महावीरचरितम् (महाकवि भवभूति - वीररस-प्रधान रामकथा नाटक सम्पूर्ण ७ अङ्क सटीक)

57] Act III, The Shadow — Translation [—iii. 46⁶
From here the enemy [Rāvaṇa], lifting up Sītā all blazing [with
ire], the enemy—even like a [black] rain-cloud gleaming (antaḥ)
with the tremulous flashes of lightning—rose up into the sky. 44
Sītā, in alarm—Noble my Lord! Our father [Jaṭāyu] is being killed—
And he is carrying me too away! Save me!
Rāma, swiftly rising—You wretch, you robber of father [Jaṭāyu's] life
Where will you escape?
Vāsantī—Why, King! You [are] the fire that has consumed the race of
Demons: can there still exist any object for your [avenging] wrath?
Sītā—Forsooth! I came near losing [all] my wits!
Rāma—Much to the purpose indeed are these my [useless] rantings now!
Remedies being available, through the exploits of heroes it [that
earlier separation] became [for them] a source of constant and
engrossing occupation, and for the world a theme for its wondering
admiration: such was my [earlier] separation from my fair-eyed
[Sītā]; and it did indeed come to an end with the slaying of my
enemy [Rāvaṇa]: but how am I to endure, all in silence, this
[my present separation,] which has no remedies and knows no
end? 45
Sītā—Knows no end?—then alas for me!
Rāma—Woe and alas!
Where even my friendship with the mighty King of the Monkeys
[Sugrīva] avails not—where [equally] unavailing is the valour
of the Monkeys themselves as well as the talents of even a
Jāmbavant¹—where even the son of the Wind [Māruti] is denied
access, and where even Nala,² the son of the Architect of the
universe, is unable to construct a path—where even the arrows
of the son of Sumitrā [Lakshmaṇa] cannot penetrate: in what
region then [so inaccessible] art thou, my dearest? 46
Sītā—So [a time has come when] I must prize more highly my earlier
separation!
Rāma—Dear Vāsantī, nothing but grief can the sight of Rāma now bring
to his friends. How long then must I keep you weeping? Permit me to
go, therefore.
Sītā, leaning upon Tamasā in agony and dejection—Honoured Tamasā!
[Look!] My noble Lord is going away!
Tamasā—Compose thyself, child, compose thyself. Let us then, likewise,
¹ Did signal service to Rāma first during the ² Constructed the bridge between India and
expedition in search of Sītā, and later in Laṅkā (Ceylon).
the war at Laṅkā.
8 [H.O.S. 21]

iii. 46⁶—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [58
repair to the exalted Bhāgīrathī and [there] perform the auspicious birth-
day (varsha-vardhana) rites of the long-lived ones, [our] Kuśa and Lava.
Sītā—Pray, honoured [Tamasā], permit me, just for a moment [longer], to
see him [a sight of whom must be] so rare [hereafter].
Rāma—Furthermore, there is, to participate in the sacred rites of the
horse-sacrifice,—
Sītā, with trepidation—Who, my noble Lord?
Rāma—A golden image of Sītā :—
Sītā, with a sigh [of relief]—Now art thou indeed he—my noble Lord!
Ha! Now has my noble Lord plucked out [from my heart] that [rankling]
dart of abandonment and disgrace!
Rāma—And with the sight of it [the image] I shall now for my tear-
dimmed eyes seek solace.
Sītā—Blessed is that [image] which is so highly esteemed by my noble
Lord and which, affording solace to my noble Lord, has become the stay
for [all] the hopes of this living world!
Tamasā, embracing [Sītā] with a sad and affectionate smile—Don’t you
see, my child, that this amounts to praising thy own self?
Sītā, looking down abashed, to herself—I have brought honoured Tamasā’s
smile upon me!
Vāsantī—This your visit has indeed been a great favour for us. As for
your going, be it so that no neglect of duty may ensue.
Sītā—This time [for once] Vāsantī is acting against my interests.
Tamasā—Come, child, let us go:
Sītā, reluctantly—We might—might do so.
Tamasā—Or rather, how canst thou move from hence, as long as, of thy
eyes—
As if riveted upon thy dear Lord and wide open in eagerness—
[of thy eyes] the withdrawal [from their object] has not yet
been completed—[a withdrawal] that is sure to (para) tear thy
vitals? 47
Sītā—Homage unto my noble Lord’s lotus-feet, this sight of which some
exceptional merit [of mine] has vouchsafed me. Goes off in a swoon.
Tamasā—Take comfort, my child! Be of good cheer.
Sītā, recovering—Yes: for, how long¹ may it be that amidst enveloping
clouds one can win a glimpse of the full moon?
Tamasā—How marvellous has been the course of events!²
¹ Not very long: so I must be content with
this short visit.
² Or, the arrangement of incidents. The author is here doing the very thing for
which, a while ago, he blamed Sītā: in-
directly praising himself!

59] Act III, The Shadow — Translation [—iii. 49¹
[All through] it is the one sole sentiment of Pathos that, by
a diversity of causes [and attending circumstances], has become
diverse and assumed distinct manifestations; just as water assumes
eddies and bubbles and billows and other manifestations, whereas
it is all [in reality] nothing but mere water. 48
Rāma—This way, my best of aerial cars!
All rise.
Tamasā and Vāsantī, to Sītā and Rāma [respectively]—
May the Earth and the River of the Immortals [Ganges], together
with those like us¹—may the revered Preceptor [Vālmīki] who
is the Father of metrical compositions—may also sage Vasishṭha
along with Arundhatī: may [all] these bestow blessings upon you,
conducive to your eternal welfare! 49
Exeunt all.
END OF ACT III
CALLED
THE SHADOW.
¹ I. e. Rivers and sylvan deities respectively. Regarding this joint speech, see Notes.

