{"id":2339,"date":"2013-07-13T01:40:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2339"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:40:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:40:58","slug":"01-speech-of-dussaruth-vol-05-translations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/05-translations\/01-speech-of-dussaruth-vol-05-translations","title":{"rendered":"-01_Speech of Dussaruth.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nPart One<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTranslations from Sanskrit<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo with students of the Baroda College, c. 1906<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe first page of “Selected Poems of Bidyapati”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSection One<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Ramayana <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\n
\nPieces from the Ramayana<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n1<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nSpeech of Dussaruth to the assembled States-General
\nof
\nhis Empire<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nThen with a far reverberating sound<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs of a cloud in heaven or war-drum’s call<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeep-voiced to battle and with echoings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the wide roof of his majestic voice<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat like the resonant surges onward rolled<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMoving men’s hearts to joy, a King to Kings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe spoke and all they heard him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n“It is known<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo you, O princes, how this noblest realm<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWas by my fathers ruled, the kings of old<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho went before me, even as one dearest son<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIs by his parents cherished; therefore I too<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWould happier leave than when my youth assumed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTheir burden, mankind, my subjects, and this vast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWorld-empire of the old Ixvaacou kings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLo I have trod in those imperial steps<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy fathers left, guarding with sleepless toil<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe people while strength was patient in this frame<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO’erburdened with the large majestic world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut now my body broken is and old,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAgeing beneath the shadow of the white<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCanopy imperial and outworn with long<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 5<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nLabouring for the good of all mankind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy people, Nature fails me! I have lived<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThousands of years and many lives of men<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd all my worn heart wearies for repose.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWeary am I of bearing up this heavy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBurden austere of the great world, duties<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNot sufferable by souls undisciplined:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO folk, to rest from greatness I desire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTherefore with your august, assembled will,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO powers and O twice-born nations, I<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWould share with Rama this great kingdom’s crown,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, my warrior son, by kingly birth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd gifts inherited confessed my son,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, a mighty nation’s joy. Less fair<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYoked with his favouring constellation bright<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe regent moon shall be than Rama’s face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhen morn upon his crowning smiles. O folk,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSay then shall Luxman’s brother be your lord,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGlory’s high favourite who empire breathes?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYea, if the whole vast universe should own<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy son for king, it would be kinged indeed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd regal: Lords, of such desirable<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFortune I would possess the mother of men;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen would I be at peace, at last repose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTransferring to such shoulders Earth. Pronounce<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf I have nobly planned, if counselled well;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrant me your high permissive voices, People,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut if my narrower pleasure, private hope,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf welfare general the smooth disguise<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHave in your censure donned, then let the folk<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThemselves advise their monarch or command.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor other is disinterested thought<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd by the clash of minds dissimilar<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCounsel increases.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen with a deep sound<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs when a cloud with rain and thunder armed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInvades the skies, the jewelled peacocks loud<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 6<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nClamour, assembled monarchs praised their king.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd like a moving echo came the voice<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf the great commons answering them, a thunder<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd one exultant roar. Earth seemed to rock<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBeneath the noise. Thus by their Emperor high<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAdmitted to his will great conclave was<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf clergy and of captains and of kings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd of the people of the provinces<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd of the people metropolitan. All these<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeliberated and became one mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nResolved, they answered then their aged King.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n2<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nAn Aryan City<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nCoshala by the Soroyou, a land<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSmiling at heaven, of riches measureless<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd corn abounding glad; in that great country<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAyodhya was, the city world-renowned,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAyodhya by King Manou built, immense.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTwelve yojans long the mighty city lay<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrandiose and wide three yojans. Grandly-spaced<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAyodhya’s streets were and the long high-road<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRan through it spaciously with sweet cool flowers<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHourly new-paved and hourly watered wide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDussaruth in Ayodhya, as in heaven<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts natural lord, abode, those massive walls<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRuling, and a great people in his name<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFelt greater, \u2014 door and wall and ponderous arch<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd market-places huge. Of every craft<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEngines mechanical and tools there thronged<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd craftsmen of each guild and manner. High rang<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith heralds and sonorous eulogists<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe beautiful bright city imperial.