Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 16

Meaning

Passing through the said outermost gate of the gynaeceum, which was crowded with men, Sumantra (who knew many old legends) next reached the other inner gate, which was very lonely and was guarded by young men wielding a Prāsa (a barbed missile) and a bow and adorned with earrings of burnished gold, unfailing in their duty and single-minded of purpose and fully devoted to their master. (1-2)

Meaning

Here he saw stationed at the gate, staff in hand, aged men clad in ochre-coloured liveries and richly adorned, most attentive to their duty and guarding the inmates of the gynaeceum. (3)

Meaning

Perceiving him coming near they all sprang up from their seats, full of awe, eager as they all were to do loving service to Śrī Rāma. (4)

Meaning

Sumantra, the son of a bard, who had a disciplined mind and was highly expert in deliberation etc., said to them, “Please say at once to Prince Rāma, Sumantra waits at the door.” (5)

Meaning

Approaching Śrī Rāma, they speedily reported the matter to the heir apparent, who was closeted with his spouse. Receiving the information, Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, caused the bard, who was a confidant of his father (Emperor Daśaratha), to be brought in the same room where he was closeted with his spouse, prompted as he was with a desire to please Sumantra. (6-7)

Meaning

The bard saw Śrī Rāma, the chastiser of his foes, resplendent as Kubera (son of Viśravā), seated, richly adorned, on a gold couch overspread with a bed-cover, nay, besmeared with holy and fragrant sandal-paste of superb excellence and crimson as the blood of a boar, and further accompanied by Princess Sītā too, standing by his side, chowrie in hand, even as the moon-god is accompanied by Citrā, (the goddess presiding over an asterism of the same name). (8—10)

Meaning

Like a humble petitioner, the bard, who knew the rules of decorum, greeted Śrī Rāma, a bestower of boons, who was invested with his native glory and was glowing like the sun. (11)

Meaning

Seeing the heir apparent with a cheerful countenance on his couch intended for repose at the time of recreation, Sumantra, who was honoured by the king, spoke to him with joined palms as follows : (12)

Meaning

“Kausalyā is blessed in having you for a son ! Alongwith Queen Kaikeyī too your father, Emperor Daśaratha, desires to see you. Be pleased to go there: let there be no delay.” (13)

Meaning

Highly pleased, Śrī Rāma (a lion among men), who was possessed of great splendour, thereupon showed his great regard for Sītā—so the tradition goes—and spoke to her as follows : (14)

Meaning

“Meeting together, O godly lady, the king (my father) and the queen (mother Kaikeyī) too are surely having some talk concerning me on the topic of my installation as Prince Regent. (15)

Meaning

“Reading his mind and desirous of pleasing him, that dark-eyed mother of mine, the daughter of the king of the Kekayas, who is very clever and favourite of the king, nay, who wishes well of him and is obedient to him and is my well-wisher too, is surely pressing the king, who is the king of kings, on my behalf, highly delighted as she is over the prospect of my installation. (16-17)

Meaning

“Luckily enough for me has the Emperor (my father) with his beloved queen (mother Kaikeyī) sent as his messenger Sumantra, who advances my earthly interests and accomplishes the objects of my desire. (18)

Meaning

“A messenger of the same type as the council which is in session in the royal gynaeceum has come to me. From this I conclude that the king will surely install me in the office of Prince Regent this very day. (19)

Meaning

“Ah, departing from this place soon, I shall see the Emperor (lit., the ruler of the earth). Abide you comfortably with your female companions here and rejoice.” (20)

Meaning

Invoking divine blessings on her husband, the dark-eyed Sītā, who was greatly honoured by her spouse, followed her husband up to the gate. (21)

Meaning

“(Having once installed you in the office of Prince Regent), the king ought to consecrate you in course of time, as Brahmā, the maker of the universe, consecrated Indra, for the Rājasūya sacrifice (as a preliminary to which all the kings on the globe shall have to be conquered and reduced to submission), as his kingdom is inhabited by learned Brāhmaṇas well-versed in ritual acts. (22)

Meaning

“Seeing you consecrated for the said sacrifice and rich in religious austerities appropriate to the occasion, wearing excellent deerskin (for loin-cloth) and leading a pure (chaste) life and carrying a horn of an antelope in your hand (in order to scratch your limbs with when feeling an itching sensation), I wish to serve you in that state. (23)

