Ramayana of Valmiki

by Hari Prasad Shastri | 1952 | 527,382 words | ISBN-10: 9333119590 | ISBN-13: 9789333119597

This page is entitled “kabandha’s counsel to rama” and represents Chapter 73 of the Aranya-kanda of the Ramayana (English translation by Hari Prasad Shastri). The Ramayana narrates the legend of Rama and Sita and her abduction by Ravana, the king of Lanka. It contains 24,000 verses divided into seven sections [viz., Aranya-kanda].

Chapter 73 - Kabandha’s Counsel to Rama

Having revealed the way to recover Sita, the resourceful Kabandha counselled Rama in the following significant words, saying:—

“This is the path leading westwards to the Mount Rishyamuka, O Rama, abounding in blossoming trees; Jambu, Priyala, Panasa, Nyagrodha, Plaksha, Tinduka, Ashvattha, Karnikara, Cuta, Naga, Tilaka, Naktamala, Nilashoka, Kadamba, Karavira, Agnimukha, Ashoka, Raktachanda, Paribhadraka and many other trees grow there and, climbing or bending them by force, they should be used by you to sustain yourselves on the way with their sweet fruits.

“Passing through these flowery woodlands, O Kakutstha, you will reach others resembling the Nandana Gardens, where, as with the northern Kurus, the trees bear fruit and produce honey in every month of the year and every season is represented simultaneously as in the forest of Caitaratha. There, great trees with mighty branches, bowed under the weight of their fruit, resemble towering clouds on the mountain side. Lakshmana will climb those trees with ease or pull them down to offer you the fruit equal in taste to the Nectar of Immortality. Ranging over those lovely mountains, wandering from hill to hill and wood to wood, O Hero, you shall reach the lake Pampa covered with lotuses, free from boulders and gravel, whose level banks present no crevice and therefore no danger of falling. O Rama, its bed is sandy and it is covered with floating lilies; swans, ducks, herons and ospreys are heard calling sweetly on the waters of that lake; nor do they fear man, O Raghava, since none has ever hunted there. Do you feed on these birds, fat as butter, O Rama, as well as on Rohita, Cakratunda and Nala.

“O Rama, the devoted Lakshmana will offer you diverse and excellent fish, devoid of scale or fin, plump, possessing a single bone, which may be speared with arrows and roasted on the fire. And when you have feasted, Lakshmana, drawing pure water, fragrant with the scent of lotuses, fresh, limpid, sparkling like silver, shall offer it to you on a lotus leaf.

“In the evening, ranging here and there, Lakshmana will point out to you the great monkeys who dwell in the woods and in the hollows of the hills, and you shalt see those wild and savage apes, roaring like bulls, coming to the borders of the lake to drink.

“Wandering abroad at dusk, your grief will be assuaged on beholding the flowering trees and the auspicious waters of the lake, and you shalt see the blossoming Tilaka and Naktamala trees with the red and white full-blown lotuses, which will dispel your sorrow.. No man has ever gathered those blooms nor do the garlands made of them ever fade away, O Raghava, for the disciples of the great ascetic Matanga lived there, who, proficient in penance, laden with the wild fruits they had collected for their Guru, covered the earth with drops of their perspiration from which these flowers have sprung; by virtue of their austerities these blooms never die.

“Those ascetics have now passed away but there still lives one who served them, a mendicant woman named Shabari. O Kakutstha, she, who is ever fixed in her duty, is now extremely old and, on beholding you who art honoured by the whole world, will ascend to heaven.

“O Rama, having reached the western bank of Lake Pampa, you shalt see a lovely, isolated and concealed spot, which is Matanga’s hermitage. There, in fear of his divine authority, no elephant dare enter, though there be many. This place is known as the Matanga Wood, O Raghava, and there, O Joy of the House of Raghu, where every variety of bird sings and which resembles the Garden of Nandana or a celestial grove, you will be able to rest.

“The Rishyamuka mountain, covered with flowering trees and filled with birds, rises opposite Lake Pampa and is difficult of access, young elephants barring the way. This lofty mountain was formerly created by Brahma and a virtuous man who sleeps on its summit and dreams of treasure will find wealth on waking, whereas an evil-doer who attempts to scale it will be seized by demons while yet asleep. There too, the trumpeting of the young elephants who disport themselves in the Lake Pampa can be heard. O Rama, in that part of the hermitage where Matanga lodged them, wild elephants of vast size, streaming with crimson ichor, rush to the lake, full of ardour, like great clouds; there they slake their thirst in the cool waters, that are limpid, pleasant and extremely auspicious to those who bathe in them and which exhale a sweet fragrance. Having disported themselves, these elephants re-enter the thickets with the bears, panthers and wolves. Beholding them, as also the deer of gentle countenance resembling sapphire, who are harmless and do not fear man, your grief will be assuaged.

“O Kakutstha, on this mountain, hewn out of the rock is a great cavern, difficult of access, covered on all sides with delightful fruits, and at the entrance is a great lake of cool water filled with every kind of reptile; there the virtuous Sugriva and his companions dwell, though sometimes he resides on the summit of the hill.”

Having thus instructed the two princes, Rama and Lakshmana, Kabandha, resembling the sun in brilliance, wreathed in garlands, illumined the heavens with his splendour. Thereupon those two heroes, seeing that blessed One stationed in the sky, spoke unto him, saying:—“Go in peace!” whereto Kabandha answered saying:—“Do you proceed, you will achieve your purpose 1”

Then Kabandha, having regained his pristine beauty, shining in grace and splendour, fixed his gaze on Rama and spoke again from the sky, saying:—“Enter into an alliance with Sugriva.”

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