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 7<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nHigh were her bannered edifices reared,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith theatres and dancing-halls for joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf her bright daughters, and sweet-scented parks<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWere round and gardens cool. High circling all<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe city with disastrous engines stored<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn hundreds, the great ramparts like a zone<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf iron spanned in her moated girth immense<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThreatening with forts the ancient sky. Defiant<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAyodhya stood, armed, impregnable,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInviolable in her virgin walls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd in her streets was ever large turmoil,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPassing of elephants, the steed and ox,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMules and rich-laden camels. And through them drove<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe powerful barons of the land, great wardens<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf taxes, and from countries near and far<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe splendid merchants came much marvelling<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo see those orgulous high-builded homes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith jewels curiously fretted, topped<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith summer-houses for the joy of girls,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike some proud city in heaven. Without a gap<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn either side as far as eye could reach<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMass upon serried mass the houses rose,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSeven-storied architectures metrical<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUpon a level base and made sublime<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSplendid Ayodhya octagonally built,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe mother of beautiful women and of gems<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA world. Large granaries of rice unhusked<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe had and husked rice for the fire, and sweet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer water, like the cane’s delightful juice,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCool down the throat. And a great voice throbbed of drums,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe tabour and the tambourine, while ever<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe lyre with softer rumours intervened.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor only was she grandiosely built,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA city without earthly peer, \u2014 her sons<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWere noble, warriors whose arrows scorned to pierce<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe isolated man from friends cut off<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr guided by a sound to smite the alarmed<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 8<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nAnd crouching fugitive; but with sharp steel<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSought out the lion in his den or grappling<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnarmed they murdered with their mighty hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe tiger roaring in his trackless woods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr the mad tusked boar. Even such strong arms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf heroes kept that city and in her midst<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRegnant King Dussaruth the nations ruled<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n3<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nA Mother’s Lament<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\n“Hadst thou been never born, Rama, my son,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBorn for my grief, I had not felt such pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA childless woman. For the barren one<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrief of the heart companions, only one,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nComplaining, I am barren’; this she mourns,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe has no cause for any deeper tears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut I am inexperienced in delight<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd never of my husband’s masculine love<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHad pleasure, \u2014 still I lingered, still endured<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHoping to be acquainted yet with joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTherefore full many unlovely words that strove<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo break the suffering heart had I to hear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom wives of my husband, I the Queen and highest,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom lesser women. Ah what greater pain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThan this can women have who mourn on earth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThan this my grief and infinite lament?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Rama, even at thy side so much<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have endured, and if thou goest hence,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeath is my certain prospect, death alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCruelly neglected, grievously oppressed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have lived slighted in my husband’s house<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs though Kaicayie’s serving-woman, \u2014 nay,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA lesser thing than these. If any honours<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 9<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nIf any follows me, even that man<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHushes when he beholds Kaicayie’s son.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow shall I in my misery endure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat bitter mouth intolerable, bear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer ceaseless petulance. O I have lived<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSeventeen years since thou wast born, my son,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Rama, seventeen long years have lived,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWearily wishing for an end to grief;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd now this mighty anguish without end!<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI have no strength to bear for ever pain;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor this worn heart with suffering fatigued<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo satisfy the scorn of rivals yields<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMore tears. Ah how shall I without thy face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMiserably exist, without thy face,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy moon of beauty, miserable days?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMe wretched, who with fasts and weary toils<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd dedicated musings reared thee up,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVainly. Alas, the river’s giant banks,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow great they are! and yet when violent rain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHas levelled their tops with water, they descend<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn ruin, not like this heart which will not break.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut I perceive death was not made for me,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor me no room in those stupendous realms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHas been discovered; since not even today<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs on a mourning hind the lion falls<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDeath seizes me or to his thicket bears<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith his huge leap, \u2014 death, ender of all pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow livest thou, O hard, O iron heart,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUnbroken? O body, tortured by such grief,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHow sinkst thou not all shattered to the earth?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTherefore I know death comes not called \u2014 he waits<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInexorably his time. But this I mourn,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy useless vows, gifts, offerings, self-control,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd dire ascetic strenuousness perfected<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn passion for a son, \u2014 yet all like seed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFruitless and given to ungrateful soil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut if death came before his season, if one<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 10<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nBy anguish of unbearable heavy grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNaturally might win him, then today<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWould I have hurried to his distant worlds<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf thee deprived, O Rama, O my son.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhy should I vainly live without thine eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou moonlight of my soul? No, let me toil<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAfter thee to the savage woods where thou<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMust harbour; I will trail these feeble limbs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBehind thy steps as the sick yearning dam<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat follows still her ravished young.” Thus she<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYearning upon her own beloved son; \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs over her offspring chained a Centauress<\/span><\/p>\n

