Ramayana, Book VI, Canto 15: Indrajít’s Speechयुद्धकाण्डम्

Ralph T. H. Griffith’s English verse (1870–74), beside the Sanskrit of sarga 6.15.

15Sanskrit sarga 6.15 · Sanskrit source · English source

Sanskrit

बृहस्पतेस्तुल्यमतेर्वचस्त-
न्निशम्य यत्नेन विभीषणस्य।
ततो महात्मा वचनं बभाषे
तत्रेन्द्रजिन्नैर्ऋतयूथमुख्यः॥ १॥
किं नाम ते तात कनिष्ठ वाक्य-
मनर्थकं वै बहुभीतवच्च।
अस्मिन् कुले योऽपि भवेन्न जातः
सोऽपीदृशं नैव वदेन्न कुर्यात्॥ २॥
सत्त्वेन वीर्येण पराक्रमेण
धैर्येण शौर्येण च तेजसा च।
एकः कुलेऽस्मिन् पुरुषो विमुक्तो
विभीषणस्तात कनिष्ठ एषः॥ ३॥
किं नाम तौ मानुषराजपुत्रा-
वस्माकमेकेन हि राक्षसेन।
सुप्राकृतेनापि निहन्तुमेतौ
शक्यौ कुतो भीषयसे स्म भीरो॥ ४॥
त्रिलोकनाथो ननु देवराजः
शक्रो मया भूमितले निविष्टः।
भयार्पिताश्चापि दिशः प्रपन्नाः
सर्वे तदा देवगणाः समग्राः॥ ५॥
ऐरावतो निःस्वनमुन्नदन् स
निपातितो भूमितले मया तु।
विकृष्य दन्तौ तु मया प्रसह्य
वित्रासिता देवगणाः समग्राः॥ ६॥
सोऽहं सुराणामपि दर्पहन्ता
दैत्योत्तमानामपि शोककर्ता।
कथं नरेन्द्रात्मजयोर्न शक्तो
मनुष्ययोः प्राकृतयोः सुवीर्यः॥ ७॥
अथेन्द्रकल्पस्य दुरासदस्य
महौजसस्तद् वचनं निशम्य।
ततो महार्थं वचनं बभाषे
विभीषणः शस्त्रभृतां वरिष्ठः॥ ८॥
न तात मन्त्रे तव निश्चयोऽस्ति
बालस्त्वमद्याप्यविपक्वबुद्धिः।
तस्मात् त्वयाप्यात्मविनाशनाय
वचोऽर्थहीनं बहु विप्रलप्तम्॥ ९॥
पुत्रप्रवादेन तु रावणस्य
त्वमिन्द्रजिन्मित्रमुखोऽसि शत्रुः।
यस्येदृशं राघवतो विनाशं
निशम्य मोहादनुमन्यसे त्वम्॥ १०॥
त्वमेव वध्यश्च सुदुर्मतिश्च
स चापि वध्यो य इहानयत् त्वाम्।
बालं दृढं साहसिकं च योऽद्य
प्रावेशयन्मन्त्रकृतां समीपम्॥ ११॥
मूढोऽप्रगल्भोऽविनयोपपन्न-
स्तीक्ष्णस्वभावोऽल्पमतिर्दुरात्मा।
मूर्खस्त्वमत्यन्तसुदुर्मतिश्च
त्वमिन्द्रजिद् बालतया ब्रवीषि॥ १२॥
को ब्रह्मदण्डप्रतिमप्रकाशा-
नर्चिष्मतः कालनिकाशरूपान्।
सहेत बाणान् यमदण्डकल्पान्
समक्षमुक्तान् युधि राघवेण॥ १३॥
धनानि रत्नानि सुभूषणानि
वासांसि दिव्यानि मणींश्च चित्रान्।
सीतां च रामाय निवेद्य देवीं
वसेम राजन्निह वीतशोकाः॥ १४॥

English Griffith

He ceased: and Indrajít the pride
Of Rákshas warriors thus replied:

“Is this a speech our king should hear,
This counsel of ignoble fear?
A scion of our glorious race
Should ne’er conceive a thought so base,
But one mid all our kin we find,
Vibhishaṇ, whose degenerate mind
No spark of gallant pride retains,
Whose coward soul his lineage stains.
Against one giant what can two
Unhappy sons of Raghu do?
Away with idle fears, away!
Matched with our meanest, what are they?
Beneath my conquering prowess fell
The Lord of earth and heaven and hell.⁹²⁴
Through every startled region dread
Of my resistless fury spread;
And Gods in each remotest sphere
Confessed the universal fear.
Rending the air with roar and groan,
Airávat⁹²⁵ to the earth was thrown.
From his huge head the tusks I drew,
And smote the Gods with fear anew.
Shall I who tame celestials’ pride,
By whom the fiends are terrified,
Now prove a weakling little worth,
And fail to slay those sons of earth?”

He ceased: Vibhishaṇ trained and tried
In war and counsel thus replied

“Thy speech is marked with scorn of truth,
With rashness and the pride of youth.
Yea, to thy ruin like a child
Thou pratest, and thy words are wild.
Most dear, O Indrajít, to thee
Should Rávaṇ’s weal and safety be,
For thou art called his son, but thou
Art proved his direst foeman now,
When warned by me thou hast not tried
To turn the coming woe aside.
Both thee and him ’twere meet to slay,
Who brought thee to this hall to-day,
And dared so rash a youth admit
To council where the wisest sit.
Presumptuous, wild, devoid of sense,
Filled full of pride and insolence,
Thy reckless tongue thou wilt not rule
That speaks the counsel of a fool.
Who in the fight may brook or shun
The arrows shot by Raghu’s son
With flame and fiery vengeance sped,
Dire as his staff who rules the dead?
O Rávaṇ, let thy people live,
And to the son of Raghu give
Fair robes and gems and precious ore,
And Sítá to his arms restore.”

Griffith’s notes (2)

Trilokanátha_, Lord of the Three Worlds, is a title of Indra.
The celestial elephant that carries Indra.