Chapter 23
Kishkindha Kanda - The Empire of Holy Monkeys
ततः समुपजिघ्रंती कपि राजस्य तत् मुखम्
पतिम् लोकश्रुता तारा मृतम् वचनम् अब्रवीत्
tataḥ samupajighraṃtī kapi rājasya tat mukham
patim lokaśrutā tārā mṛtam vacanam abravīt
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Then that renowned Tara closely whiffed that face of monkey's king Vali and spoke these words to her dead husband. [3-23-1]
शेषे त्वम् विषमे दुःखम् अकृत्वा वचनम् मम
उपल उपचिते वीर सुदुःखे वसुधा तले
śeṣe tvam viṣame duḥkham akṛtvā vacanam mama
upala upacite vīra suduḥkhe vasudhā tale
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Heedless of my word, oh, brave one, you are reposing miserably on a very rough and uneven ground spread with stones. [3-23-2]
मत्तः प्रियतरा नूनम् वानरेन्द्र मही तव
शेषे हि ताम् परिष्वज्य माम् च न प्रतिभाषसे
mattaḥ priyatarā nūnam vānarendra mahī tava
śeṣe hi tām pariṣvajya mām ca na pratibhāṣase
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"This earth must definitely be your beloved one, oh, best of monkeys, why because, you still embrace her while you recline on her, without replying me. [3-23-3]
सुग्रीवस्य वशम् प्राप्तो विधिः एष भवत्य अहो
सुग्रीव एव विक्रांतो वीर साहसिक प्रिय
sugrīvasya vaśam prāpto vidhiḥ eṣa bhavatya aho
sugrīva eva vikrāṃto vīra sāhasika priya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"You have gone into the control of Sugreeva and Sugreeva alone triumphed, oh, brave one, oh, enthusiast in adventures, oho, is it fated to happen this way. [3-23-4]
ऋक्ष वानर मुख्याः त्वाम् बलिनम् पर्युपासते
तेषाम् विलपितम् कृच्छ्रम् अंगदस्य च शोचतः
ṛkṣa vānara mukhyāḥ tvām balinam paryupāsate
teṣām vilapitam kṛcchram aṃgadasya ca śocataḥ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"These chiefs of bears and monkeys are adoring you in every respect as their most worshipful one, and on hearing their despairing wailing, and the lamentation of Angada, and even these utterance of mine in keen, why do not you comeback to senses. [3-23-5, 6a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Do you wish to repose on the very daybed on which you have laid your enemies to rest when you have once felled them in fights, or what? [3-23-6b, 7a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Oh, successor of a clan with pristine calibre, oh, accorder of dignity, oh, devotee of fighting, oh, my dear, have you gone on leaving me without a protector and lonely? [3-23-7b, 8a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Really considerate fathers shall never propose brides to adventurers, they say. Yes! See me the wife of an adventurer, in a trice rendered as a war-widow left in the lurch. [3-23-8b, 9a]
PURPORT
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"My honour is degenerated and my eternal happiness is disintegrated, and I am deluged in an abyssal boundless ocean called anguish. [3-23-9b, 10a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"And dense with metallic substance is this heart of mine in its solidity, since it is not splintering into hundredfold even on seeing my husband killed, it is definite. [3-23-10b, 11a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"By your nature you are my beloved, besides, you are a good-hearted one, more so, you are my husband, moreover, you are a valiant triumphing over your enemies in assaults, such as you are you have attained the fifth state, the death. [3-23-11b, 12a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Perhaps a woman might have mothered many children, and perhaps affluent with riches and crops, still people will call her a widow, if she is without husband. [3-23-12b, 13a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"How do you repose now on a sheet of blood flowing from your own body, oh, brave one, as if you are reclining on your own bed spread with a bed sheet of red blood colour? [3-23-13b, 14a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"I have no strength to closely embrace you with both my arms, oh, best fly-jumper, when the blood and dust covering your body comes in between. [3-23-14b, 15a]
कृत कृत्यो अद्य सुग्रीवो वैरे अस्मिन् अतिदारुणे
kṛta kṛtyo adya sugrīvo vaire asmin atidāruṇe