\nImpatient of her anguish deep, so wailed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCowshalya; for her heart with grief was loud.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n4<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Wife<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nBut Sita all the while, unhappy child,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWorshipped propitious gods. Her mind in dreams<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAugust and splendid coronations dwelt<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd knew not of that woe. Royal she worshipped,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA princess in her mind and mood, and sat<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith expectation thrilled. To whom there came<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, downcast and sad, his forehead moist<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom inner anguish. Dark with thought and shaken<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe entered his august and jubilant halls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe started from her seat, transfixed, and trembled,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor all the beauty of his face was marred,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho when he saw his young beloved wife<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEndured no longer; all his inner passion<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf tortured pride was opened in his face.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd Sita, shaken, cried aloud, “What grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nComes in these eyes? Was not today thine hour<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 11<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nWhen Jupiter, the imperial planet, joins<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith Pushya, that high constellation? Why<\/span><\/p>\n

\nArt thou then pale, disturbed? Where is thy pomp,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy crowning where? No foam-white softness silk<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith hundred-shafted canopy o’erhues<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy kingly head, no fans o’erwave thy face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike birds that beat their bright wings near a flower;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMinstrel nor orator attends thy steps<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo hymn thy greatness, nor are heralds heard<\/span><\/p>\n

\nVoicing high stanzas. Who has then forbade<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe honeyed curds that Brahmins Veda-wise<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShould pour on thy anointed brow, \u2014<\/font> the throngs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat should behind thee in a glory surge, \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe ministers and leading citizens<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd peers and commons of the provinces<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd commons metropolitan? Where stays<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy chariot by four gold-clad horses drawn,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTrampling, magnificent, wide-maned? thy huge<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHigh-omened elephant, a thunder-cloud<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr moving mountain in thy front? thy seat<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEnriched with curious gold? Such are the high<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSymbols men lead before anointed kings<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThrough streets flower-crowned. But thou com’st careless,
\ndumb,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlone. Or if thy coronation still,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHero, prepares and nations for thee wait,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWherefore comes this grey face not seen before<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn which there is no joy?” Trembling she hushed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen answered her the hope of Raghou’s line,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n“Sita, my sire exiles me to the woods.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO highborn soul, O firm religious mind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe strong and hear me. Dussaruth, my sire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhose royal word stands as the mountains pledged<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo Bharuth’s mother boons of old, her choice<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn her selected time, who now prefers<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAthwart the coronation’s sacred pomp<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer just demand; me to the Dundac woods<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 12<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nFor fourteen years exiled and in my stead<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBharuth, my brother, royally elect<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo this wide empire. Therefore I come, to visit<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd clasp thee once, ere to far woods I go.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut thou before King Bharuth speak my name<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSeldom; thou knowest great and wealthy men<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAre jealous and endure not others’ praise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSpeak low and humbly of me when thou speakest,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nObserving all his moods; for only thus<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShall man survive against a monarch’s brow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe is a king, therefore to be observed;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHoly, since by a monarch’s sacred hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnointed to inviolable rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe patient; thou art wise and good. For I<\/span><\/p>\n

\nToday begin exile, Sita, today<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLeave thee, O Sita. But when I am gone<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto the paths of the ascetics old<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDo thou in vows and fasts spend blamelessly<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy lonely seasons. With the dawn arise<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd when thou hast adored the Gods, bow down<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBefore King Dussaruth, my father, then<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLike a dear daughter tend religiously<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCowshalya, my afflicted mother old;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor her alone, but all my father’s queens<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGratify with sweet love, smiles, blandishments<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd filial claspings; \u2014 they my mothers are,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor than the breasts that suckled me less dear.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut mostly I would have thee show, beloved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo Shatrughna and Bharuth, my dear brothers,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMore than my life-blood dear, a sister’s love<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd a maternal kindness. Cross not Bharuth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven slightly in his will. He is thy king,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMonarch of thee and monarch of our house<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd all this nation. ‘Tis by modest awe<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd soft obedience and high toilsome service<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat princes are appeased, but being crossed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMost dangerous grow the wrathful hearts of kings<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 13<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nAnd mischief mean. Monarchs incensed reject<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe sons of their own loins who durst oppose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTheir mighty policies, and raise, of birth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThough vile, the strong and serviceable man.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHere then obedient dwell unto the King,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSita; but I into the woods depart.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHe ended, but Videha’s daughter, she<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhose words were ever soft like one whose life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIs lapped in sweets, now other answer made<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn that exceeding anger born of love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFierce reprimand and high. “What words are these,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, from thee? What frail unworthy spirit<\/span><\/p>\n