ACT IV
Then enter two ascetic [boys].
First [boy]—Saudhātaki, just look at the beauty of this hermitage of the
exalted Vālmīki, wherein to-day, by reason of the arrival of a great crowd
of guests, some elaborate preparations are on foot. For—
The scum of boiled rice (nīvāra) that was left over after his mate,
[the doe]—that has just brought forth young—had partaken of it,
[that scum,] warm and savoury, this deer from [our] penance-
grove is [now] sipping to his heart’s content. Slightly blended
with the diffusing odour of boiled rice mixed with ghee, the
fragrance of vegetables cooking, as well as of karkandhū fruit, is
spreading everywhere. 1
Saudhātaki—Welcome, special welcome unto these harbingers of holiday—
unto these [reverend] grey-beards!
First [boy], with a laugh—Extraordinary indeed, O Saudhātaki, is the
motive that inspires this your reverence for the gurus!
Saudhātaki—I say, Bhāṇḍāyana, what now is the name of the chief leader
of this huge train of females—of this guest that has come?
Bhāṇḍāyana—Fie! No joking here! For, don’t you see it is the exalted
Vasishṭha come from Ṛishyaśṛiṅga’s hermitage, escorting the [late] King
Daśaratha’s wives who have come hither following the lead of Arundhatī?
Why do you then talk this foolish way?
Saudhātaki—Indeed! Vasishṭha?
Bhāṇḍāyana—Why, yes.
Saudhātaki—I for my part thought that he was a tiger, maybe a wolf!
Bhāṇḍāyana—What! what is it that you say?
Saudhātaki—Why, hardly had he come when that poor dear heifer of ours
he gobbled up with a swoop!
Bhāṇḍāyana—Out of deference to the Scriptures that prescribe meat as
a part of the welcome-offering (madhuparka), upon the arrival of a learned
Brahman [pious] householders offer him either a heifer or a bull or a goat.
And this same practice the authors of the Dharma-sūtras also enjoin.
Saudhātaki—There now, I have caught you!
Bhāṇḍāyana—How, pray?

61] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 3¹
Saudhātaki—For, when the holy Vasishṭha comes the heifer is slain;
whereas on the arrival, later this very day, of the royal sage Janaka, even
the exalted Vālmīki makes his welcome-offering merely with curds and
honey: the heifer is let off.
Bhāṇḍāyana—The former (evam) ritual is laid down by the sages for those
who have not abjured meat; whereas venerable Janaka has abjured meat.
Saudhātaki—And why?
Bhāṇḍāyana—Because as soon as he heard of that adverse turn which
Queen Sītā's fate had taken, he took up the life of an anchorite. And so it
is now some years since he has been practising penance in the penance-
grove [called] Chandra-dvīpa.¹
Saudhātaki—If so, why has he come here?
Bhāṇḍāyana—Merely to see the [exalted] son of Varuṇa, [Vālmīki,] his old
and intimate friend.
Saudhātaki—Has he then to-day met his relatives, or has he not?
Bhāṇḍāyana—It is only just now that the exalted Vasishṭha sent the
exalted Arundhatī unto the Queen[-mother] Kausalyā, bidding her to go in
person and meet the King of Videha [Janaka].
Saudhātaki—As these old folks have congregated together, so likewise let
us band our comrades together and—as is meet (sambhāvemha)—play in
celebration of this [great] holiday.
They walk about.
Bhāṇḍāyana—And this here is that discourser in Brahma, that ancient
royal sage, King Janaka, who, having paid his honours to Vālmīki and
Vasishṭha, is now reposing under the shade (mūla) of this tree outside the
hermitage: he who—
With Sītā's sorrow ever preying upon his heart, is burning [within
himself]; like unto an ancient tree invaded by some inwardly-
consuming fire. 2
Both go out.
END OF INTERLUDE.
Then enters Janaka.
Janaka—Kept alive (vishakta) by that great and intense and agonizing,
by that heart-rending calamity that fell upon my child [Sītā],
this my acute and incessantly flowing grief that grides my vitals
like a saw, even with this lapse of time it ceases not, as if it were
a recent [grief]! 3
Oh, woful luck, that while age and this overwhelming sorrow, and
¹ Lit. Moon-island.

