The Ramayana-Book IV-Sec 1 -Canto II.: Sugríva's Alarm.

[Anne Terri]

"GOD'S LIVING BIBLE ---- THE THIRD TESTAMENT ----- RESEARCH LIBRARY" ©*

THE RÁMÁYAN OF VÁLMÍKI

Translated into English Verse
BY
RALPH T. H. GRIFFITH, M. A.,
[(Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith), b. 1826 d. 1906]
PRINCIPAL OF THE BENARES COLLEGE
London: Trübner & Co.
Benares: E. J. Lazarus and Co.
[1870-1874]

RAMAYANA-
BOOK IV

CANTO II.: SUGRÍVA'S ALARM.

Sugríva moved by wondering awe

The high-souled sons of Raghu saw,

In all their glorious arms arrayed;

And grief upon his spirit weighed.

To every quarter of the sky

He turned in fear his anxious eye,

And roving still from spot to spot

With troubled steps he rested not.

He durst not, as he viewed the pair,

Resolve to stand and meet them there:

And drooping cheer and quailing breast

The terror of the chief confessed.

While the great fear his bosom shook,

Brief counsel with his lords he took;

Each gain and danger closely scanned,

What hope in flight, what power to stand,

While doubt and fear his bosom rent,

On Raghu's sons his eyes he bent,

And with a spirit ill at ease

Addressed his lords in words like these:

'Those chiefs with wandering steps invade

The shelter of our pathless shade,

And hither come in fair disguise

Of hermit garb as Báli's spies.'

Each lord beheld with troubled heart

Those masters of the bowman's art,

And left the mountain side to seek

Sure refuge on a loftier peak.

The Vánar chief in rapid flight

Found shelter on a towering height,

And all the band with one accord

Were closely gathered round their lord.

Their course the same, with desperate leap

Each made his way from steep to steep,

And speeding on in wild career

Filled every height with sudden fear.

Each heart was struck with mortal dread,

As on their course the Vánars sped,

While trees that crowned the steep were bent

And crushed beneath them as they went.

As in their eager flight they pressed

For safety to each mountain crest,

The wild confusion struck with fear

Tiger and cat and wandering deer.

The lords who watched Sugríva's will

Were gathered on the royal hill,

And all with reverent hands upraised

Upon their king and leader gazed.

Sugríva feared some evil planned,

Some train prepared by Báli's hand.

But skilled in words that charm and teach,

Thus Hanumán 1b began his speech:

Dismiss, dismiss thine idle fear,

Nor dread the power of Báli here.

For this is Malaya's glorious hill 2b

Where Bálí's might can work no ill.

I look around but nowhere see

The hated foe who made thee flee,

Fell Báli, fierce in form and face:

Then fear not, lord of Vánar race.

Alas, in thee I clearly find

The weakness of the Vánar kind,

p. 325

That loves from thought to thought to range,

Fix no belief and welcome change.

Mark well each hint and sign and scan,

Discreet aud wise, thine every plan.

How may a king, with sense denied,

The subjects of his sceptre guide?'

Hanúmán, 1 wise in hour of need,

Urged on the chief his prudent rede.

His listening ear Sugríva bent,

And spake in words more excellent:

'Where is the dauntless heart that free

From terror's chilling touch can see

Two stranger warriors, strong as those,

Equipped with swords and shafts and bows,

With mighty arms and large full eyes,

Like glorious children of the skies

Báli my foe, I ween, has sent

These chiefs to aid his dark intent.

Hence doubt and fear disturb me still,

For thousands serve a monarch's will,

In borrowed garb they come, and those

Who walk disguised are counted foes.

With secret thoughts they watch their time,

And wound fond hearts that fear no crime

My foe in state affairs is wise,

And prudent kings have searching eyes.

By other hands they strike the foe:

By meaner tools the truth they know.

Now to those stranger warriors turn,

And, less than king, their purpose learn.

Mark well the trick and look of each;

Observe his form and note his speech.

With care their mood and temper sound,

And, if their minds be friendly found,

With courteous looks and words begin

Their confidence and love to win.

Then as my friend and envoy speak,

And question where the strangers seek.

Ask why equipped with shaft and bow

Through this wild maze of wood they go.

