The Ramcharitmanas 1

by Tulsidas

  Hearing this, the king, once more bowing his head, said,

  ‘Explain the meaning of this name at length

  Knowing me to be your devoted servant.’

  ‘I was born the moment that

  Primordial creation came into existence.

  My name is Ektanu because,

  Since then, I have not taken on another body.

  (162)

  Hearing this, do not be astonished,

  For nothing, son, is difficult to attain with penance.

  It is through the power of penance that Brahma creates this world,

  It is through the power of penance that Vishnu became its protector,

  It is through the power of penance that Shambhu causes its dissolution—

  Through penance, there is nothing unattainable in the world.’

  Hearing this, the king felt great devotion for the ascetic,

  Who then began to relate ancient tales and legends.

  Through many tales of virtuous deeds and righteous action,

  He discoursed upon detachment and discernment.

  Of the birth of the universe, its nurturing and its dissolution,

  He related at great length innumerable and marvellous stories.

  Hearing these, the king was now completely under his spell

  And began to reveal to him his true name.

  Said the ascetic, ‘King, I know you,

  You deceived me, but I was pleased by that,

  For listen, monarch of the earth, it is prudent and wise

  For a king not to declare his name.

  Reflecting upon your shrewdness and wisdom,

  I feel great affection for you.

  (163)

  Your name is Pratapbhanu, sun of glory,

  And Satyaketu, that king of men, was your father.

  Through the grace of my guru, I know everything, king,

  But I do not say anything, knowing that to do so will be to my detriment.

  Perceiving your inherent simplicity and goodness, son,

  Your affection and faith, your prudence and political wisdom,

  Affection for you has sprung up in my heart—

  And so I told you my story as you asked.

  Now, have no doubt, I am pleased with you,

  So ask, king, for a boon that pleases your heart.’

  The king rejoiced to hear these gracious words,

  And clasping the ascetic’s feet, made obeisance in many ways.

  ‘Ocean of compassion, most merciful muni, by merely being in your presence

  I hold in my fist the four rewards of human existence.

  Yet, seeing you so pleased with me, lord,

  I ask for a boon otherwise impossible to attain, to become free of sorrow forever:

  May my body remain free of old age, death and pain,

  May no one ever defeat me in battle,

  And may I reign as supreme and undisputed monarch of the earth

  For a hundred cycles of creation.’

  (164)

  Said the ascetic, ‘King, so it will be,

  But there is one difficulty—hear that too.

  Even Death will bow his head at your feet,

  But the one exception, lord of the earth, will be the Brahmans.

  Through the power of penance, the Brahmans are ever mighty,

  From their wrath, no one can protect you—

  But subjugate the Brahmans, king,

  And you will control even Vidhi, Vishnu and Mahesh.

  But force does not work with the Brahmans—

  This truth I declare, raising my arms to heaven!

  Listen, monarch of the earth, unless a Brahman curses you,

  You will not be killed in any age.’

  The king rejoiced to hear his words.

  ‘Now, lord, my death shall never be!

  With your favour upon me, compassionate lord

  All times will be fortunate and propitious for me.’

  ‘So shall it be,’ proclaimed the false muni,

  Then craftily said,

  ‘If you ever tell anyone of our meeting or losing your way,

  It won’t be my fault—

  (165)

  I warn you, king, not to do so,

  For telling anyone this tale will cause you great harm.

  Should this story fall into a third pair of ears,

  Then, I tell you truly, it shall be your end.

  Only by revealing this incident, or by a Brahman’s curse—

  Hear me, Pratapbhanu—can you be destroyed.

  No other means or contrivance can cause your death,

  Not even if Hari and Har were to rage at you in their hearts.

  ‘It is true, my master,’ said the king, clasping the hermit’s feet,

  ‘Who can protect one from a Brahman’s wrath or the anger of one’s guru?

  A guru protects you even from Brahma’s anger,

  But against a guru’s anger, there is no protector in the world.

  May I be destroyed if I disregard what you say—

  I care not about that.

  My heart is troubled by only one fear, lord—

  That a Brahmaṇ’s curse is very dire!

  In what way can I bring the Brahmans under my sway,

  Look upon me with kindness, and tell me that too—

  Except for you, merciful one,

  I see no other benefactor.’

  (166)

  ‘Listen, king, there are many schemes and strategems in the world by which to achieve this,

  But they require great effort and are difficult to accomplish, and even then they may or may not be successful.

  Yes, there does exist one very easy way,

  Though there is one difficulty even with that.

  The scheme, king, depends upon me

  And it is impossible for me to go to your city,

  For until this day, from the moment that I was born,

  I have not entered anybody’s home or village—

  But if I do not go, it is detrimental to you.

