Chapter 6 - The Sages seek the protection of Rama

Sharabhanga having ascended to heaven, the assembled ascetics presented themselves before Rama, the offspring of Kakutstha of flaming energy, and among them were those who had sprung from the nails and the hair of Brahma’s body, also from the water in which his feet were bathed; there were those who lived on the moon’s rays; those who subsisted on milled grain; those who did penance by standing in water; those who slept on the naked ground; those who lived in the open air the whole year round; those who subsisted on water and wind alone; those who never sought the shade; those who underwent long fasts; those who practised uninterrupted repetition of prayer; those who gave themselves up to perpetual penance; those who dwelt on the summit of high mountains; those who had subdued their senses and those who lived between five fires.

All these sages, fixed in Yoga, endowed with the powers of Brahma, gathered in Sharabhanga’s hermitage in order to approach Rama.

Those virtuous companies of Rishis, having assembled there, addressed Rama, Foremost of the Good, who was conversant with his supreme duty, saying:—

“O Lord of the House of Ikshvaku and of the whole world, Warrior of the Great Car, you are our defender and leader, as Maghavan is of the Gods.

“You are famed in the Three Worlds for your valour and glory! Filial devotion, justice and faith find their consummation in you, O Lord. It behoves you, who art cognisant with virtue, to pardon our temerity in approaching you in order to make our supplication.

“It were a signal defect for a king to receive one-sixth of the revenue of his people, if he did not protect them as his own sons. Should he however defend those who inhabit his kingdom as his own life or as the lives of his offspring, to whom he is ever devoted, he will occupy an exalted position in the region of Brahma.

“The supreme blessedness acquired by those ascetics who live on roots and fruit is not equal to a quarter of that attained by the monarch who governs his subjects according to the law.

“Do you become the defender of those countless brahmins who live in the forest who are without a protector, and so defend them from the cruel persecution of the titans.

“Come and behold the bodies of innumerable ascetics of pure heart, who have been slaughtered in diverse ways in the forest by titans.

“They have inflicted great carnage amongst the people who dwell on Lake Pampa, by the river Mandakini and on Cittrakuta. We are no longer able to endure the terrible plight of these sages, brought about in the forest by those titans of cruel deeds; therefore we take refuge in you; protect us, O Rama, against those Prowlers of the Night, who seek our destruction. We have no asylum on earth but you, O Valiant Prince; do you save us from the titans.”

Having listened to the sages, the virtuous Kakutstha answered them, who were rich in heavy penances, saying:—

“Do not entreat me thus; am I not the servant of the sages? It is solely to fulfil my duty, that I have entered the forest. It is in order to deliver you from the oppression of the titans and to carry out the commands of my sire that I am here. It is in your interest and for your happiness that I have come here of mine own will.

“My sojourn in the forest will be greatly to your advantage; I shall slay the titans, the enemies of the ascetics. Let the sages witness my prowess in combat and my brother’s also, O Rishis!”

Having yielded to the entreaty of the ascetics, that hero, firm in his duty, accompanied by Lakshmana, directed his course towards the hermitage of Sutikshna, followed by the sages, who paid him every honour.