Meaning

“May Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt, guard your eastern side; Yama, the god of punishment, your southern side; Varuṇa, the god of water, your western side and Kubera, the lord of riches, your northern side.” (24)

Meaning

Taking leave of Sītā and having gone through auspicious rites appropriate to the solemn occasion, Śrī Rāma forthwith departed from his palace alongwith Sumantra. (25)

Meaning

Issuing forth from the palace as a lion dwelling in a mountain-cave would emerge from a mountainous valley, he beheld Lakṣmaṇa standing at the very first gate, bent low with joined palms. (26)

Meaning

Then, at the middle gate, he met his friends and relations. Seeing those who longed for his sight or for his installation and having met and addressed them kindly, the heir apparent, who was a tiger among men, mounted next his splendid and excellent chariot, which shone like fire and was upholstered with tigerskin. (27-28)

Meaning

Riding his chariot, which moved rapidly with a sound as of thunder and was commodious, was inlaid with gems and gold, nay, which shone like Mount Meru (the gold mountain) and blinded one’s eyes with its splendour as it were, which was driven by super-excellent horses almost as big as young elephants—even as Indra, the thousand-eyed god, does his own chariot, driven by green horses—Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, irradiated with his glory, quickly departed. Thundering like a cloud in the sky and making the quarters resound with its rattle, that glorious chariot proceeded from the palace as the moon emerges from a large cloud. Taking his seat in the chariot behind Śrī Rāma, with a wonderful chowrie in his hand, Lakṣmaṇa, younger brother of Śrī Rāma, a scion of Raghu, for his part guarded his elder brother, a brother in the true sense of the word as he was. Thereupon an uproarious shout of applause rose from the concourse of men that had gathered all round, even as the chariot departed on its course. Then excellent horses and, even, so the foremost of elephants looking like mountains followed Śrī Rāma in hundreds and thousands. In front of Śrī Rāma, again, marched mailed warriors daubed with paste of sandalwood and aloe and wielding a sword and bow each and men invoking blessings on Śrī Rāma. Then were heard on the road along which Śrī Rāma drove in his chariot the notes of musical instruments as well as the words of praise uttered by the panegyrists and afterwards the shouts of warriors resembling the roaring of lions. Śrī Rāma (the subduer of his enemies) drove along while being covered on all siders with showers of excellent flowers rained by women decked with jewels and standing at the windows of their mansions. With intent to please Śrī Rāma, women who were faultless of every limb and stood in their mansions or on the ground along the road, extolled him in excellent words as follows : “Your mother, Kausalyā, O delighter of your mother, will rejoice to see you installed on the throne of your father and the object of your visit to your father accomplished.” Nay, those women indeed looked upon Sītā, beloved of the heart of Śrī Rāma as the foremost matron of all matrons and observed: “Surely great asceticism has been duly practised by that lady in her past lives in that she has in her present birth attained union with Śrī Rāma even as Rohiṇī (wife of the moon-god, the goddess presiding over an asterism of the same name) got united with the moon-god.” So did Śrī Rāma, the foremost among men, hear, on the public road, the delightful words uttered by young ladies on the tops of mansions as well as on the road. (29—42)

Meaning

There on the road Śrī Rāma (a scion of Raghu) heard on that occasion the talks of visitors from outside, on various topics connected with the line of Raghu as well as the diverse observations concerning himself, of the people of Ayodhya itself, who wore a highly delighted appearance : (43)

Meaning

“Here goes Śrī Rāma (a scion of Raghu), who is about to inherit a great royal fortune by the grace of the king. We too shall have all our desires fulfilled in that he shall be our suzerain ruler. (44)

Meaning

“This will be our supreme gain that Śrī Rāma will for long acquire sovereignty over this entire state. For, so long as he is the ruler of men none will ever undergo any disagreeable experience, much less suffering.” (45)

Meaning

Being glorified by Swastikas, who pronounced benedictions by raising shouts of victory, Sūtas (chroniclers) and Māgadhas* (who glorified descent), who marched ahead of him and extolled by eloquent eulogists, Śrī Rāma drove like Kubera (son of the sage Viśravā) alongwith neighing horses accompanied by elephants. (46)

Meaning

Śrī Rāma also beheld the clean road thronged with elephants in rut and she-elephants, chariots and horses, with their crossings packed to the full by large crowds of men, nay, lined with shops containing abundant jewels and large stocks of saleable goods. (47)