  This is a big dilemma for me now!’

  Hearing this, the king replied in gentle tones,

  ‘Lord, it is an accepted truth stated in the Vedas,

  That the great always show affection to the small—

  Thus the mountains bear grasses and tiny shrubs upon their summits,

  The bottomless ocean carries the floating foam upon its crests,

  And the earth eternally bears dust upon her head.’

  So saying, the king clasped the hermit’s feet,

  ‘Master, be compassionate towards me!

  You are ever virtuous and merciful to the humble—

  So for my sake, lord, undertake this difficult task!’

  (167)

  Realizing that the king was under his influence,

  The ascetic, so skilled in deceit, said,

  ‘I speak truly, king, so listen to what I say—

  There is nothing in this world that is difficult or impossible for me.

  I will most certainly do your work,

  For you are my devotee in mind, deed and word.

  But magic and meditation, plans, penance and mantras are effective

  And bear fruit only when they are carried out in secret.

  If, king, I were to cook and prepare some food,

  And you were to serve that without anyone knowing me,

  Those who eat that meal

  Will follow your commands.

  And what’s more, anyone who then eats a meal in their homes,

  They too, lord of the earth, will come under your sway!

  Now go, and carry out this plan, king,

  And resolve for a full year

  That each day you will invite

  A hundred thousand Brahmans with their families.

  And I, for the duration of your resolve,

  Will prepare the feast each day.

  (168)

  In this way, king, with very little trouble,
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  All the Brahmans will be under your power.

  The Brahmans will perform sacrifices, make offerings and serve the gods,

  And through those, the gods, too, will easily come under your sway.

  Let me tell you one more element of this plan—

  I will not ever appear in this form,

  But rather as your chief priest, king,

  Whom I will bring away through the power of my maya,

  And through the power of my penance, I will make him look like me.

  I will keep him here for the length of a year,

  While I, king, assuming his form,

  Will arrange and manage this business in every way for you.

  The night is far gone, so now get some sleep,

  And you and I, king, will meet again in three days.

  Through the power of my penance, I will take you and your horse

  To your palace while you sleep.

  I will come to you in the form I have said,

  And you will recognize me

  When I take you aside in solitude and relate to you

  This full story.’

  (169)

  The king lay down, obeying the ascetic’s command,

  While the false sage took a seat.

  The king was tired and fell into a deep sleep,

  But how could that false ascetic sleep, deep as he was in anxious thought?

  The night-wandering demon, Kalketu, came there—

  It was he who as a boar had led the king astray.

  He was the hermit king’s greatest friend,

  And knew many ways of deceit and treachery.

  His hundred sons and ten brothers

  Had been utter rogues, invincible, and the bane of the gods.

  They had all earlier been slain in battle by Pratapbhanu,

  Who had seen the grief they had caused Brahmans, saints and gods.

  The wicked demon, nursing this earlier enmity,

  Conspired with the hermit king to devise a plan

  Whereby their enemy may be destroyed.

  The king, under destiny’s sway, knew nothing of this.

  Even if a fierce enemy be alone,

  Do not consider him insignificant—

  Rahu torments the sun and the moon

  Even today, though he has nothing left but his head.

  (170)

  The hermit king, seeing his friend,

  Rejoiced and joyfully rose to meet him.

  He related to his friend all that had happened

  And the demon, greatly pleased, replied,

  ‘Listen, king, since you have done as I had directed,

  Now assume that our enemy has already been taken care of.

  Throw away all anxiety and sleep in peace here—

  Without medicine, Vidhi has cured the disease.

  Together with his family, I will destroy our enemy by the roots

  And on the fourth day from today I will come to meet you.’

  Thus greatly gladdening the hermit king,

  The deceitful demon, full of wrathful vengeance, left.

  Pratapbhanu, with his horse,

  He conveyed in an instant to the palace.

  He laid the king next to his wife,

  And tied up the horse in the stable.

  The king’s chief priest

  He then took away,

  And kept him in a mountain cave,

  Addling his wits through his magic powers.

  (171)

  He himself assumed the chief priest’s form,

  And went and lay down upon his comfortable bed.

  The king awoke before daybreak,

  And acknowledged it a wonder to find himself in his own house.

  Thinking and speculating about the muni’s power,

  He rose up quietly so that the queen did not know,

  And mounting the same horse, rode back to the forest

  Without being seen by any of the men and women of the city.

  When two watches of the day had passed, the king returned—

  Celebration and rejoicing broke out in every house.

  When the king saw his chief priest,

  He looked upon him with wonder, remembering what he had discussed with the hermit.

  The three days passed like an age for the king,

  His mind remained enslaved at the false muni’s feet.

