Chapter 23 - Tara weeps over the Body of Bali

Thereupon, smelling the face of that King of the Monkeys, Tara, who was renowned throughout the whole world, addressed her dead consort, saying:—

“Not having followed my counsel, O Warrior, you are now stretched on the rough, hard and stony ground. Hast you then chosen the earth as your love rather than myself, since you now liest embracing it, whereas to me you dost not utter a single word?

“Alas! Fate has favoured Sugriva, that valiant One, whose noble exploits will now cause him to be regarded as a hero. The Leaders of the Bears and Monkeys pay homage to your prowess! Hearing their cries of distress and those of the unfortunate Angada and myself, why dost you not wake? Having been slain in combat, you sleepest on that hard bed, the place where formerly thine enemies rested struck down by your blows. O My Beloved, you are the offshoot of a glorious race renowned for its heroism; you, for whom war was but a sport, art gone, leaving me alone without a protector, O Proud Monarch 1 Nay, a wise man should never give his daughter in marriage to a warrior. Mark how I, wedded to a Kshatriya, am about to die, having been made a widow. My pride is humbled, and from this moment the path to everlasting life is closed to me. I am submerged in an ocean of grief without ground or bourne! How hard is my heart that, even seeing my dead lord, it does not break into a thousand fragments—my friend, my lord, naturally dear to me, that hero, who, falling on the field of honour under the blows of a warrior more powerful than he, has returned to the five elements. The woman who loses her consort, even if she have sons and be endowed with wealth, is yet a widow, say the wise. O Hero! You are lying enveloped in the blood that flows from your limbs, as you were formerly with the scarlet silk of your couch. Dust and gore covers your body on every side, so that I cannot hold you in mine arms, O Bull amongst Plavagas.

“To-day, Sugriva has achieved the purpose for which he engaged you in this formidable struggle. A single arrow discharged by Rama freed him from all fear. That shaft that pierced thine heart now prevents me from embracing your body and I can but gaze on you, who art rejoining the five elements.”

At that moment the General Nala drew out from the corpse the arrow which resembled an angry snake issuing from a mountain cave and glittered as he withdrew it, like the sun whose rays have been intercepted by the peak of a mountain. Thereupon streams of blood instantly began to flow again from those wounds on every side, resembling the water of a river that is stained by the sandstone washed down from a mountain.

Tara, wiping off the dust of combat with which he was soiled, washed her brave lord with the tears that welled up in her eyes, while she gazed lovingly down on him lying there, pierced by Rama’s arrow, his limbs all covered with blood. Then, addressing her son Angada, whose eyes were red, she said to him:—

“Behold the bitter end of your sire, O My Son! How tragic it is! This is the outcome of an hostility born of perfidy! This body, gleaming like the sun about to rise, has entered the region of death. Embrace that proud monarch, O My Son!”

At these words, Angada rising, seized hold of the feet of his father with his rounded arms, saying:—“It is I, Angada! When I embraced you formerly you didst say ‘Live long, O My Son’, why dost you not speak to me thus now?”

Then Tara said:—“Here I stand beside thine inanimate body, like a cow with its calf beside a bull that a lion has just slain! I do not see the gift that the King of the Gods bestowed on you when gratified by his victory over the Asura, that glorious chain of gold, why is this? You shall not be robbed of the insignia of royalty even after death, O Proud Monarch, for the King of the Mountains continues to glow after the sun has set.

“You didst not follow my sage counsel and I was unable to restrain you. Your death on the battlefield has brought about mine own and my son’s also. The Goddess of Prosperity has renounced both you and me.”