Who clasped the baby to his breast, and thrilled
    To feel the nectar-touch upon his skin,
    Half closed his eyes, the father’s bliss to win
  Which, more for long delay, his being filled.

  The baby hair must needs be clipped; yet he
    Retained two dangling locks, his cheeks to fret;
    And down the river of the alphabet
  He swam, with other boys, to learning’s sea.

  Religion’s rites, and what good learning suits
    A prince, he had from teachers old and wise;
    Not theirs the pain of barren enterprise,
  For effort spent on good material, fruits.

This happy childhood is followed by a youth equally happy.  Raghu is married and made crown prince.  He is entrusted with the care of the horse of sacrifice,[1] and when Indra, king of the gods, steals the horse, Raghu fights him.  He cannot overcome the king of heaven, yet he acquits himself so creditably that he wins Indra’s friendship.  In consequence of this proof of his manhood, the empire is bestowed upon Raghu by his father, who retires with his queen to the forest, to spend his last days and prepare for death.

Fourth canto.  Raghu conquers the world.—­The canto opens with several stanzas descriptive of the glory of youthful King Raghu.

  He manifested royal worth
  By even justice toward the earth,
  Beloved as is the southern breeze,
  Too cool to burn, too warm to freeze.

  The people loved his father, yet
  For greater virtues could forget;
  The beauty of the blossoms fair
  Is lost when mango-fruits are there.

But the vassal kings are restless

  For when they knew the king was gone
  And power was wielded by his son,
  The wrath of subject kings awoke,
  Which had been damped in sullen smoke.

Raghu therefore determines to make a warlike progress through all India.  He marches eastward with his army from his capital Ayodhya (the name is preserved in the modern Oudh) to the Bay of Bengal, then south along the eastern shore of India to Cape Comorin, then north along the western shore until he comes to the region drained by the Indus, finally east through the tremendous Himalaya range into Assam, and thence home.  The various nations whom he encounters, Hindus, Persians, Greeks, and White Huns, all submit either with or without fighting.  On his safe return, Raghu offers a great sacrifice and gives away all his wealth.[2]

Fifth canto.  Aja goes wooing.—­While King Raghu is penniless, a young sage comes to him, desiring a huge sum of money to give to the teacher with whom he has just finished his education.  The king, unwilling that any suppliant should go away unsatisfied, prepares to assail the god of wealth in his Himalayan stronghold, and the god, rather than risk the combat, sends a rain of gold into the king’s treasury.  This gold King Raghu bestows upon the sage, who gratefully uses his spiritual power to cause