Ramayana, Book IV, Canto 61: Sampáti’s Storyकिष्किन्धाकाण्डम्

Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74), beside the Sanskrit of sarga 4.61.

61Sanskrit sarga 4.61 · Sanskrit source · English source

Sanskrit

ततस्तद् दारुणं कर्म दुष्करं सहसा कृतम्।
आचचक्षे मुनेः सर्वं सूर्यानुगमनं तथा॥ १॥
भगवन् व्रणयुक्तत्वाल्लज्जया चाकुलेन्द्रियः।
परिश्रान्तो न शक्नोमि वचनं परिभाषितुम्॥ २॥
अहं चैव जटायुश्च संघर्षाद् गर्वमोहितौ।
आकाशं पतितौ दूराज्जिज्ञासन्तौ पराक्रमम्॥ ३॥
कैलासशिखरे बद्‍ध्वा मुनीनामग्रतः पणम्।
रविः स्यादनुयातव्यो यावदस्तं महागिरिम्॥ ४॥
अप्यावां युगपत् प्राप्तावपश्याव महीतले।
रथचक्रप्रमाणानि नगराणि पृथक् पृथक्॥ ५॥
क्वचिद् वादित्रघोषश्च क्वचिद् भूषणनिःस्वनः।
गायन्तीः स्माङ्गना बह्वीः पश्यावो रक्तवाससः॥ ६॥
तूर्णमुत्पत्य चाकाशमादित्यपदमास्थितौ।
आवामालोकयावस्तद् वनं शाद्वलसंस्थितम्॥ ७॥
उपलैरिव संछन्ना दृश्यते भूः शिलोच्चयैः।
आपगाभिश्च संवीता सूत्रैरिव वसुंधरा॥ ८॥
हिमवांश्चैव विन्ध्यश्च मेरुश्च सुमहागिरिः।
भूतले सम्प्रकाशन्ते नागा इव जलाशये॥ ९॥
तीव्रः स्वेदश्च खेदश्च भयं चासीत् तदावयोः।
समाविशत मोहश्च ततो मूर्च्छा च दारुणा॥ १०॥
न च दिग् ज्ञायते याम्या न चाग्नेयी न वारुणी।
युगान्ते नियतो लोको हतो दग्ध इवाग्निना॥ ११॥
मनश्च मे हतं भूयश्चक्षुः प्राप्य तु संश्रयम्।
यत्नेन महता ह्यस्मिन् मनः संधाय चक्षुषी॥ १२॥
यत्नेन महता भूयो भास्करः प्रतिलोकितः।
तुल्यपृथ्वीप्रमाणेन भास्करः प्रतिभाति नौ॥ १३॥
जटायुर्मामनापृच्छ्य निपपात महीं ततः।
तं दृष्ट्वा तूर्णमाकाशादात्मानं मुक्तवानहम्॥ १४॥
पक्षाभ्यां च मया गुप्तो जटायुर्न प्रदह्यत।
प्रमादात् तत्र निर्दग्धः पतन् वायुपथादहम्॥ १५॥
आशङ्के तं निपतितं जनस्थाने जटायुषम्।
अहं तु पतितो विन्ध्ये दग्धपक्षो जडीकृतः॥ १६॥
राज्याच्च हीनो भ्रात्रा च पक्षाभ्यां विक्रमेण च।
सर्वथा मर्तुमेवेच्छन् पतिष्ये शिखराद् गिरेः॥ १७॥

English Griffith

“Ah me! o’erwhelmed with shame and weak
With wounds,” I cried, “I scarce can speak.
My hapless brother once and I
Our strength of flight resolved to try.
And by our foolish pride impelled
Our way through realms of ether held.
We vowed before the saints who tread
The wilds about Kailása’s head,
That we with following wings would chase
The swift sun to his resting place.
Up on our soaring pinions through
The fields of cloudless air we flew.
Beneath us far, and far away,
Like chariot wheels bright cities lay,
Whence in wild snatches rose the song
Of women mid the gay-clad throng,
With sounds of sweetest music blent
And many a tinkling ornament.
Then as our rapid wings we strained
The pathway of the sun we gained.
Beneath us all the earth was seen
Clad in her garb of tender green,
And every river in her bed
Meandered like a silver thread.
We looked on Meru far below
And Vindhya and the Lord of Snow,
Like elephants that bend to cool
Their fever in a lilied pool.
But fervent heat and toil o’ercame
The vigour of each yielding frame,
Our weary hearts began to quail,
And wildered sense to reel and fail.
We knew not, fainting and distressed,
The north or south or east or west.
With a great strain mine eyes I turned
Where the fierce sun before me burned,
And seemed to my astonished eyes
The equal of the earth in size.⁷⁷⁵
At length, o’erpowered, Jaṭáyus fell
Without a word to say farewell,
And when to earth I saw him hie
I followed headlong from the sky.⁷⁷⁶
With sheltering wings I intervened
And from the sun his body screened,
But lost, for heedless folly doomed,
My pinions which the heat consumed.
In Janasthán, I hear them say,
My hapless brother fell and lay.
I, pinionless and faint and weak,
Dropped upon Vindhya’s woody peak.
Now with my swift wings burnt away,
Reft of my brother and my sway,
From this tall mountain’s summit I
Will cast me headlong down and die.”

Griffith’s notes (2)

Of course not equal to the whole earth, says the Commentator, but equal to Janasthán.
This appears to be the Indian form of the stories of Phaethon and Dædalus and Icarus.