Bala Kanda, Sarga 6

Meaning

While living in the city of Ayodhyā, King Daśaratha protected his subjects. He was well-versed in the Vedas and collected all useful things. He was farsighted and highly glorious and was loved by the people inhabiting the city as well as the countryside. (1)

Meaning

He was a superlative car-hero (Atiratha)* of Ikṣwāku’s race. He was fond of performing sacrifices, devoted to virtue and given to the control of his senses. He was a royal sage almost as good as a Maharṣi. He enjoyed a good reputation in all the three worlds. (2)

Meaning

He was strong and devoid of foes. He had a number of allies and was the conqueror of his senses. In point of amassing wealth and other things, he was a compeer of Indra and Kubera. (3)

Meaning

Just as the highly glorious Manu protected the whole world, so did King Daśaratha. (4)

Meaning

That king, who was true to his word and who was engaged in the pursuit of wealth, religious merit and sense-enjoyment protected the foremost city of Ayodhyā, in the same way as Indra protected Amarāvatī. (5)

Meaning

The people of that city were happy, virtuous, learned in sacred lore, free from greed, truthful and contented with their own fortune. (6)

Meaning

There was no householder in that great city who had not stored valuable things in abundance and had not attained the objects of human pursuit and who was in want of oxen, cows, horses and other wealth and foodgrains. (7)

Meaning

There was no man to be seen in Ayodhyā who was sensuous, miserly, cruel, ignorant and unbelieving. (8)

Meaning

All the men and women of that city were by nature virtuous, well-regulated in life, always cheerful and faultless in character and disposition like Maharṣis. (9)

Meaning

There was no one in Ayodhyā who was devoid of gold ear-rings, diadem and flower-wreaths. Nobody lacks in objects of enjoyment. There was none who did not put on a smart appearance after taking bath. No one was there who did not smear his body with sandal-paste and did not use scents. (10)

Meaning

Nobody was seen in Ayodhyā taking unholy food, not giving alms and not exercising control over his mind. No one was found there who had no gold bangles, a gold ornament for the neck and armlets on his person. (11)

Meaning

There was none in Ayodhyā who did not maintain and worship the sacred fire and did not perform sacrifices; no one among them was petty-minded, given to thieving, immoral and impure of origin. (12)

Meaning

The Brāhmaṇas inhabiting Ayodhyā were ever devoted to their duties and exercised effective control over their senses. They gave away alms, pursued their studies and were disinclined to accept gifts. (13)

Meaning

There was no member of the twice-born classes who was unbelieving, untruthful, lacking in knowledge of scriptures, busy finding fault with others, resourceless and bereft of learning. (14)

Meaning

There was no one in that city who had not mastered the six branches of knowledge, auxiliary to a study of the Vedas, and did not observe pious vows. There was no donor of scanty gifts and no miserable man. There was none who was either distracted in mind or afflicted. (15)

Meaning

There was no man or woman in Ayodhyā who was devoid of splendour, not good-looking and not loyal to the king. (16)

Meaning

People belonging to all the four grades of society, with the Brāhmaṇa as the foremost, were fond of worshipping the gods and unexpected visitors. They were grateful, generous, heroic and powerful. (17)

Meaning

All the residents of that great city enjoyed a long lease of life and were devoted to virtue and truth, and as such were never deprived of their wives, sons, and grandsons. (18)

Meaning

The Kṣatriyas followed the lead of the Brāhmaṇas, the Vaiśyas were devoted to the Kṣatriyas and the Śūdras took delight in their own work while serving the other three Varṇas. (19)

Meaning

King Daśaratha, the lord of the Ikṣwākus, fully protected Ayodhyā on all sides in the same way as the all-wise Manu, the ruler of mankind, did in former times. (20)

Meaning

Like a cave full of lions, the city was thronged with warriors who had mastered the science of archery and were refulgent like fire, devoid of crookedness and were unable to pocket insults. (21)

Meaning

It was crowded with horses of excellent breed born in the territories of Kamboja, Bāhlīka (Balkh) as well as in Vanāyu, river-horses (born in the Indus valley), horses that vied with the horse of god, Indra, known by the name of Uccaiḥśravā. (22)

Meaning

It was full of elephants in heat and mighty as mountains, born in the Vindhya and the Himālayan regions. (23)

Meaning

The city was also ever crowded with elephants belonging to the races of Airāvata, Mahāpadma, Añjana and Vāmana and those of the Bhadra, Mandra and Mṛga species (born on the Himālayas and Sahya range respectively), as well as with those of cross-breeds known by the names of Bhadra-Mandra-Mṛgas, Bhadra-Mandras, Bhadra-Mṛgas and Mṛga-Mandras, ever in rut and huge as mountains. Ayodhyā (lit., unassailable) bears a really significant name, particularly to a width of two Yojanas or sixteen miles out of its total width of three Yojanas, twenty-four miles. While residing in this part of the city, King Daśaratha protected the Kingdom. (24—26)

Meaning

Just as the moon holds sway over the starry regions, similarly the said King Daśaratha, who was possessed of great glory and had destroyed all his enemies, ruled over the aforesaid city. (27)

Meaning

In this way the king, who vied with Indra, ruled over this blessed city of Ayodhyā, which bore a significant name, was protected with strong gates and bars and was graced with houses of various designs and teemed with thousands of men. (28)