The troubles of the King shall end,
    And streams of blessed rain descend
    Upon the thirsty land. 
    Thus shall the holy Rishyasring
    To Lomapad, the mighty King,
    By wedlock be allied;
    For Santa, fairest of the fair,
    In mind and grace beyond compare,
    Shall be his royal bride. 
    He, at the Offering of the Steed,
    The flames with holy oil shall feed,
    And for King Dasaratha gain
    Sons whom his prayers have begged in vain,’
    I have repeated, sire, thus far,
    The words of old Sanatkumar,
    In order as he spoke them then
    Amid the crowd of holy men.” 
    Then Dasaratha cried with joy,
    “Say how they brought the hermit boy.”

CANTO IX

RISHYASRING

    The wise Sumantra, thus addressed,
    Unfolded at the King’s behest
    The plan the lords in council laid
    To draw the hermit from the shade. 
    The priest, amid the lordly crowd,
    To Lomapad thus spoke aloud:—­
    “Hear, King, the plot our thoughts have framed,
    A harmless trick by all unblamed. 
    Far from the world that hermit’s child
    Lives lonely in the distant wild: 
    A stranger to the joys of sense,
    His bliss is pain and abstinence;
    And all unknown are women yet
    To him, a holy anchoret. 
    The gentle passions we will wake
    That with resistless influence shake
    The hearts of men; and he
    Drawn by enchantment strong and sweet
    Shall follow from his lone retreat,
    And come and visit thee. 
    Let ships be formed with utmost care
    That artificial trees may bear,
    And sweet fruit deftly made;
    Let goodly raiment, rich and rare,
    And flowers, and many a bird be there
    Beneath the leafy shade. 
    Upon the ships thus decked a band
    Of young and lovely girls shall stand,
    Rich in each charm that wakes desire,
    And eyes that burn with amorous fire;
    Well skilled to sing, and play, and dance,
    And ply their trade with smile and glance. 
    Let these, attired in hermits’ dress,
    Betake them to the wilderness,
    And bring the boy of life austere
    A voluntary captive here,”
    He ended; and the King agreed,
    By the priest’s counsel won,
    And all the ministers took heed
    To see his bidding done. 
    In ships with wondrous art prepared
    Away the lovely women fared,
    And soon beneath the shade they stood
    Of the wild, lonely, dreary wood. 
    And there the leafy cot they found
    Where dwelt the devotee. 
    And looked with eager eyes around
    The hermit’s son to see. 
    Still, of Vibhandak sore afraid,
    They hid behind the creeper’s shade. 
    But when by careful watch they knew
    The elder saint was far from