\nConverses with me uttering thoughts depraved,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInglorious, full of ignominy, unmeet<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor armed heroical great sons of Kings?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith alien laughter and amazed today<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI hear the noblest lips in all the world<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUttering baseness. For father, mother, son,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBrother or son’s wife, all their separate deeds<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEnjoying their own separate fates pursue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut the wife is the husband’s and she has<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer husband’s fate, not any private joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHave they said to thee Thou art exiled’? Me<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat doom includes, me too exiles. For neither<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFather nor the sweet son of her own womb<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor self, nor mother, nor companion dear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIs woman’s sanctuary; only her husband<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhether in this world or beyond is hers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf to the difficult dim forest then,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, this day thou journeyest, I will walk<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBefore thee, treading down the thorns and sharp<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrasses, smoothing with my torn feet thy way;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd henceforth from my bosom as from a cup<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStale water, jealousy and wrath renounce.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTrust me, take me; for, Rama, in this breast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSin cannot harbour. Heaven-spacious terraces<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf mansions, the aerial gait of Gods<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 14<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nWith leave to walk among those distant stars,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMan’s winged aspiration or his earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf sensuous joys, tempt not a woman’s heart:<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShe chooses at her husband’s feet her home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy father’s lap, my mother’s knees to me<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWere school of morals, Rama; each human law<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf love and service there I learned, nor need<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy lessons. All things else are wind; I choose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe inaccessible inhuman woods,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe deer’s green walk or where the tigers roam,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLife savage with the multitude of beasts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDense thickets; there will I dwell in desert ways,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHappier than in my father’s lordly house,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA pure-limbed hermitess. How I will tend thee<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd watch thy needs, and thinking of no joy<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut that warm wifely service and delight<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForget the unneeded world, alone with thee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe two shall dalliance take in honied groves<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd scented springtides. These heroic hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCan in the forest dangerous protect<\/span><\/p>\n

\nEven common men, and will they then not guard<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA woman and the noble name of wife?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI go with thee this day, deny who will,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor aught shall turn me. Fear not thou lest I<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShould burden thee, since gladly I elect<\/span><\/p>\n

\nLife upon fruits and roots and still before thee<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShall walk, not faltering with fatigue, eat only<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy remnants after hunger satisfied,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor greater bliss conceive. O I desire<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat life, desire to see the large wide lakes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe cliffs of the great mountains, the dim tarns,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNot frighted since thou art beside me, and visit<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFair waters swan-beset in lovely bloom.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn thy heroic guard my life shall be<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA happy wandering among beautiful things.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor I shall bathe in those delightful pools,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd to thy bosom fast-devoted, wooed<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 15<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nBy thy great beautiful eyes, yield and experience<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOn mountains and by rivers large delight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThus if a hundred years should pass or many<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMillenniums, yet I should not tire nor change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor wandering so not heaven itself would seem<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDesirable, but this were rather heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Rama, Paradise and thou not there<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo Paradise were to my mind; I should<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrow miserable and reject the bliss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI rather mid the gloomy entangled boughs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd sylvan haunts of elephant and ape,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nClasping my husband’s feet, intend to lie<\/span><\/p>\n

\nObedient, glad, and feel about me home.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut Rama, though his heart approved her words,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYielded not to entreaty, for he feared<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer dolour in the desolate wood; therefore<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOnce more he spoke and kissed her brimming eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n“Of a high blood thou comest and thy soul<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTurns naturally to duties high. Now too,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Sita, let thy duty be thy guide;<\/span><\/p>\n

