{"id":576,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=576"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:59","slug":"07-the-book-of-the-wild-forest-vol-08-translations-volume-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/08-translations-volume-08\/07-the-book-of-the-wild-forest-vol-08-translations-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-07_The Book of The Wild Forest.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n
\n


\n <\/font>The Book of the     
\nWild Forest<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n CANTO ONE* <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/b>HEN<\/span>, possessing his soul, Rama
\nentered the great forest, the forest Dundac with difficulty approachable by men
\nand beheld a circle there of hermitages of ascetic men; a refuge for all living
\nthings, with ever well-swept courts and strewn with many forms of beasts and
\nswarming with companies of birds and holy, high and temperate sages graced
\nthose homes. The high of energy approached them unstringing first his mighty
\nbow and they beholding him like a rising moon with wonder in their looks gazed
\nat the fabric of his beauty and its glory and softness and garbed grace and at
\nVaidehie too with unfailing eyelids they gazed and Luxman; for they were things
\nof amazement to those dwellers in the woods. Great-natured sages occupied in
\ndoing good to all living things, they made him sit a guest in their leafy home
\nand burning with splendour of soul like living fires they offered him
\nguest-worship due and presented all things of auspice, full of high gladness in
\nthe act, roots, flowers and fruits they gave, yea, all the hermitage they laid
\nat the feet of Rama. And high-souled, learned in righteousness they said to him
\nwith outstretched and upward folded palms: \u201cFor that he is the keeper of the
\nvirtue of all this folk, a refuge and a mighty fame, high worship and honour
\nare the king\u2019s, and he holds the staff of justice and is reverent to all. Of
\nIndra\u2019s self he is the fourth part and protects the people. O seed of Raghou,
\ntherefore he enjoys noble and beautiful pleasures and to him men bow down. Thou
\nshouldst protect us, then, dwellers in thy dominions; for whether the city hold
\nthee or the wilderness, still art thou the king and the master of the folk. But
\nwe, O king, have laid by the staff of offence, we have put anger from us and
\nthe desire of the senses and \u2018tis thou must protect us always, ascetics rich in
\nausterity but helpless as children in the womb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*Aranya Kanda, Sarga 1, 1-21. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/span><\/i>CANTO TWO*<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Now when he had taken of their
\nhospitality, Rama towards the rising of the sun took farewell of all these
\nseers and plunged into mere forest scattered through with many beasts of the
\nchase and haunted by the tiger and the bear. There he and Luxman following him,
\nsaw a desolation in the midmost of that wood, for blasted were tree and creeper
\nand bush and water was nowhere to be seen, but the forest was full of the
\nscreaming of vultures and rang with the crickets\u2019 cry. And walking with Sita
\nthere Cacootstha in that haunt of fierce wild beasts beheld the appearance like
\na mountain peak and heard the thundering roar of an eater of men; deep set were
\nhis eyes and huge his face, hideous was he and hideous bellied, horrid, rough
\nand tall, deformed and dreadful to the gaze and wore a tiger\u2019s skin moist with
\nfat and streaked with gore, a terror to all creatures even as death the ender
\nwhen he comes with yawning mouth. Three lions, four tigers, two wolves, ten
\nspotted deer and the huge fat-smeared head \u2018of an elephant with its tusks he
\nhad stuck up on an iron spit and roared with a mighty sound. As soon as he saw
\nRama and Luxman and Sita Maifhili he ran upon them in sore wrath like Death the
\nender leaping on the nations. And with a terrible roar that seemed to shake the
\nearth he took Vaidehie up in his arms and moved away and said, \u201cYou who wearing
\nthe ascetic\u2019s cloth and matted locks, O ye whose lives are short, yet with a wife
\nhave you entered Dundac woods and you bear the arrow, sword and bow, how is
\nthis that you being anchorites hold your dwelling with a woman\u2019s beauty? Workers
\nof unrighteousness, who are ye, evil men, disgrace to the garb of the seer? I
\nViradha the Rakshasa range armed these tangled woods eating the flesh of the
\nsages. This woman with the noble hips shall be my spouse, but as for you, I
\nwill drink in battle your sinful blood.\u201d Evil-souled Viradha speaking thus
\nwicked words, Sita heard his haughty speech, alarmed she shook in her
\napprehension as a plantain trembles in the storm-wind. The son of Raghou seeing
\nthe beautiful Sita in Viradha\u2019s arms said to Luxman, his face drying up with
\ngrief, \u201cBehold, O my brother, the daughter of Janak, lord of men, my wife of
\nnoble life taken into Viradha\u2019s arms, the king\u2019s daughter high-splendoured and
\nnurtured in utter ease! The thing Kaikeyie desired, the thing dear to her that
\nshe chose for a gift, how quickly today, O Luxman, has it been utterly
\nfulfilled, she whose fore-sight was not satisfied with the kingdom for her son,
\nbut she sent me, beloved <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

*Aranya Kanda,
\nSarga 2, 1-25.<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

of all beings to the wild woods. Now today she has her desire, that
\nmiddle mother of mine. For no worse grief can befall me than that another
\nshould touch Vaidehie and that my father should perish and my own kingdom be
\nwrested from my hands.\u201d So Cacootstha spoke and Luxman answered him, his eyes
\nfilled with the rush of grief, panting like a furious snake controlled, \u201cO thou
\nwho art like Indra and the protector of this world\u2019s creatures, why dost thou
\nafflict thyself as if thou wert one who has \u2018himself no protector, even though
\nI am here, the servant of thy will? Today shall the Rakshasa be slain by my
\nangry shaft and Earth drink the blood of Viradha dead. (The wrath that was born
\nin me against Bharat for his lust of rule, I will loose upon Viradha as the
\nThunderer hurls his bolt against a hill.)\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 22<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\n <\/font>CANTO THREE*<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then Viradha spoke yet again and filled the forest with his voice. \u201cAnswer
\nto my questioning, who are ye and whither do ye go ?\u201d And Rama answered to the
\nRakshasa with his mouth of fire, in his pride of strength he answered his
\nquestioning and declared his birth in Ikshwaku\u2019s line. \u201cKshatriyas accomplished
\nin virtue know us to be, farers in this forest, but of thee we would know who
\nthou art that rangest Dundac woods.\u201d And to Rama of enormous might Viradha made
\nreply: \u201cJava\u2019s son am I, Shatahrida was my dam and Viradha am I called by all Rakshasas
\non earth…\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n* Aranya Kanda, Sarga 3, 1-5.<\/span><\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

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 The Book of the      Wild Forest    CANTO ONE*   THEN, possessing his soul, Rama entered the great forest, the forest Dundac with difficulty approachable…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-translations-volume-08","wpcat-12-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576","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=576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}