Ramayana · Book I · Bāla Kāṇḍa
Ramayana, Book I, Canto 25: The Hermitage Of Loveबालकाण्डम्
Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74), beside the Sanskrit of sarga 1.23.
Sanskrit
प्रभातायां तु शर्वर्यां विश्वामित्रो महामुनिः ।
अभ्यभाषत काकुत्स्थं शयानं पर्णसंस्तरे ॥१-२३-१॥
कौसल्या सुप्रजा राम पूर्वा संध्या प्रवर्तते ।
उत्तिष्ठ नरशार्दूल कर्तव्यं दैवमाह्निकम् ॥१-२३-२॥
तस्यर्षेः परमोदारं वचः श्रुत्वा नरोत्तमौ ।
स्नात्वा कृतोदकौ वीरौ जेपतुः परमं जपम् ॥१-२३-३॥
कृताह्निकौ महावीर्यौ विश्वामित्रं तपोधनम् ।
अभिवाद्यातिसंहृष्टौ गमनायाभितस्थतुः ॥१-२३-४॥
तौ प्रयान्तौ महावीर्यौ दिव्यां त्रिपथगां नदीम् ।
ददृशाते ततस्तत्र सरय्वाः संगमे शुभे ॥१-२३-५॥
तत्राश्रमपदं पुण्यमृषीणां भावितात्मनाम् ।
बहुवर्षसहस्राणि तप्यतां परमं तपः ॥१-२३-६॥
तं दृष्ट्वा परमप्रीतौ राघवौ पुण्यमाश्रमम् ।
ऊचतुस्तं महात्मानं विश्वामित्रमिदं वचः ॥१-२३-७॥
कस्यायमाश्रमः पुण्यः को न्वस्मिन्वसते पुमान् ।
भगवञ्श्रोतुमिच्छावः परं कौतूहलं हि नौ ॥१-२३-८॥
तयोस्तद्वचनं श्रुत्वा प्रहस्य मुनिपुङ्गवः ।
अब्रवीच्छ्रूयतां राम यस्यायं पूर्व आश्रमः ॥१-२३-९॥
कन्दर्पो मूर्तिमानासीत्काम इत्युच्यते बुधैः ।
तपस्यन्तमिह स्थाणुं नियमेन समाहितम् ॥१-२३-१०॥
कृतोद्वाहं तु देवेशं गच्छन्तं समरुद्गणम् ।
धर्षयामास दुर्मेधा हुंकृतश्च महात्मना ॥१-२३-११॥
अवध्यातश्च रुद्रेण चक्षुषा रघुनन्दन ।
व्यशीर्यन्त शरीरात् स्वात् सर्वगात्राणि दुर्मतेः ॥१-२३-१२॥
तस्य गात्रं हतं तत्र निर्दग्धस्य महात्मना ।
अशरीरः कृतः कामः क्रोधाद् देवेश्वरेण ह ॥१-२३-१३॥
अनङ्ग इति विख्यातस्तदा प्रभृति राघव ।
स चाङ्गविषयः श्रीमान् यत्राङ्गं स मुमोच ह ॥१-२३-१४॥
तस्यायमाश्रमः पुण्यस्तस्येमे मुनयः पुरा ।
शिष्या धर्मपरा वीर तेषां पापं न विद्यते ॥१-२३-१५॥
इहाद्य रजनीं राम वसेम शुभदर्शन ।
पुण्ययोः सरितोर्मध्ये श्वस्तरिष्यामहे वयम् ॥१-२३-१६॥
अभिगच्छामहे सर्वे शुचयः पुण्यमाश्रमम् ।
इह वासः परोऽस्माकं सुखं वस्त्यामहे निशाम् ॥१-२३-१७॥
स्नाताश्च कृतजप्याश्च हुतहव्या नरोत्तम ।
तेषां संवदतां तत्र तपोदीर्घेण चक्षुषा ॥१-२३-१८॥
विज्ञाय परमप्रीता मुनयो हर्षमागमन् ।
अर्घ्यं पाद्यं तथाऽऽतिथ्यं निवेद्य कुशिकात्मजे ॥१-२३-१९॥
रामलक्ष्मणयोः पश्चादकुर्वन्नतिथिक्रियाम् ।
सत्कारं समनुप्राप्य कथाभिरभिरञ्जयन् ॥१-२३-२०॥
यथार्हमजपन् संध्यामृषयस्ते समाहिताः ।
तत्र वासिभिरानीता मुनिभिः सुव्रतैः सह ॥१-२३-२१॥
न्यवसन् सुसुखं तत्र कामाश्रमपदे तथा ।
कथाभिरभिरामभिरभिरमौ नृपात्मजौ ।
रमयामास धर्मात्मा कौशिको मुनिपुङ्गवः ॥१-२३-२२॥
इत्यार्षे श्रीमद्रामायणे वाल्मीकीये आदिकाव्ये बालकाण्डे त्रयोविंशः सर्गः ॥१-२३॥
English Griffith
Soon as appeared the morning light
Up rose the mighty anchorite,
And thus to youthful Ráma said,
Who lay upon his leafy bed:
“High fate is hers who calls thee son:
Arise, ’tis break of day;
Rise, Chief, and let those rites be done
Due at the morning’s ray.”151
At that great sage’s high behest
Up sprang the princely pair,
To bathing rites themselves addressed,
And breathed the holiest prayer.
