Maha-Bharata Epic of the Bharatas

Posted by admin_akashic on Oct 20th, 2022 in Civilization

“Noble woman, speak thy wishes, name thy boon and purpose high,
What the pious mortal asketh gods in heaven may not deny!”

“Thou hast,” so Savitri answered, “granted father’s realm and might,
To his vain and sightless eyeballs hast restored their blesséd sight,

[266] Grant him that the line of monarchs may not all untimely end,
Satyavan may see his kingdom to his royal sons descend!”

“Have thy object,” answered YAMA, “and thy lord shall live again,
He shall live to be a father, and his children too shall reign,

For a woman’s troth abideth longer that the fleeting breath,
And a woman’s love abideth higher than the doom of Death!”

VI. Return Home

Vanished then the Sable Monarch, and Savitri held her way
Where in dense and darksome forest still her husband lifeless lay,

And she sat upon the greensward by the cold unconscious dead,
On her lap with deeper kindness placed her consort’s lifeless head,

And that touch of true affection thrilled him back to waking life,
As returned from distant regions gazed the prince upon his wife,

“Have I lain too long and slumbered, sweet Savitri, faithful spouse,
But I dreamt a Sable Person took me in a fatal noose!”

“Pillowed on this lap,” she answered, “long upon the earth you lay,
And the Sable Person, husband, he hath come and passed away,

Rise and leave this darksome forest if thou feelest light and strong,
For the night is on the jungle and our way is dark and long.”

Rising as from happy slumber looked the young prince on all around,
Saw the wide-extending jungle mantling all the darksome ground,

“Yes,” he said, “I now remember, ever loving faithful dame,
We in search of fruit and fuel to this lonesome forest came,

As I hewed the gnarléd branches, cruel anguish filled my brain,
And I laid me on the greensward with a throbbing piercing pain,

[267] Pillowed on thy gentle bosom, solaced by thy gentle love,
I was soothed, and drowsy slumber fell on me from skies above.

All was dark and then I witnessed, was it but a fleeting dream,
God or Vision, dark and dreadful, in the deepening shadows gleam,

Was this dream my fair Savitri, dost thou of this Vision know,
Tell me, for before my eyesight still the Vision seems to glow!”

“Darkness thickens,” said Savitri, “and the evening waxeth late,
When the morrow’s light returneth I shall all these scenes narrate,

Now arise, for darkness gathers, deeper grows the gloomy night,
And thy loving anxious parents trembling wait thy welcome sight,

Hark the rangers of the forest! how their voices strike the ear,
Prowlers of the darksome jungle! how they fill my breast with fear!

Forest-fire is raging yonder, for I see a distant gleam,
And the rising evening breezes help the red and radiant beam,

Let me fetch a burning faggot and prepare a friendly light,
With these fallen withered branches chase the shadows of the night,

And if feeble still thy footsteps, – long and weary is our way, –
By the fire repose, my husband, and return by light of day.”

“For my parents, fondly anxious,” Satyavan thus made reply,
“Pains my heart and yearns my bosom, let us to their cottage hie,

When I tarried in the jungle or by day or dewy eve,
Searching in the hermitages often did my parents grieve,

And with father’s soft reproaches and with mother’s loving fears,
Chid me for my tardy footsteps, dewed me with their gentle tears,

Think then of my father’s sorrow, of my mother’s woeful plight,
If afar in wood and jungle pass we now the livelong night,

Wife beloved, I may not fathom what mishap or load of care,
Unknown dangers, unseen sorrows, even now my parents share!”

[268] Gentle drops of filial sorrow trickled down his manly eye,
Fond Savitri sweetly speaking softly wiped the tear-drops dry:

INDEX