Aranya Kanda, Sarga 16

Meaning

While the magnanimous Rāghava was staying happily, the desired winter set in at the expiry of autumn. (1)

Meaning

Once that delight of the Raghus, Śrī Rāma, at the break of day went to the beautiful Godāvarī river for a bath. (2)

Meaning

Following at the heels of Śrī Rāma, his brave brother, the son of Sumitrā, alongwith Sītā, and with a vessel for water in his hand, spoke as follows : (3)

Meaning

“Now has arrived that season which is dear to you, O polite brother, with which the blessed year appears as though ornamented. (4)

Meaning

“The people feel dry with cold, the earth is rich with crops; the waters are unenjoyable, the fire is agreeable. (5)

Meaning

“Having propitiated the manes and gods with offerings of the first fruits of the preceding harvest and partaken of them themselves, virtuous people have been rid of sin. (6)

Meaning

“The people of the countryside have their desires for foodgrains abandantly fulfilled and have richer supply of cow’s milk etc. The kings are moving on their expedition with the desire for conquest. (7)

Meaning

“As the sun firmly adheres to the quarter inhabited by the god of Death (viz., the south), the northern quarter looks no more charming than a lady without Tilaka (an auspicious mark on the forehead). (8)

Meaning

“Rich in its treasure of snow by nature, and abounding in snow at present, the sun being away (in the southern hemisphere), the Himālaya mountain more perceptibly justifies its name. (9)

Meaning

“At noontide the days are exceedingly pleasant for a walk, and afford delight by the touch of the sun’s rays; the sun is agreeable, while shade and water are disagreeable. (10)

Meaning

“With an unoppressive sun, beautiful thick fog, bitter cold and wind and desolate woodlands blighted by frost, the days look calm (devoid of activity and bustle). (11)

Meaning

“The nights now preclude repose in open air, are marked with the presence of the constellation known by the name of Puṣya, look dusty with frost, and become colder and longer. (12)

Meaning

“Having transferred her pleasantness to the sun, and with its orb looking reddish due to snow, the moon does not shine any more than a mirror soiled with exhalation. (13)

Meaning

“Even on a full-moon day the moonlight does not look bright, obscured as it is with frost even as Sītā appears tanned with the sun and does not look as attractive as earlier. (14)

Meaning

“Cool to the touch by its very nature and now saturated with snow the westerly wind blows doubly cold in the morning. (15)

Meaning

“Shrouded in mist and rich with crops of barley and wheat, the woodlands look attractive at sunrise with noisy herons and cranes. (16)

Meaning

“Wearing a golden lustre and slightly bent with their weight of corn, paddy crops look charming with their ears full of corn and resembling date flowers in appearance. (17)

Meaning

“With its approaching rays wrapped in frost and fog, the sun, though risen high, looks like the moon. (18)

Meaning

“With its glory faintly perceptible in the forenoon and agreeable to the touch at noon, the sunshine, which is partially bright red and partially pale, is spreading its charm on the earth. (19)

Meaning

“With its grass slightly drenched with dew-drops, the land of the woods penetrated as it is with the morning sunshine, looks charming. (20)

Meaning

“Though touching for the sake of gratification the excessively cold water of a pool, the wild elephant, seized as it was with extreme thirst, withdraws its trunk (due to its cold touch). (21)

Meaning

“Though standing very close to water, the aquatic birds do not actually dive into it even as the pusillanimous do not plunge into a fight though standing very close to the scene of fighting. (22)

Meaning

“Covered with dewdrops and enveloped in darkness at night and shrouded in the dark occasioned by fog, the rows of forest trees bereft of their blossom appear as though buried in slumber. (23)

Meaning

“With their water shrouded in mist and the cranes inhabiting them, discernible only by their cries, the streams are perceptible at this time only through their banks with their sands wet with frost. (24)

Meaning

“Due to cold occasioned by the fall of frost as also the mildness of the sun, the water even on mountain-tops is generally tasty. (25)

Meaning

“With their lotuses worn out due to decay and their filaments and pericarps withered, the lotus-beds, blasted as they are by snow, are reduced to mere stalks and no longer look charming. (26)

Meaning

“At this time of the year, O tiger among men, the pious-minded Bharata, full of agony (caused by separation from you) is practising austerities in the city out of devotion to you. (27)

Meaning

“Giving up the sovereignty and honour as well as the manifold and diverse enjoyments and living on a restricted diet, the ascetic reposes on the cold surface of the earth. (28)

Meaning

“Ready for a dip in the river, and followed by his ministers, he too without doubt walks to the Sarayū river daily at this hour. (29)

Meaning

“Tormented by cold, though brought up in the highest luxury and tender as he is, how indeed does he take a dip in the Sarayū during the last watch of the night? (30)

Meaning

“With his eyes resembling the petals of a lotus, dark-brown of complexion, majestic, almost without a belly, a great knower of Dharma, truthful, bashful, master of his senses, polite of expression, amiable, long-armed, the subduer of enemies, he has given up the various pleasures and is devoted to you (his elder brother) with all his being. (31-32)

Meaning

“Paradise has been conquered by your high-souled brother, Bharata, who is following you in your ascetic life, even though you are staying in the forest (away from him). (33)

Meaning

“The well-known popular saying that men follow the nature of their mother and not of their father has been belied by Bharata. (34)

Meaning

“How is it that mother Kaikeyī, whose husband was Daśaratha and whose son is the virtuous Bharata, wears such a cruel aspect?” (35)

Meaning

Unable to endure such condemnation of his (step-) mother, while the righteous Lakṣmaṇa was speaking as above out of affection (for Śrī Rāma), Rāghava said : (36)

Meaning

“Dear brother, Kaikeyī, our second mother, should never be condemned by you. Speak exclusively about that Bharata, the king of the Ikṣvākus. (37)

Meaning

“To be sure, my mind is intent on my vow of residing in the forest alone, and is of firm resolve; yet, being agonized by Bharata’s affection, it gets infatuated once more. (38)

Meaning

“I fully recollect his agreeable, sweet, affectionate, nectar-like and soul-ravishing words. (39)

Meaning

“When shall I actually be united with the high-souled Bharata, the heroic Śatrughna, together with you, O scion of Raghu?” (40)

Meaning

Discoursing thus on the aforesaid topic and reaching the river Godāvarī, Śrī Rāma with his younger brother and Sītā bathed in it. (41)

Meaning

Having propitiated with those waters the manes as well as the gods, the sinless trio then glorified the shining sun and the other gods as well. (42)

Meaning

Having finished his bath, Śrī Rāma shone with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa even as Lord Śiva (the Destroyer of the universe) with Nandī (His beloved associate) and Pārvatī (the Daughter of the lord of mountains) on having concluded His bath in the Gaṅgā. (43)