If does, O chief, as first appear

Pure of all guile, in heart sincere,

Detect in speech and look the sin

And treachery that lurk within.'

He spoke: the Wind-God's son obeyed.

With ready zeal he sought the shade,

And reached with hasty steps the wood

Where Ragbu's son and Lakshman stood. 2

The envoy in his faithful breast

Pondered Sugrivá's high behest.

From Rishyamúka's peak he hied

And placed him by the princes' side.

The Wind-God's son with cautious art

Had laid his Vánar form apart,

And wore, to cheat the strangers eyes,

A wandering mendicant's disguise. 1b

Before the heroes' feet he bent

And did obeisance reverent,

And spoke, the gloirious pair to praise,

His words of truth in courteous phrase,

High honour duly paid, the best

Of all the Vánar kind addressed,

With free accord and gentle grace,

Those glories of their warrior race:

'O hermits, blest in vows, who shine

Like royal saints or Gods divine,

O best of young ascetics, say

How to this spot you found your way,

Scaring the troops of wandering deer

And silvan things that harbour here

Searching amid the trees that grow

Where Pampá's gentle waters flow.

And lending from your brows a gleam

Of glory to the lovely stream.

Who are you, say, so brave and fair.

Clad in the bark which hermits wear?

I see you have the frequent sigh,

I see the deer before you fly.

While you, for strength and valour dread,

The earth, like lordly lions, tread,

Each bearing in his hand a bow,

Like Indra's own, to slay the foe,

With the grand paces of bull,

So bright and young and beautiful

The mighty arms you raise appear

Like trunks which elephants uprear,

And as you move this mountain-king 2b

Is glorious with the light you bring.

How have you reached, like Gods in face,

Best lords of earth, this lonely place,

p. 326

With tresses coiled in hermit guise, 1

And splendours of those lotus eyes?

As God's who leave their heavenly sphere,

Alike your beauteous forms appear.

Tne Lords of Day and Night 2 might thus

Stray from the skies to visit us.

Heroic youth, so broad of chest,

Fair with the beauty of the Blest,

With lion shoulders, tall and strong,

Like bulls who lead the lowing throng.

Your arms, unmatched for grace and length,

With massive clubs may vie in strength.

Why do no gauds those limbs adorn

Where priceless gems were meetly worn?

Each noble youth is fit, I deem,

To guard this earth, as lord supreme,

With all her woods and seas, to reign

From Meru's peak to Vindhya's chain.

Your smooth bows decked with dyes and gold

Are glorious in their masters' hold,

And with the arms of Indra 3 vie

Which diamond splendours beautify.

Your quivers glow with golden sheen,

Well stored with arrows fleet and keen,

Each gleaming like a flery snake

That joys the foeman's life to take.

As serpents cast their sloughs away

And all their new born sheen display,

So flash your mighty swords inlaid

With burning gold on hilt and blade.

Why are you silent, heroes? Why

My questions hear nor deign reply?

Sugríva, lord of virtuous mind.

The foremost of the Vánar kind.

An exile from his royal state,

Roams through the land disconsolate.

I Hanumán, of Vánar race,

Sent by the king have sought this place,

For he, the pious, just, and true.

In friendly league would join with you.

Know, godlike youths, that I am one

Of his chief lords, the Wind-God's son.

With course unchecked I roam will,

And now from Rishyamúka's hill.

To please his heart, his hope to speed,

I came disguised in beggar's weed.'

Thus Hanumán, well trained in lore

Of language spoke, and said no more.

The son of Raghu joyed to hear

The envoy's speech, and bright of cheer

He turned to Lakshman by his side,

And thus in words of transport cried:

'The counselor we now behold

Of King Sugríva righteous souled.

His face I long have yearned to see,

And now his envoy comes to me

With sweetest words in courteous phrase

Answer this mighty lord who slays

His foemen, by Sugríva sent.

This Vánar chief most eloquent.

For one whose words so sweetly flow

The whole Rig-veda 1b needs must know,

And in his well-trained memory store

The Yajush and the Sáman's lore.

He must have bent his faithful ear

All grammar's varied rules to hear.

For his long speech how well he spoke!

In all its length no rule he broke.

In eye, on brow, in all his face

The keenest look no guile could trace.

No change of hue, no pose of limb

Gave sign that aught was false in him.