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Single arrow released by Rama has doubly benefited Sugreeva in this highly deplorable enmity between you and Sugreeva, as his ambition to become the king is fulfilled and his fear from your persecution, too, is evanished. [3-23-15b, 16a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"In vain, I have been watching you without a wink, on whom fatality has descended, as this arrow stuck in your chest is hindering me to embrace you..." Thus wailed Tara. [3-23-16b, 17a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Then the monkey chief Nila extricated that arrow which is stuck in the chest of Vali, as with the extraction of a firmly wedged sparkling snake from the cavity of a mound. [3-23-17b, 18a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The sparkle of Rama's arrow while it is being extracted from Vali's chest is much the same as the sparkles of more brilliant sunrays that are extracted by the end of daytime, when the sun is sinking beyond the summit of dusky western mountain, and as contrasted with the hue of dusk. [3-23-18b, 19a]
PURPORT
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
The blood streams flown out of the gashes of Vali fell everywhere like the streams of water flowing from a mountain saturated with coppery mineral-ores. [3-23-19b, 20a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
On wiping off war dust with which her husband is muffled up, with tears gushing from her eyes she drenched that valiant one who is summarily hit by the missile of Rama. [3-23-20b, 21a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
On giving attention to all of the blood wet limbs of her slain husband that lady Tara spoke to her son Angada whose eyes are coppery-red. [3-23-21b, 22a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"See the highly harrowing end time plight of your father, oh, son, he reached his end owing to the enmity harnessed by sinful deeds. [3-23-22b, 23a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"To him, whose physical splendour vied with the dazzle of rising sun, to that father, king, and the accorder of honour you pay you last obeisance as he journeyed to the abode of Time-god." Thus Tara said to Angada. [3-23-23b, 24a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
When he is said so, Angada swiftly rose and touched the feet of his father with both of his rotund-shouldered sinewy arms saying, "father, I am Angada..." [3-23-24b, 25a]
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Why do not you bless Angada saying, 'long live, son...' when he is paying resects to you, as earlier?" Thus Tara is addressing Vali in her anguish. [3-23-25b, 26a]
अहम् पुत्र सहाया त्वाम् उपासे गत चेतनम्
सिंहेन पातितम् सद्यो गौः स वत्सा इव गो वृषम्
aham putra sahāyā tvām upāse gata cetanam
siṃhena pātitam sadyo gauḥ sa vatsā iva go vṛṣam
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"I am living through seeing the lifeless state of yours with the help of my son, no more than a helpless cow that sits near her bull with its calf, when that bull is slain by a lion, just now. [3-23-26b, c]
इष्ट्वा संग्राम यज्ञेन राम प्रहरण अंभसा
अस्मिन् अवभृथे स्नातः कथम् पत्न्या मया विना
iṣṭvā saṃgrāma yajñena rāma praharaṇa aṃbhasā
asmin avabhṛthe snātaḥ katham patnyā mayā vinā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"How can you singly take the ultimate bath of a Vedic ritual after your conducting a ritual like combat, in the waters called bloodstreams caused by Rama's arrow, that too, when I, your wife, am available like a co-officiator of a Vedic ritual? [3-23-27]
PURPORT
या दत्ता देव राजेन तव तुष्टेन संयुगे
शात कौम्भीम् प्रियाम् मालाम् ताम् ते पश्यामि न इह किम्
yā dattā deva rājena tava tuṣṭena saṃyuge
śāta kaumbhīm priyām mālām tām te paśyāmi na iha kim
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Now where is that treasured golden pendant of yours which the king of gods gave to you when he is satisfied with your conduct in wars, I don't see it? [3-23-28]
राज्यश्रीः न जहाति त्वाम् गत असुम् अपि मानद
सूर्यस्य आवर्तमानस्य शैल राजम् इव प्रभा
rājyaśrīḥ na jahāti tvām gata asum api mānada
sūryasya āvartamānasya śaila rājam iva prabhā
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Majesty is not deserting you even if your lives have departed, oh, accorder of dignity, as with the sunshine that departs the sun while he circumnavigates Mt. Meru, which mount is supposed to overshadow everything by its vastness. [3-23-29]
इति वाल्मीकि रामायणे आदि काव्ये किष्किन्ध काण्डे त्रयो विंशः सर्गः
iti vālmīki rāmāyaṇe ādi kāvye kiṣkindha kāṇḍe trayo viṃśaḥ sargaḥ
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
"Neither you heeded my word of expediency, nor I was indeed capable to forestall you, and I am doomed along with my son when you are exterminated in fight, whereby the Grace that forsook you, is deserting me too, in its entirety. [3-23-30]