think how nearly slain</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">My dear Videhan breathes again.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Let not the hideous wretch escape</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Without a mark to mar her shape.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Strike, lord of men, the monstrous fiend,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-q" style="text-align: left">Deformed, and foul, and evil-miened.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">He spoke: then Lakshmaṇ's wrath rose high,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And there before his brother's eye,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He drew that sword which none could stay,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And cleft her nose and ears away.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Noseless and earless, torn and maimed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With fearful shrieks the fiend exclaimed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And frantic in her wild distress</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Resought the distant wilderness.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Deformed, terrific, huge, and dread,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As on she moved, her gashes bled,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And groan succeeded groan as loud</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As roars, ere rain, the thunder cloud.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Still on the fearful monster passed,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">While streams of blood kept falling fast,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And with a roar, and arms outspread</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Within the boundless wood she fled.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To Janasthán the monster flew;</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Fierce Khara there she found,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With chieftains of the giant crew</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">In thousands ranged around.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Before his awful feet she bent</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And fell with piercing cries,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">As when a bolt in swift descent</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Comes flashing from the skies.</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">There for a while with senses dazed</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Silent she lay and scared:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">At length her drooping head she raised,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And all the tale declared,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">How Ráma, Lakshmaṇ, and the dame</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Had reached that lonely place:</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Then told her injuries and shame,</div>
<div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And showed her bleeding face.</div>
</div></div>
<div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
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