The triple world can guard from ill?
Who is the best of princes, he
Who loves his people’s good to see?
The store of bliss, the living mine
Where brightest joys and virtues shine?
Queen Fortune’s best and dearest friend,
Whose steps her choicest gifts attend?
Who may with Sun and Moon compare,
With Indra, Vishnu, Fire, and Air?
Grant, Saint divine, the boon I ask,
For thee, I ween, an easy task,
To whom the power is given to know
If such a man breathe here below.”
Then Narad, clear before whose
eye
The present, past, and future
lie,
Made ready answer: “Hermit,
where
Are graces found so high and
rare?
Yet listen, and my tongue
shall tell
In whom alone these virtues
dwell.
From old Ikshvaku’s
line he came,
Known to the world by Rama’s
name:—
With soul subdued, a chief
of might,
In Scripture versed, in glory
bright.
His steps in virtue’s
paths are bent,
Obedient, pure, and eloquent.
In each emprise he wins success,
And dying foes his power confess.
Tall and broad-shouldered,
strong of limb,
Fortune has set her mark on
him.
Graced with a conch-shell’s
triple line,
His throat displays the auspicious
sign.
High destiny is clear impressed
On massive jaw and ample chest.
His mighty shafts he truly
aims,
And foemen in the battle tames.
Deep in the muscle, scarcely
shown,
Embedded lies his collar-bone.
His lordly steps are firm
and free,
His strong arms reach below
his knee;
All fairest graces join to
deck
His head, his brow, his stately
neck,
And limbs in fair proportion
set:—
The manliest form e’er
fashioned yet.
Graced with each high imperial
mark,
His skin is soft and lustrous
dark.
Large are his eyes that sweetly
shine
With majesty almost divine.
His plighted word he ne’er
forgets;
On erring sense a watch he
sets.
By nature wise, his teacher’s
skill
Has trained him to subdue
his will.
Good, resolute and pure, and
strong,
He guards mankind from scathe
and wrong,
And lends his aid, and ne’er
in vain,
The cause of justice to maintain.
Well has he studied o’er
and o’er
The Vedas and their kindred
lore.
Well skilled is he the bow
to draw,
Well trained in arts and versed
in law;
High-souled and meet for happy
fate,
Most tender and compassionate;
The noblest of all lordly
givers,
Whom good men follow, as the
rivers
Follow the King of Floods,
the sea:—
So liberal, so just is he.
The joy of Queen Kausalya’s
heart,
In every virtue he has part;
Firm as Himalaya’s snowy