\nElect thy husband’s will. Thou shouldst obey,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSita, my words, who art a woman weak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe woods are full of hardship, full of peril,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd ’tis thy ease that I command. Nay, nay,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut listen and this forestward resolve<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou wilt abandon: Love! for I shall speak<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf fears and great discomforts. There is no pleasure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn the vast woodlands drear, but sorrows, toils,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWretched privations. Thundering from the hills<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe waterfalls leap down, and dreadfully<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe mountain lions from their caverns roar<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHurting the ear with sound. This is one pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen in vast solitudes the wild beasts sport<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUntroubled, but when they behold men, rage<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd savage onset move. Unfordable<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGreat rivers thick with ooze, the python’s haunt,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr turbid with wild elephants, sharp thorns<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 16<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nBeset with pain and tangled creepers close<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe thirsty tedious paths impracticable<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat echo with the peacock’s startling call.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt night thou must with thine own hands break off<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe soon-dried leaves, thy only bed, and lay<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy worn-out limbs fatigued on the hard ground,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd day or night no kindlier food must ask<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThan wild fruit shaken from the trees, and fast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNear to the limits of thy fragile life,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd wear the bark of trees for raiment, bind<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy tresses piled in a neglected knot,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd daily worship with large ceremony<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNew-coming guests and the high ancient dead<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the great deities, and three times twixt dawn<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd evening bathe with sacred accuracy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd patiently in all things rule observe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll these are other hardships of the woods.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor at thy ease shalt worship, but must offer<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe flowers by thine own labour culled, and deck<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe altar with observance difficult,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd be content with little and casual food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAbstinent is their life who roam in woods,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Mithilan, strenuous, a travail. Hunger<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd violent winds and darkness and huge fears<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAre their companions. Reptiles of all shapes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCoil numerous where thou walkest, spirited,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInsurgent, and the river-dwelling snakes<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat with the river’s winding motion go,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBeset thy path, waiting. Fierce scorpions, worms,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGadflies and gnats continually distress<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd the sharp grasses pierce and thorny trees<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith an entangled anarchy of boughs<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOppose. O many bodily pains and swift<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTerrors the habitants in forests know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThey must expel desire and wrath expel,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAustere of mind, who such discomforts choose,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor any fear must feel of fearful things.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page <\/font>\u2013 17<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nDream not of it, O Sita; nothing good<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe mind recalls in that disastrous life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor thee unmeet; only stern miseries<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd toils ruthless and many dangers drear.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThen Sita with the tears upon her face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMade answer very sad and low, “Many<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSorrows and perils of that forest life<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou hast pronounced, discovered dreadful ills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO Rama, they are joys if borne for thee,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor thy dear love, O Rama. Tiger or elk,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe savage lion and fierce forest-bull,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMarsh-jaguars and the creatures of the woods<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd desolate peaks, will from thy path remove<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAt unaccustomed beauty terrified.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFearless shall I go with thee if my elders<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAllow, nor they refuse, themselves who feel<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat parting from thee, Rama, is a death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThere is no danger! Hero, at thy side<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho shall touch me? Not sovran Indra durst,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThough in his might he master all the Gods,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAssail me with his thunder-bearing hands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO how can woman from her husband’s arms<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDivorced exist? Thine own words have revealed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRama, its sad impossibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTherefore my face is set towards going, for I<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPreferring that sweet service of my lord,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFollowing my husband’s feet, surely shall grow<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAll purified by my exceeding love.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO thou great heart and pure, what joy is there<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut thy nearness? To me my husband is<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHeaven and God. O even when I am dead,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA bliss to me will be my lord’s embrace.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nYea thou who knowst, wilt thou, forgetful grown<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf common joys and sorrows sweetly shared,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe faithful heart reject, reject the love?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThou carest nothing then for Sita’s tears?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGo! poison or the water or the fire<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

Page <\/font>\u2013
\n18<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nShall yield me sanctuary, importuning death.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThus while she varied passionate appeal<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd her sweet miserable eyes with tears<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSwam over, he her wrath and terror and grief<\/span><\/p>\n