iv. 3¹—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [62
furthermore, the [severe] penances of parāka,¹ sāntapana,² and so forth—
while all these are using up its substance and humours, this accursed body
of mine, bereft of its staying [tissues], even now it refuses to fall! Those
are the so-called Sunless regions enveloped in blind darkness; [and
they,] say the sages, are assigned [after death] unto the men who slay
themselves.³ Even after the lapse of so many years, these transports of
a grief that is as poignant as though it were fresh, and that, through my
continual broodings over it, is steadily gaining in vividness—[these
transports] know no abating. Alas, alas! O thou that didst spring from
the [very] altar of the [holy] sacrifice,-my Sītā, such has come to be the
lot of thy life that, for very shame, I cannot even cry aloud at will.
Alas, alas, [my] daughter!—
I remember—when thou wast yet a child—that little lotus-like
mouth with its capricious cryings and laughings, [that mouth]
blooming with the tips of a few tender and bud-like teeth, and
stammering over thy sweet and thoughtless prattle. 4
Exalted Earth! Thou certainly art excessively hard :
Thou and Fire and the Sages—[sage] Vasishṭha’s wife [Arundhatī]
and the [holy] Ganges—when ye all and when even the great guru
of Raghu’s family, the divine Sun himself, knew her greatness ;
when, as the [sacred] Word unto Learning, thou unto her didst
thyself give birth, and who was no less divine than [Learning
herself] : Of such a daughter wherefore then didst thou, O ruthless
one, permit that outrageous death ⁴ (viśasana) ? 5
[Voice,] behind the curtain—This way, your exalted Ladyship—This way,
my great Queen !
Janaka, looking—Oh, it is Grishṭi, showing the way to the exalted
Arundhatī. Rising. But whom now does he style great Queen ?
Observing. Alas ! Is she then no other than the wedded wife of the great
King Daśaratha—Kausalyā, my dear friend ? Who indeed can believe that
she is the same ?
In Daśaratha’s house she was like the Goddess of Wealth: or
rather, why say like? She was the Goddess of Wealth herself.
But woe and alas! Now, following the decree of Fate, she has
become like some strange and unfamiliar being, all made up of
grief : Alas for the outcome! 6

¹ A twelve-days’ fast.
² A modified form of fast in which only one variety of food—milk, curds, ghee, and so forth—is eaten every day.
³ Or, in Shakespeare’s words—‘O ... that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst self-slaughter !’
⁴ Nearly every one thinks that Sītā is dead. So Janaka here, and so Rāma at iii. 34.

63] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 10ᶜ
Here is another unhappy reversal of circumstances :
That very same person [Kausalyā] that, formerly, was unto me
like an embodiment of festal joy, the sight of her has now become
unendurable, like brine upon an [open] wound! 7
Then enter Arundhatī and Kausalyā and a chamberlain [Gṛishṭi].
Arundhatī—Why, I say, aren’t you directed by your family preceptor
[Vasishṭha] to go in person and see the King of Videha? It was for this
too that I am sent. What means then, at each step, this your extreme lack
of determination?
\ Chamberlain—Queen, compose yourself, I beg you, and follow the direction
of the exalted Vasishṭha.
Kausalyā—That in times like these I should have to see the Lord of
Mithilā [Janaka]—this makes my griefs well up all at once within me:
I am powerless to hold together my heart the roots of which are as if
loosening from their bonds.
Arundhatī—This, no doubt, is quite natural :
Although never [quite] ceasing to flow entirely, the sorrows of
men, caused by separations from dearest relatives, become, at the
sight of some very dear friend, altogether unendurable and as
if in thousands of floods they seem to gush forth. 8
Kausalyā—And how may we—when my dear daughter-in-law [Sītā] has
fared thus—[how may we] look upon the face of her father, the royal
sage?
Arundhatī—And here he is, your noble connexion and the sustainer
of the family of the Janakas—he whom sage Yājñavalkya has
initiated into¹ the knowledge of Brahma. 9
Kausalyā—And this is he who was a delight to the heart of my great King
[Daśaratha]—the father of my dear daughter-in-law [Sītā]—the royal sage.
Ha! I am put in mind of those times when every day brought forth many
an unbidden festivity. Alas, O Fate, that it should be no more!
Janaka, approaching—Exalted Arundhatī! This is Vaideha, the Sīra-
dhvaja,² making homage unto you.
In your company [your husband] regards himself as [more] holy,
although he is himself the store of holy light—your husband who,
of all the gurus of yore, is indeed the supreme guru; with my head
bowing low down to the earth I salute you, the exalted one, who
for the universe (trilokī) are the [very] fountain of its bliss
¹ Literally, to whom he has taught or solemnly ² Literally, one whose banner has the plough
set forth (jagau) the knowledge, as in the as an emblem.
Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad.

iv. 10ᵈ—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [64
(māṅgalyā), and who are, like the divine Dawn, adorable to the
world. 10
Arundhatī—May, the Light Supreme shine within thee! And may He also
spread His holiness over thee (punātu), the Orb divine (deva) that blazes
from beyond darkness [and dispels it]!
Janaka—Worthy Gṛiṣhṭi, is it all well with this mother of that—that
Shepherd of the people?¹
Chamberlain, aside—Surely, he has reproved us quite bitterly. Aloud.
Royal sage! When, taking offence at this very thing, the Queen [Kausalyā]
has for so long a time declined the very sight of the moon-like face of her
dear [son] Rāma, it is unkind of you to add to the grief of her who is
already so much grieved. And as to our dear Rāma, it was a peculiar
stroke of his misfortune that his subjects should, as is well known (kila),
set agoing all around that foul calumny. And it was because those little
minds disbelieved the Fire-ordeal that he did that cruel deed.
Janaka—What! And who is this Fire that he should essay to purify our
daughter? Alas! Insulted as we already are by Rāmabhadra, here is
a fresh insult, when people begin to talk like that!
Arundhatī, heaving a sigh—Exactly so. To talk of fire—fire! in connexion
with Sītā is highly derogatory. Say merely ‘Sītā’ and all is said. Alas,
my dear girl,—
Thou art unto me a child, a pupil: be that as it may, the eminence
of thy virtue compels my devotion for thee. Let alone the fact
that thou art a child or a woman, thou art nevertheless adorable
to the worlds: for, it is virtue—amongst those that are virtuous—
that has a claim for respect, and not mere sex or age. 11
Kausalyā—Oh, I am bursting with my agonies! Faints.
Janaka—Alas! What is this?
Arundhatī—What else can it be, my Royal sage?
That King [Daśaratha]—that bliss—those dear children—those
[old] days—all this has flashed upon her memory at the sight of
thee, her friend. And so, in her present dreadful plight, don't
you see that this thy dear friend has really fainted? For, the
hearts of matrons are tender like a flower. 12
Janaka—Alas, alas! I have proved altogether too cruel here, in that I see
with rather unkindly eyes her whom I have met after such a long time,
this dear wife of my dear friend [Daśaratha].
A worthy connexion was he, a friend after my heart, my very
heart in fact; he was an embodiment of joy to me, he was the
¹ Said in bitter irony.

65] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 17ᶜ
whole purpose of my existence: my body, my soul, my whatever-
else-dearer-than-these-there-may-be—was there anything that
that great and illustrious King Daśaratha was not to me? 13
And is this, alas, that same Kausalyā?—
Between her and her Lord, in [the confidence of] privacy,
whatever occasion of displeasure there arose, it was to me that
the husband and the wife severally communicated their complaints;
and then, whether it was a case for forbearance or for anger, the
issue rested entirely with me. Away rather with these memories
that assail and consume my heart! 14
Arundhatī—Alas, alas! With this long suspension of breath her heart has
[almost] ceased to beat!
Janaka—Alas, my dear friend! Sprinkles [her] with water from his
_kamaṇḍalu._¹
Chamberlain—Having at first, like a delightful bosom-friend, mani-
fested unalloyed favours, Fate, terrible in the suddenness of its
reverses, is next intensifying [by contrast] the anguish of the
heart. 15
Kausalyā, regaining consciousness—Alas my child, Jānakī, where art thou?
I [still] remember thy face all suffused with the glory imparted to it by
thy [recent] marriage sacraments, [thy face] with that pure smile playing
upon it, and charming like a [full-blown] lotus. With limbs fair as the
light of the shining moon, once more, my darling, do thou grace my lap.
The great King [Daśaratha] would always say: "Of the mightier ancestors
of the race of Raghu she may be a daughter-in-law; to us, however—
such is our friendship for Janaka—she is just 'little daughter' [no more,
but no less]."
Chamberlain—It was, just as the Queen has said:
Although the King [Daśaratha] had five children, it was [Rāma]
the enemy of Subāhu² that was specially dear to him. So
likewise, among his four daughters-in-law, Sītā was as much
adored by him as was his own daughter, Śāntā. 16
Janaka—Oh, my dear friend, thou great King, Daśaratha! So indeed thou
art, in every way a delight to the heart: How canst thou be forgotten?
It is customary (kila) for the parents of the bride to pay court to
the kinsfolk of the son-in-law; but with our connexion [through
the marriage of Rāma and Sītā] all was reversed: it was me that
thou wast assiduous to please! Such as thou hast been, Time
¹ An ascetic's gourd. ² A demon who molested Viśvāmitra's sacri-
fice, and who was killed by Rāma.
9 [H.O.S. 21]

iv. 17ᶜ—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [66
has snatched thee away, as also that cause of our connexion [Sītā].
Now in this world of life, in this dreary hell, accursed be the
continuance of me, the sinful! 17
Kausalyā—Dear Jānakī, what can I do? Fastened firm [to my body]
with a hard and adamantine cement, this wretched life will not leave me,
ill-fated that I am!
Arundhatī—Take heart, thou who art sprung from kings! It is at least
necessary to allow your tears rest from time to time. And don't you
further recall what, in Ṛiṣhyaśṛiṅga’s hermitage, your family-preceptor ¹
[Vasiṣhṭha] said?—‘That it was to be so, we had already divined; but it
will all have a prosperous issue.’
Kausalyā—How [can that be] when I have already outlived my wishes?
Arundhatī—Do you then, O daughter of kings, regard that as an untruthful
utterance? You must not, O noble Princess, think it false: it must come
about.
The utterances of those Brahmans to whom has been revealed the
Light [celestial]—let there be no doubt about them. For, upon
their speech awaits the beneficent Lakshmī; ² they never utter
words that do not come true. 18
A [confused] noise ³ behind the curtain: all listen.
Janaka—To-day being a holiday [in honour] of [distinguished] guests, it is
the boys at sport that are raising this noise.
Kausalyā—It is very easy indeed, in childhood, to find joys! Observing.
Aha! Who now is this [boy] in the midst of these [others]—he with his
form (aṅga) supple and handsome and well-proportioned, and endowed with
the grace of [our] dear Rāma: who is he that so delights even our sight?
Arundhatī, Aside, with joyful tears—This then must be the thing that
Bhāgīrathī related to me: the secret that was as a nectar to my ears. We
do not yet know, though, which of the two long-lived ones—Kuśa and
Lava—he may be.
Janaka—Like a blue lotus-leaf dark and mellow [in complexion],
marked with the round tufted locks [of a Kshatriya], and by his
guileless charms adorning, as with an innate-grace, the circle of
his school-mates—the sight of him all of a sudden gives an
ambrosial collyrium to my eyes, as if [he were] that Joy of the
[race of the] Raghus, my darling [Rāma] himself, become once
again a child! Who may he be? 19
¹ It is not usual for a wife to call her husband ² Goddess of wealth and prosperity.
by his name. Cp. p. 63, l. 6, above. ³ As if in confirmation of iv. 18.

67] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 21⁸
Chamberlain—I think the youth must certainly be a Kshatriya student.
Janaka—Assuredly: for, he carries
Upon his back, one on each side (abhitas), a pair of quivers, the
heron-feathered [arrows] of which kiss his crest; his chest, bearing
[yet] the ample marks of the holy ashes, is clad in the hide of
a ruru-deer; a girdle of the mūrvā-grass holds together his
madder-dyed lower garment; in his hand he has a rosary of
rudrākshas and a bow, as well as another staff made of
pippala. 20
Exalted Arundhatī, what do you surmise? Whence is he?
Arundhatī—It is only to-day that we have come.
Janaka—Worthy Gṛishṭi, I have an intense curiosity; do you therefore go
right to the exalted Vālmīki and inquire. Unto this child, likewise, say,
‘Here are some old people desirous of seeing thee.’
Chamberlain—As you command. Exit.
Kausalyā—What do you think? Thus addressed, will he come?
Arundhatī—Can proper conduct be lacking in one whose form is so
graceful?
Kausalyā—Lo! Having respectfully listened to Gṛishṭi’s speech hasn’t he
dismissed the ascetic youths and isn’t the dear lad in fact approaching
hither?
Janaka, observing him long and attentively—Ah, how extraordinary
all this!
This his perfect nobleness [of mien], charming in its modest and
youthful simplicity—[this perfection] which only the connoisseurs
can comprehend but which passes the wits of the vulgar—it forcibly
carries away my mind although [naturally] proof against such
transports (sammoha), as would a tiny piece of magnet a mass
of iron. 21
Lava, entering—Ignorant as I am of their names and order of precedence
and lineage, and so not knowing what propriety demands, how am I going
to salute these people, worthy of a salutation though they undoubtedly
are? Reflecting. This, however, the ancients have declared to be an
unobjectionable mode [of address]. Approaching them with modesty.
This is Lava, bowing his head unto you all in due succession.
Arundhatī and Janaka—Mayest thou live long, O blessed one!
Kausalyā—Long life, my darling!
Arundhatī—Come, dear! Taking Lava in her lap, aside. O bliss! Not
only my lap but my life’s desire also has been filled!
Kausalyā—Come to me also, a while, my darling! Taking him in her lap.

iv. 21⁸—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [68
How strange! Not only in the build of his body, which is dark and
resplendent like a half-opened blue lotus—nor again only in his voice, that
has the prolonged resonance of the sonorous notes of a swan whose throat
is mellowed (kasāa) by feeding on lotus filaments—does he take after our
dear Rāma; even the very touch of his body, smooth like the interior of
a full-grown lotus, has the same quality. Let me look at thy face a while,
my darling! Raises his chin and observes him closely; then with tears
and as-if-trying-to-divine-some-hidden-secret (sākūtam). And don't you
also mark it, Royal sage? Narrowly observed, does he not [also] show
resemblance to the moon-like face of [Sītā] my dear daughter-in-law?
Janaka—I mark it, friend, I mark it.
Kausalyā—Forsooth! My heart, as if in madness, dreams of things
impossible, and wanders far, far astray!
Janaka—In this boy here is plainly visible [the contour] of my daughter
as well as of [Rāma,] that eminent scion of Raghu: it is as if all
perfectly mirrored in him—that very same form, that grandeur,
that voice, that inborn modesty, and even that selfsame divine
lustre. Alas, alas, Fate! Wherefore is it that my mind should
now run waywardly into devious paths? 22
Kausalyā—Darling, Hast thou a mother? Dost thou remember thy
father?
Lava—No.
Kausalyā—Whose [son] art thou then?
Lava—The exalted Vālmīki's.
Kausalyā—Why, my darling! Say that [at least] which may be said.¹
Lava—This is all I know.
[Voice,] behind the curtain—Hey ho, soldiers! This is what Prince
Chandraketu commands: 'Let no one trespass on the ground sacred to
(abhyarṇa) the hermitage!'
Arundhatī and Janaka—Ah! Following—as its guard—the track of the
sacrificial horse, it is dear Chandraketu that we shall see to-day—What
a happy day this!
Kausalyā—'The son of our dear Lakshmaṇa commands'—these words that
I hear are [indeed] sweet like drops of nectar!
Lava—Noble Sir, who is he—this Chandraketu?
Janaka—Knowest thou Rāma and Lakshmaṇa, the sons of Daśaratha?
Lava—The same that are the heroes of the Rāmāyaṇa?
Janaka—The same.
Lava—Why, then of course I know them.
¹ Vālmīki, of course, never married.

69] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 22⁴³
Janaka—Of that Lakshmaṇa this Chandraketu is the son.
Lava—He is then the son of Ūrmilā, and a daughter’s-son of the royal
sage Janaka ?
Arundhatī, smiling—Thou hast indeed evidenced thy thorough acquaintance
with the story !
Janaka—If then thou dost claim to be so conversant with the story, let us
put thee some questions : Tell us, first, how many children do the sons of
Daśaratha have, how are they named, and of what [mothers] are they
born ?
Lava—This portion of the story, to this day, has never been heard either
by us or by any one else.
Janaka—Is it that it has not been composed by the poet ?
Lava—Has been composed, but not published. And a certain section from
the same has been turned into a distinct type of work, full of sentiment, and
adapted to dramatic representation. And that, written in his own hand,
the exalted sage [Vālmīki] has sent over to sage Bharata, the author of the
Aphorisms of Dramaturgy.¹
Janaka—To what end ?
Lava—That holy sage [Bharata], they say, is going to have it enacted by
the heavenly nymphs.
Janaka—All this is, to us, extremely tantalizing !
Lava—Great, however, has been the care that the exalted Vālmīki bestowed
upon it. For, to prevent [possible] mishap, he has sent our brother, bow in
hand, as an escort of those of his pupils by whose hands he sent [the work]
to the hermitage of Bharata.
Kausalyā—So, thou hast also a brother ?
Lava—Yes : the noble Kuśa.
Kausalyā—Implying [by thy manner of mention] an elder brother ?
Lava—Even so : the order of birth has—as is right (kila)—given him the
seniority.
Janaka—You—my long-lived ones—are you then twins ?
Lava—Exactly.
Janaka—Tell me, how does the [published] part of the story end ?
Lava—Harassed by false rumours current among his subjects, the King
[Rāma] banished Queen Sītā, born [though she was] from the [very]
¹ Literally, Author of the science of dancing
and vocal and instrumental music—all
the three being the elements of a drama.
The original Aphorisms have not sur-
vived. The extant ‘Nāṭya-śāstra’ is
probably a later digest, bearing to the
original Aphorisms the same relation
that the ‘Kāmandakīya Nīti-śāstra’ has
to the newly discovered ‘Kauṭilīya
Artha-śāstra’.

iv. 22⁴³—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [70
sacrificial ground of the Gods. Her, nearing her travail, Lakshmaṇa
abandoned all alone in the forest and returned [to Ayodhyā].
Kausalyā—Alas, my child! Thou whose face was lovable like the moon!
In that forlorn plight, of what sudden and malignant sports of Fate has
the flower of thy body been the victim?
Janaka—Alas, my daughter!
Assuredly, when that indignity fell upon thee, and the terrors of
the wilderness, and the pains at the hour of childbirth; when on
all sides troops of flesh-eating [Monsters] thronged about thee;
then, stricken with terror, more than once must thy mind have
turned to me as thy [natural] protector! 23
Lava, to Arundhatī—Pray, Madam, who are these?
Arundhatī—This is Kausalyā, and this is Janaka.
Lava looks at them with sorrow, respect, and curiosity.
Janaka—Oh, the impudence of these citizens! Oh, the precipitancy of
King Rāma's actions!
When over this dreaded fall of a thunderbolt in the form of this
dire calamity I sit for ever brooding, is it not time [yet, I ask,]
for my wrath to kindle-and-blaze forth with arrow or with
curse? 24 a, b
Kausalyā, in fear—Help, exalted [Arundhatī], help: Appease this angry
royal sage.
Arundhatī—When high-souled persons are treated with indignity, this
[viz. being victims to their wrath] is the natural expiation [of
that offence]. [Janaka,] my King, Rāma is as a son to thee; and the
subjects, contemptible though they be, have to be protected. 25
Janaka—Peace then! Let neither [arrow nor curse] be used upon
[Rāma] that scion of Raghu; for he is the treasure of a son unto
me: And as to the subjects, they are for the most part a mere
assemblage of Brahmans, of infants and of dotards, of decrepits
and of females! 24 c, d
Enter some excited boys.
Boys—Prince, O Prince! A strange species of animal—a horse, a horse—
as the country-folks call it—why, we have just now seen one with our
own eyes!
Lava—[A horse?] A horse is mentioned in that catalogue of beasts and in
the treatises on warfare. Say, what is he like?
Boys—Listen:
Behind he carries a flowing tail, and this he's waving all the time.
He has a long neck, and hoofs he has—just four. Grass he eats,

71] Act IV, Kausalyā and Janaka — Translation [—iv. 27²
and he drops lumps of dung, big as a mango. But why so much
talk? He's on the move and will soon be far. Come, come, let us
follow. 26
They approach him and pull him by his hands and his garment.
Lava, with mingled feelings of curiosity, constraint, and respect—Behold,
noble ones! Here am I being dragged [off from your presence] by these
boys! Moves about hastily.
Arundhatī and Janaka—Thou mayest satisfy thy curiosity, child!
Kausalyā—Exalted [Arundhatī], I seem as if robbed [of something], now
that he is out of sight. Let us then move from here and see the long-lived
one, where he is going.
Arundhatī—That nimble child, with his very swift pace, has already shot
far ahead: how is it possible to see him now?
Chamberlain, entering—The exalted Vālmīki replies, ‘This matter, in good
time, you will come to know.’
Janaka—It must then be something very mysterious! Exalted Arundhatī,
friend Kausalyā, worthy Gṛishṭi, come, let us go in person and see the
exalted son of Varuṇa [Vālmīki].
Exeunt older people.
Boys—Let the Prince now look upon this wonder.
Lava—Yes, I see it—understand it too. He is evidently a sacrificial
horse.
Boys—How dost thou know?
Lava—Why, fools! Have you not also studied that section? Don't you
know, ‘There are cuirassiers, mace-bearers, and bow-men, numbering a
hundred of each sort, to form the escort’? And this force here appears to
answer the description. If you don't believe me—just ask.
Boys—Ho, Sirs! Tell us: Why [in the world] is this horse turned loose
and [yet] guarded?
Lava, enviously, to himself—A horse-sacrifice is, for the world-conquering
Kshatriyas, the great and glorious touchstone of their pre-eminence, cal-
culated to abash all [opposing] warriors.
[Voice,] behind the curtain—
This horse here—he is as the banner or as the proclamation of the
valour [of Rāma,] of that one supreme hero of the seven worlds,
the foe unto the race of that ten-necked [Rāvaṇa]. 27
Lava, as if in wounded [pride]—Oh, how they inflame my wrath—these
words!
Boys—There is no use talking—the Prince does know.