Concise, unfaltering, sweet and clear,

Without a word to pain the ear.

From chest to throat, nor high nor low,

His accents came in measured flow.

How well he spoke with perfect art

That wondrous speech that charmed the heart,

With finest skill and order graced

In words that knew nor pause nor haste!

That speech, with consonants that spring

From the three seats of uttering, 2b

Would charm the spirit of a foe

Whose sword is raised for mortal blow.

How may a ruler's plan succeed

Who lacks such envoy good at need?

How fail, if one whose mind is stored

With gifts so rare assist his lord?

What plans can fail, with wisest speech

Of envoy's lips to further each?'

Thus Ráma spoke: and Lakshman, taught

In all the art that utters thought,

To King Súgríva's learned spy

Thus made his eloquent reply:

'Full well we know the gifts that grace

Sugríva, lord of Vánar race,

And hither turn our wandering feet

That we that high-souled king may meet

So now our pleasant task shall be

To do the words he speaks by thee.'

His prudent speech the Vánar heard,

And all his heart with joy was stirred.

And hope that league with them would bring

Redress and triumph to his king.

---

p. 327

Footnotes

324:1 Sugríva, the ex-king of the Vánars, foresters, or monkeys, an exile from his home, wandering about the mountain Rishyamúka with his four faithful ex-ministers.

324:2 The hermitage of the Saint Matauga which his curse prevented Báli, the present king of the Vánars, from entering. The story is told at length in Canto XI. of this Book.

324:1b Hanumán, Sugríva's chief general, was the son of the God of Wind. See Book I, Canto XVI.

324:2b A range of hills in Malabar; the Western Ghats in the Deccan.

325:1 Válmíki makes the second vowel in this name long or short to suit the exigencies of the verse. Other Indian poets have followed his example, and the same licence will be used in this translation.

325:2 I omit a recapitulatory and interpolated verse in a different metre, which is as follows:--Reverencing with the words, So be it, the speech of the greatly terrified and unequalled monkey king, the magnanimous Hanúmán then went where (stood) the very mighty Ráma with Lakshman.

325:1b The semi divine Hanuma'n posseses. like the Gods and demons, the power of wearing all shapes at will, He is one of the Kámarúpís.

Like Milton's good and bad angels
"as they please
They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size
Assume as likes them best, coudense or rare."
325:2b Himálaya is of course par excellence the Monarch of mountains, but the complimentary title is frequently given to other hills as here to Malaya.

326:1 Twisted up in a matted coil as was the custom of ascetics.

326:2 The sun and the moon.

326:3 The rainbow.

326:1b The Vedas are four in number, the Rich or Rig-veda, the Yajush or Yajur-veda; the Sáman or Sáma-veda*, and the Atharvan or Atharva-veda. See p. 3. Note.
326:2b The chest, the throat, and the head.

---

NOTE THERE IS NO III WITHIN THE BOOK.

Next: The Ramayana-Book IV-Sec 1- Canto IV: Lakshman's Reply.

The Ramayana (/rɑːˈmɑːjənə/; Sanskrit: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam [rɑːˈmɑːjəɳəm]) is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his father King Dasharatha, on request of his second wife Kaikeyi. His travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. Wikipedia

“God / Brahman Speaking To Anne Terri Through The Holy Spirit: Today is August 25, 2018, and I have Asked Anne to begin to place The Ramayana within Our Research Library, for future links to research areas within. AMEN” 

*© NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
Scanned at sacred-texts.com by John B. Hare. OCRed and Proofed at Distributed Proofing, Juliet Sutherland, Project Manager. Post-processing, computer programming, and additional proofreading by John B. Hare at sacred-texts.com. This text is in the public domain. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact.

Note: This verse translation by Griffith...was scanned in 2000 from an original copy, which had very poor typesetting. Due to the difficulty of converting this 600 page text to etext, the project was put on hold for several years until OCR technology matured. Finally in 2003, the text was OCR-ed and proofed at Distributed Proofing. However, despite best efforts, there are several places in this text where the proofing was difficult or impossible. These are indicated by asterisks or (illegible). We are in the process of cleaning up these issues and hope to have a definitive version of this text at some point. In the meantime we hope you enjoy this epic, which is one of the most popular tales of Indian mythology.