  When it was time, the chief priest came,

  And, as the hermit had told the king, related to him the full circumstances of their plan.

  The king joyfully recognized his guru—

  In the grip of delusion, he lost his wits,

  And at once invited a hundred thousand eminent Brahmans

  With their families.

  (172)

  The chief priest prepared the feast

  Of six flavours and four kinds of food as prescribed in the Vedas.

  He prepared a lavish and sumptuous banquet,

  With so many condiments, seasoning and spices that they could not be counted.

  He cooked and prepared the flesh of various animals,

  But into it the rogue mixed the flesh of Brahmans.

  All the Brahmans were called to eat,

  Their feet were washed, and they were seated with reverence.

  When the king began to serve them,

  A voice from the heavens was heard—

  ‘All you Brahmans, get up, get up and go home!

  There is great harm in eating this food,

  For this food has been prepared with the flesh of Brahmans!’

  The Brahmans rose, heeding the voice from the sky.

  The king was greatly distressed at this, but confused and bewildered,

  And bound by destiny, he could not utter a single word.

  Then cried the Brahmans in their fury,

  Paying no heed to consequences,

  ‘Be born a demon of the night, foolish king,

  Along with all your family!

  (173)

  Vile Kshatriya, you invited Brahmans

  To destroy us along with our whole community!

  But the Lord preserved our faith and our honour,

  And now you will perish along with your family.

  Within a year you will die,

  Nor will there be anyone left in your family to even pour libations to your spirit.’

  The king, hearing the curse, became distracted with terror.

  Once again the divine voice was heard from the sky,

  ‘Brahmans, you have pronounced your curse without thinking,

  The king has done no wrong!’

  The Brahmans listened in astonishment to the voice from the sky.

  The king hurried to where the food had been prepared,

  But found neither food nor Brahman cook.

  He returned, worried and deeply anxious

  And related all the circumstances to the Brahmans, gods on earth—

  Afraid and distressed, he threw himself prostrate upon the ground.

  ‘Lord of the earth, what is destined cannot be changed,

  Even though it was no fault of yours.

  A Brahman’s curse is dire indeed—

  Despite every effort to undo it, it cannot be reversed.’

  (174)

  So saying, all the Brahmans departed.

  The townsfolk heard what had happened—

  Fearful and anxious, they blamed the gods,

  Who, while creating a swan, had turned it into a crow.

  After conveying the chief priest to his home,

  The demon recounted to the hermit all that had happened.

  That rogue in turn sent letters here, there and everywhere,

  And all the kings to whom he had written, readied their armies for war and came hurrying.

  Sounding their battle drums, they besieged the city,

  And day after day, many long battles took place.

  Pratapbhanu’s warriors fought valiantly, but all were killed,

  And th
e king, with his brother, also fell in battle.

  No one from Satyaketu’s line survived,

  For can a Brahman’s curse ever be untrue?

  Having overcome their enemy, the kings re-established the city,

  And returned to their own cities with victory and renown.

  Hear me, Bharadvaj, when destiny turns against someone,

  A grain of dust becomes like Meru for him,

  His own father like Jam, the god of death

  And a rope as dangerous as a snake.

  (175)

  And so, muni, in due course that same king

  Was born as a night-wandering demon, together with his family.

  He had ten heads and twenty arms,

  His name was Ravan, and he was a great and formidable warrior.

  The king’s younger brother, whose name had been Arimardan,

  Was born as the strong and mighty Kumbhakaran.

  His prime minister, who had been called Dharmaruchi,

  Was born of his stepmother as his younger brother—

  His name was Vibhishan, which is known to all the world;

  A devotee of Vishnu, he was a storehouse of wisdom and knowledge.

  And as for the sons and servants of the king,

  They were born as fierce and frightening demons,

  Evil creatures of various kinds, who could take on any form at will,

  Cruel, terrifying, without discernment of any kind.

  They were all ruthless and violent, and perpetrators of every sin and crime—

  Tormentors of all creation, they cannot be described!

  Though they had sprung from the incomparably

  Pure and unblemished clan of the Rishi Pulastya,

  Under the curse of the Brahmans,

  They were all reborn as sin personified.

  (176)

  The three brothers all performed various austerities,

  So severe that they are difficult to describe.

  When Brahma saw their penance, he went up to them and said,

  ‘Ask of me a boon, sons, for I am pleased.’

  The ten-headed one clasped his feet and humbly entreated him,

  “Hear what I ask, Lord of the world—

  I would not be killed by anyone,

  Save the two species of monkey and man.’

  ‘So be it, for you have done great penance,’

  Brahma and I together granted him the boon.