iv. 27³—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [72
Lava—Sirs! Is it because [you think] there is no Kshatriya in this world
that you are proclaiming in this fashion?
[Voice,] behind the curtain—Fellow! To compare with our great King
[Rāma] there are not any Kshatriyas.
Lava—Fie upon you, villains!
If they [your masters] are [great, as you say,] let them be. What
need, however, of this your scarecrow [of a proclamation]? But,
why waste words thus? Here am I now, seizing by force your
‘banner’ as you call it. 28
Here, Boys! Hem [this horse] in, throw clods at him and compel him
to turn back: Let the poor creature, for once, graze amongst the roebucks!
A Soldier, entering, angry and overbearing—Tush, rash boy! what didst
thou say? Don’t forget (hi) that these files of doughty and ruthless warriors
brook not even a mere child’s insolent words. And the Royal Prince
Chandraketu, who knows how to chastise an enemy, is [away now], being
attracted by a desire to see these mild and unfamiliar forests; but before
he returns, do ye, and quickly, slip away through this shady thicket.
Boys—Have done with this horse, Prince! For, these columns of warriors
with their flashing weapons seem to threaten thee! And our hermitage is
far from here. Come then: let us flee with the bounding speed of deer.
Lava, with a laugh—So the weapons, you say, are really flashing, are they?
Stringing his bow:
Then, [let this my bow] with its string lapping—like a tongue—
the tapering, tooth-like bow-tips—[this bow] the sound of the
twang of which is, like a belching, terrific and grim: [my bow,]
imitating the yawns of the jaws in the cavernous mouth of Death
as when He grins ready to swallow [the world]—let my bow
now open its gaping maw! 29
All walk about, as suits the occasion,¹ and go out.
¹ This would mean that Lava fights the soldier and drives him off the stage, himself in
pursuit.
END OF ACT IV
CALLED
KAUSALYĀ AND JANAKA.

ACT V
[Voice,] behind the curtain—Ho, ho! Soldiers! 'Tis come, 'tis come—
our succour!
For here he is in his chariot, Sumantra in haste urging forward
its fleet and galloping steeds—its flagstaff of kovidāra violently
shaken at each jolting—here is our Chandraketu coming hither
upon the news of our fighting. 1
Then enters in a chariot, with the charioteer Sumantra, Chandraketu,
bow in hand and full of wild joy and excitement.
Chandraketu—Look, worthy Sumantra, look!
His handsome face flushed with just a tinge of glowing anger—
the bow incessantly twanging at the tips—the five locks [on his
head] all floating [to the winds], there, as he takes his stand
in the van of the battle and rains a shower of arrows upon the
battalions,—he is indeed a marvel (kopi), this son of a hero! 2
How strange!
This lad from the hermitage, all alone, and scattering everywhere
upon [my] army thousands of blazing shafts, impelled with a
terrific twang and piercing the joints of the elephants' temples:
He engages my interest as though he were some new, unknown
scion of the race of Raghu. 3
Sumantra—Long-lived one,—
As I look upon this boy who in his prowess excels Gods and
Demons and who is so like [unto Rāma] in form, I am reminded
of that Joy of the Raghus [our Rāma], when, bow in hand, he
subdued the foes that disturbed the holy sacrifice of Kuśika's
son [Viśvāmitra]. 4
Chandraketu—That so many should exert themselves against him singly—
for this I feel ashamed in my heart:
On one side is this solitary stripling; and here are [on the other]
our forces clutching with their martial fingers these dense files
of weapons and brandishing them wildly in the brunt of the
battle—[some seated] in chariots ringing with the jingle of the
tinkling golden bells, and [others mounted] upon rutting tuskers,
10 [H.O.S. 21]

v. 5ᵈ—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [74
pouring down, like clouds, actual torrents of ichor—all [arrayed
on the other side and trying to] overwhelm him! 5
Sumantra—Prince, all of these, united, cannot possibly hold against him:
much less, disunited!
Chandraketu—Make haste, worthy [Sumantra], make haste! For, this
fellow here has commenced a great havoc amongst those whom I must
shield—[our soldiery]. For,
As he sets his bow resounding, its twang, amplified by the
stunning din of the war-drums, causes a furious aching in the
ears of herds of elephants roaring even in the [distant] mountain
recesses; and as he sends down rolling [or] hacks to pieces these
countless heads, hideous to behold, the hero makes these grounds
seem as if strewn over with morsels [of food] ejected by the
terrific mouth of satiated Death! 6
Sumantra, to himself—How can I permit dear Chandraketu to engage in
single combat with such [a fighter as this boy]? Reflecting. Or rather
we have grown old in [the service of] Ikshvāku's family: What alternative
is there when [a fair fight] has presented itself?
Chandraketu, with feelings of amazement, shame, and confusion—Oh, fie!
My forces are being scattered on all sides!
Sumantra, speeding the chariot—Long-lived one, here now is this hero,
come within range of thy call.
Chandraketu, as if in forgetfulness—Worthy [Sumantra], what name was
given him by those who came to call [us]?
Sumantra—‘Lava’ they said.
Chandraketu—Ho, Lava of mighty arms! Why busiest thou thyself
with these [mere] soldiers? Here am I: Come hither unto me:
Let light be quenched in light. 7
Sumantra—Lo! Behold, Prince!
He has turned—this heroic youth—summoned by thee from his
[work of] carnage amongst the army; as, at the roar of thunder,
the valiant whelp of a lion [turns] from his [work of] slaughter
amongst troops of elephants. 8
Then enters Lava with hurried and defiant strides.
Lava—Well done, Royal youth, well done! Thou verily art a [true] scion
of Ikshvāku. Here then I am, just come to meet thee.
A great tumult behind the curtain.
Lava, quickly turning back—What! Once routed, do the leaders of the
army return and obstruct my path, wishing again to engage me in combat?
Fie on the wretches!
Unto the mighty flames of my wrath, flaring like those issuing