\nStrove always to appease. But she alarmed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGreat Janac’s daughter, princess Mithilan,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer woman’s pride of love all wounded, shook<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom her the solace of his touch and weeping<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAssailed indignantly her mighty lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n“Surely my father erred, great Mithila<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho rules and the Videhas, that he chose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThee with his line to mate, Rama unworthy,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo man but woman in a male disguise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhat casts thee down, wherefore art thou then sad,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat thou art bent thus basely to forsake<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy single-hearted wife? Not Savitry<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo loved the hero Dyumathsena’s son<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs I love thee and from my soul adore.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI would not like another woman, shame<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf her great house, turn even in thought from thee<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo watch a second face; for where thou goest<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy heart follows. ‘Tis thou, O shame! ’tis thou<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho thy young wife and pure, thy boyhood’s bride<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd bosom’s sweet companion, like an actor,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nResignst to others. If thy heart so pant<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo be his slave for whom thou art oppressed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nObey him thou, court, flatter, for I will not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAlas, my husband, leave me not behind,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nForbid me not from exile. Whether harsh<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAsceticism in the forest drear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr Paradise my lot, either is bliss<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom thee not parted, Rama. How can I,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGuiding in thy dear steps my feet, grow tired<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThough journeying endlessly? as well might one<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWeary, who on a bed of pleasure lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe bramble-bushes in our common path,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe bladed grasses and the pointed reeds<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 19<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nShall be as pleasant to me as the touch<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf cotton or of velvet, being with thee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd when the storm-blast rises scattering<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe thick dust over me, I, feeling then<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy dear one’s hand, shall think that I am smeared<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith sandal-powder highly-priced. Or when<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom grove to grove upon the grass I lie,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn couches how is there more soft delight<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr rugs of brilliant wool? The fruits of trees,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRoots of the earth or leaves, whate’er thou bring,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe it much or little, being by thy hands<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGathered, I shall account ambrosial food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI shall not once remember, being with thee,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFather or mother dear or my far home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNor shall thy pains by my companionship<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe greatened
\n\u2014 doom me not to parting, Rama.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor only where thou art is Heaven; ’tis Hell<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhere thou art not. O thou who knowst my love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf thou canst leave me, poison still is left<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo be my comforter. I will not bear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTheir yoke who hate thee. And if today I shunned<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSwift solace, grief at length would do its work<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWith torments slow. How shall the broken heart<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat once has beaten on thine, absence endure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTen years and three to these and yet one more?”<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo writhing in the fire of grief, she wound<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer body about her husband, fiercely silent,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr sometimes wailed aloud; as a wild beast<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThat maddens with the fire-tipped arrows, such<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer grief ungovernable and like the stream<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf fire from its stony prison freed,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHer quick hot tears, or as when the whole river<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom new-culled lilies weeps,
\n\u2014 those crystal brooks<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf sorrow poured from her afflicted lids.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd all the moon-bright glories of her face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGrew dimmed and her large eyes vacant of joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut he revived her with sweet words, “Weep not;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 20<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nIf I could buy all heaven with one tear<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf thine, Sita, I would not pay the price,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy Sita, my beloved. Nor have I grown,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI who have stood like God by nature planted<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHigh above any cause of fear, suddenly<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFamiliar with alarm. Only I knew not<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy sweet and resolute courage, and for thee<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDreaded the misery that sad exiles feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut since to share my exile and o’erthrow<\/span><\/p>\n

\nGod first created thee, O Mithilan,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSooner shall high serenity divorce<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFrom the self-conquering heart, than thou from me<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBe parted. Fixed I stand in my resolve<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWho follow ancient virtue and the paths<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf the old perfect dead; ever my face<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTurns steadfast to that radiant goal, self-vowed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIts sunflower. To the drear wilderness I go.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy father’s stainless honour points me on,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHis oath that must not fail. This is the old<\/span><\/p>\n

\nReligion brought from dateless ages down,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nParents to honour and obey; their will<\/span><\/p>\n

\nShould I transgress, I would not wish to live.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nFor how shall man with homage or with prayer<\/span><\/p>\n

\nApproach the distant Deity, yet scorn<\/span><\/p>\n

\nA present godhead, father, mother, sage?<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIn these man’s triple objects live, in these<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe triple world is bounded, nor than these<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHas all wide earth one holier thing. Large eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThese therefore let us worship. Truth or gifts,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOr honour or liberal proud sacrifice,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNought equals the effectual force and pure<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf worship filial done. This all bliss brings,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCompels all gifts, compels harvests and wealth,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nKnowledge compels and children. All these joys,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThese human boons great filial souls on earth<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRecovering here enjoy and in that world<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHeaven naturally is theirs. But me whatever,<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 21<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n\n

\nIn the strict path of virtue while he stands,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMy father bids, my heart bids that. I go,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut not alone, o’ercome by thy sweet soul’s<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHigh courage. O intoxicating eyes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nO faultless limbs, go with me, justify<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe wife’s proud name, partner in virtue. Love,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWarm from thy great, high-blooded lineage old<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThy purpose springing mates with the pure strain<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOf Raghou’s ancient house. O let thy large<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd lovely motion forestward make speed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHigh ceremonies to absolve. Heaven’s joys<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWithout thee now were beggarly and rude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nHaste then, the Brahmin and the pauper feed<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAnd to their blessings answer jewels. All<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur priceless diamonds and our splendid robes,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur curious things, our couches and our cars,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe glory and the eye’s delight, do them<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRenounce, nor let our faithful servants lose<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTheir worthy portion.” Sita of that consent<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSo hardly won sprang joyous, as on fire,<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDisburdened of her wealth, lightly to wing<\/span><\/p>\n

\nInto dim wood and wilderness unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 22<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part One   Translations from Sanskrit   Sri Aurobindo with students of the Baroda College, c. 1906   The first page of “Selected Poems of…<\/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-2339","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\/2339","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=2339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}