Their morning task completed, they
To Viśvámitra came
That store of holy works, to pay
The worship saints may claim.
Then to the hallowed spot they went
Along fair Sarjú’s side
Where mix her waters confluent
With three-pathed Gangá’s tide.152
There was a sacred hermitage
Where saints devout of mind
Their lives through many a lengthened age
To penance had resigned.
That pure abode the princes eyed
With unrestrained delight,
And thus unto the saint they cried,
Rejoicing at the sight:
“Whose is that hermitage we see?
Who makes his dwelling there?
Full of desire to hear are we:
O Saint, the truth declare.”
The hermit smiling made reply
To the two boys’ request:
“Hear, Ráma, who in days gone by
This calm retreat possessed.
Kandarpa in apparent form,
Called Káma153 by the wise,
Dared Umá’s154 new-wed lord to storm
And make the God his prize.
’Gainst Stháṇu’s155 self, on rites austere
And vows intent,156 they say,
His bold rash hand he dared to rear,
Though Stháṇu cried, Away!
But the God’s eye with scornful glare
Fell terrible on him.
Dissolved the shape that was so fair
And burnt up every limb.
Since the great God’s terrific rage
Destroyed his form and frame,
Káma in each succeeding age
Has borne Ananga’s157 name.
So, where his lovely form decayed,
This land is Anga styled:
Sacred to him of old this shade,
And hermits undefiled.
Here Scripture-talking elders sway
Each sense with firm control,
And penance-rites have washed away
All sin from every soul.
One night, fair boy, we here will spend,
A pure stream on each hand,
And with to-morrow’s light will bend
Our steps to yonder strand.
Here let us bathe, and free from stain
To that pure grove repair,
Sacred to Káma, and remain
One night in comfort there.”
With penance’ far-discerning eye
The saintly men beheld
Their coming, and with transport high
Each holy bosom swelled.
To Kuśik’s son the gift they gave
That honoured guest should greet,
Water they brought his feet to lave,
And showed him honor meet.
Ráma and Lakshmaṇ next obtained
In due degree their share.
Then with sweet talk the guests remained,
And charmed each listener there.
The evening prayers were duly said
With voices calm and low:
Then on the ground each laid his head
And slept till morning’s glow.
Griffith’s notes (7)
- “At the rising of the sun as well as at noon certain observances, invocations, and prayers were prescribed which might under no circumstances be omitted. One of these observances was the recitation of the Sávitrí, a Vedic hymn to the Sun of wonderful beauty.” GORRESIO.
- Tripathaga, Three-path-go,_ flowing in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. See Canto XLV.
- Tennyson’s “Indian Cama,” the God of Love, known also by many other names.
- Umá, or Parvatí, was daughter of Himálaya, Monarch of mountains, and wife of Śiva. See Kálidasa’s Kumára Sambhava, or Birth of the War-God_.
- Stháṇu_. The Unmoving one, a name of Śiva.
- “The practice of austerities, voluntary tortures, and mortifications was anciently universal in India, and was held by the Indians to be of immense efficacy. Hence they mortified themselves to expiate sins, to acquire merits, and to obtain superhuman gifts and powers; the Gods themselves sometimes exercised themselves in such austerities, either to raise themselves to greater power and grandeur, or to counteract the austerities of man which threatened to prevail over them and to deprive them of heaven.… Such austerities were called in India tapas (burning ardour, fervent devotion) and he who practised them tapasvin.” GORRESIO.
- The Bodiless one._