75] Act V, Princes in Combat — Translation [—v. 12¹
from Vaḍavā's¹ mouth, as when some falling mountain² dashes
upon it and disturbs it—let it serve as a morsel: this stunning
confused din arising on all sides from the army and resembling
a billow of ocean when it is lashed by the winds that portend the
dissolution of the universe! 9
Moves about excitedly.
Chandraketu—Ho, my young warrior,—
This thy extraordinary valour has endeared thee to me: thou art
my friend therefore, and what is mine is even thine. Wherefore
then dost thou deal destruction unto thy own dependants [this
army]? Am not I, rather, the one on whom thou shouldst try thy
mettle (nikasha), I, Chandraketu? 10
Lava, hastily turning, with joy—Oh, how gracious and yet stern is the
language of this hero of great prowess—this Prince of the Solar race!
Let alone these [soldiers] then; I'll rather pay him my [warrior's]
compliments.
Again a tumult behind the curtain.
Lava, with wrath and disgust—Ah! I am vexed-past-endurance (kadar-
thita) by these wretches that come in the way of a meeting between
warriors! Advances towards them.
Chandraketu—Behold, worthy [Sumantra], it is a sight to see :
His attention riveted upon me in pride not unmingled with
curiosity—the full-stretched bow in his hand, and my forces
keeping close upon his rear—he is emulating the grace of some
cloud decked with Indra's rainbow, and dragged by violent winds
in two opposite directions. 11
Sumantra—The Prince at least knows how to look upon him: we, however,
are simply lost in amazement!
Chandraketu—O ye kings [and warriors],—
That you in countless numbers, with him who is here alone—you
upon horses and elephants and chariots, with him who is on
foot—you sheathed in armour, with him whose upper garment
is just the holy deer-skin—you mature in age, with him tender
in years and a lovable person—that you should thus gird up
your loins to battle with such as he—fie, oh fie upon you, and
upon us! 12
Lava, resentfully—How? would he commiserate me? Reflecting. Well
¹ Submarine fire, which accounts for the
non-increase in the volume of the ocean,
in spite of the many rivers falling into it.
² When Indra began to clip with his thunder-
bolt the wings of the mountains, some
of them threw themselves into the ocean
for shelter. The legend is given in
Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 10¹³.

v. 12¹—] Bhavabhūti — Uttara-Rāma-Charita [76
then: to prevent loss of time I will, with my jṛimbhaka missile, throw
this army meanwhile into a stupor. Remains meditating.
Sumantra—Wherefore then, of a sudden, is all the hubbub in our army
hushed?
Lava—Now we shall have a meeting all to ourselves (sapragalbham).
Sumantra, excitedly—Meseems, dear Prince, this young warrior has em-
ployed the jṛimbhaka missile.
Chandraketu—There is no doubt about it:
Like some terrific blending as of darkness and of lightning, [the
missile] renders ineffectual even a steadfast eye, now obscuring
it and now giving it a free scope. And as if drawn in a picture
is this army standing here without even winking! Verily it
is the jṛimbhaka of unfailing potency that is at work here! 13
Wonderful! wonderful!
Black like the darkness massed in some recesses in the interior
of the Nether regions—blazing in the radiance of their flames
that are yellow like some hot and glowing brass—these jṛimbhaka
missiles fill the skies, as if they were the peaks of the Vindhya
mountains tossed up by those harsh and dreaded whirlwinds that
rise at the end of the kalpa,¹ [peaks] with their caverns flaring
with lightnings issuing from some clashing clouds! 14
Sumantra—But from whom, I ask (punaḥ), has he had these jṛimbhakas?
Chandraketu—From [Vālmīki,] the exalted son of Varuṇa, we ² think.
Sumantra—No, dear Prince, it is not thus in the case of missiles, and
especially the jṛimbhakas; for,
They are the creations of [sage] Kṛiśāśva, and from Kṛiśāśva
they went to [Viśvāmitra] the son of Kuśika; then the tradition
was imparted to our dear Rāma, with whom it rests. 15
Chandraketu—But there may be even others, the ‘Seers of Mantras’ [so
called], who, through the perfection of the light of their sattva, can ‘see’
things for themselves.
Sumantra—Be on thy guard, dear Prince: thy heroic opponent has returned.
The two Princes, the one to the other—Ha! how charming is this Prince to
behold! Observing each other in cordial affection:
Is it [merely] this chance encounter or is it the excellence of his
qualities—is it some ancient and intimate friendship of an earlier
birth—or is it some kinship between us that has remained

¹ Kalpa = 4,318,272,000 human years. At the    that, confident of his own valour,
  end of a kalpa comes a dissolution of    Chandraketu was not at all dismayed
  the universe.                by Lava's prowess.
² The ‘we’ is here to be noted. It shows