{"id":2305,"date":"2013-07-13T01:40:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:40:43","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:40:43","slug":"03-the-book-of-the-wild-forest-vol-05-translations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/05-translations\/03-the-book-of-the-wild-forest-vol-05-translations","title":{"rendered":"-03_The Book of the Wild Forest.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe Book of the Wild Forest<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThen, possessing his soul, Rama entered the great forest, the
\nforest Dandaka with difficulty approachable by men and beheld
\na circle there of hermitages of ascetic men; a refuge for all living
\nthings, with ever well-swept courts and strewn with many forms
\nof beasts and swarming with companies  of birds and holy, high
\n& temperate sages graced those homes. The high of energy approached them unstringing first his mighty bow, and hey beheld
\nhim like a rising moon & with wonder in their looks gazed at
\nthe fabric of his beauty and its glory and softness and garbed  race and at Vydehie too with unfalling eyelids they gazed and
\nLakshmana; for they were things of amazement to these dwellers
\nin the woods. Great-natured sages  occupied in doing good to all
\nliving things, they made him sit a guest in their leafy home, and
\nburning with splendour of soul like living fires they offered him
\nguest-worship due and presented all things of auspice, full of
\nhigh gladness in the act, roots, flowers and fruits they gave, yea,
\nall the hermitage they laid at the feet of Rama high-souled and,
\nlearned in righteousness, said to him with outstretched upward
\npalms, “For that he is the keeper of the virtue of all this folk,
\na refuge and a mighty fame, high worship and honour are the
\nKing’s, and he holds the staff of justice & is reverend to all. Of
\nIndra’s self he is the fourth part and protects the people, O seed
\nof Raghu, therefore he enjoys noble & beautiful pleasures and to him men bow down. Thou shouldst protect us, then, dwellers in
\nthy dominions, for whether the city hold thee or the wilderness,
\nstill art thou the King and the master of the folk. But we, O
\nKing, have laid by the staff of offence, we have put anger from
\nus and the desires of the senses, and ’tis thou must protect us
\nalways, ascetics rich in austerity but helpless as children in the
\nwomb.” <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNow when he had taken of their hospitality, Rama towards<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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Page \u2013 24<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nthe rising of the sun took farewell of all those seers and plunged
\ninto mere forest scattered through with many beasts of the chase
\nand haunted by the tiger and the bear. There he & Lakshmana
\nfollowing him saw a desolation in the midmost of that wood, for
\nblasted were tree & creeper & bush and water was nowhere to be 
\nseen, but the forest was full of the screaming of vultures and rang
\nwith the crickets’ cry. And walking with Sita there Cacootstha  in that haunt of fierce wild beasts beheld the appearance like
\na mountain peak and heard the thundering roar of an eater of
\nmen; deep set were his eyes and huge his face, hideous was he and
\nhideous-bellied, horrid, rough and tall, deformed and dreadful to
\nthe gaze, and wore a tiger’s skin moist with fat and streaked with
\ngore,
\n\u2014 a terror to all creatures even as Death the ender when
\nhe comes with yawning mouth. Three lions, four tigers, two
\nwolves, ten spotted deer and the huge fat-smeared head of an
\nelephant with its tusks he had stuck upon an iron spit and roared
\nwith a mighty sound. As soon as he saw Rama & Lakshmana
\n& Sita Mithilan he ran upon them in sore wrath like Death
\nthe ender leaping on the nations,  and with a terrible roar that
\nseemed to shake the earth he took Vydehie up   in his arms and
\nmoved away and said, “You who wear the ascetic’s cloth and
\nmatted locks, O ye whose lives are short, yet with a wife have
\nyou entered Dandak woods and you bear the arrow, sword and
\nbow, how is this that you being anchorites hold your dwelling
\nwith a woman’s beauty? Workers of unrighteousness, who are
\nye, evil men, disgrace to the garb of the seer? I Viradha the
\nRakshasa range armed these tangled woods eating the flesh of
\nthe sages. This woman with the noble hips shall be my spouse but
\nas for you, I will drink in battle your sinful blood.” Evil-souled
\nViradha speaking this wickedness Sita heard his haughty speech,
\nalarmed she shook in her apprehension as a plaintain trembles
\nin the storm-wind. The son of Raghu seeing the beautiful Sita
\nin Viradha’s arms said to Lakshmana, his face drying up with
\ngrief, “Behold, O my brother, the daughter of Janak lord of
\nmen, my wife of noble life taken into Viradha’s arms, the King’s
\ndaughter high-splendoured and nurtured in utter ease! The thing
\nKaikayie desired, the thing dear to her that she chose for a gift, <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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Page \u2013 25<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nhow quickly today, O Lakshmana, has it been utterly fulfilled,
\nshe whose foresight was not satisfied with the kingdom for her
\nson, but she sent me, the beloved of all beings, to the wild
\nwoods. Now today she has her desire, that middle mother of
\nmine. For no worse grief can befall me than that another should
\ntouch Vydehie and that my father should perish and my own
\nkingdom be wrested from my hands.” So Cacootstha spake,
\nand Lakshmana answered him & his eyes filled with the mist of
\ngrief and he panted like a furious snake controlled, “O thou who
\nart like Indra and the protector of this world’s creatures, why
\ndost thou afflict thyself as if thou wert one who had himself
\nno protector, even though I am here, the servant of thy will?
\nToday shall the Rakshasa be slain by my angry shaft and earth
\ndrink the blood of Viradha dead. The wrath that was born in
\nme against Bharat for his lust of rule, I will loose upon Viradha
\nas the Thunderer hurls his bolt against a hill.” <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThen Viradha spoke yet again and filled the forest with his
\nvoice, “Answer to my questioning, who are ye and whither do
\nye go?” And Rama answered to the Rakshasa with his mouth
\nof fire, in his pride of strength he answered his questioning and
\ndeclared his birth in Ikshwaku’s line. “Kshatriyas accomplished
\nin virtue know us to be, farers in this forest, but of thee we
\nwould know who thou art that rangest Dandak woods.” And 
\nto Rama of unerring might Viradha made reply, “Java’s son
\nam I, Shatahrada was my dam and Viradha am I called by all
\nRakshasas on earth. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 26<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Book of the Wild Forest   Then, possessing his soul, Rama entered the great forest, the forest Dandaka with difficulty approachable by men and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-translations","wpcat-48-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}