by Tulsidas
All good and auspicious omens come easily
For him whose beautiful son is the Absolute incarnate.
With a bridegroom like Ram, a bride like Sita
And virtuous fathers-in-law like Dasharath and Janak—
Upon hearing of such a wedding, all good omens dance and say,
‘Now Viranchi has proven us true!’
Thus the wedding procession set forth,
To the neighing of horses, the trumpeting of elephants and the beating of drums.
Knowing that Dasharath, the greatest of the solar line was coming,
Janak had built bridges across the rivers,
And luxurious rest-houses at intervals along the way,
As magnificent as the abode of the gods,
With good food, comfortable beds and fresh clothing
Which suited every taste and pleased everyone in the wedding procession.
Daily discovering new and pleasing comforts,
The guests in the wedding procession all forgot their own homes.
Learning that the wedding procession approached
And hearing the beating of drums,
A welcoming party of elephants, chariots, foot soldiers and horses
Went out to receive the guests.
(304)
Golden pitchers and brimming copper trays,
And beautiful vessels of many kinds
Filled with delicacies as sweet as nectar,
Of so many kinds that they cannot be described,
And fruits of many varieties, and costly and beautiful objects—
King Janak, rejoicing, sent ahead as gifts.
Jewellery, clothes and many different kinds of precious gems,
Birds, deer, horses, elephants and chariots of many sorts,
Objects of good omen and pleasing perfumes
Of many kinds the king sent,
As well as porters, who set forth with countless pots
Filled with curds and parched rice, and innumerable gifts, slung across their shoulders.
When the welcoming party saw the wedding procession,
Their hearts filled with joy and their bodies trembled with excitement;
And seeing the reception party and their gifts and preparations
The delighted guests beat their drums.
Some from each side set off at full gallop,
Joyfully, to meet each other.
They came together like two oceans of delight
That had abandoned their shorelines.
(305)
Celestial nymphs rained down flowers and sang melodious songs,
While the delighted gods sounded their drums.
Those who had come to receive the wedding procession placed their gifts before the king
And welcomed him with reverence and great affection.
The king accepted the gifts with love,
And generously distributed them amongst the poor.
Then paying them due homage and singing songs of praise,
The welcoming party conducted the wedding guests to the rooms prepared for them.
Rare and beautiful cloths were spread upon the floor,
So rich and costly that upon seeing them, even Kuber could no longer boast of his wealth.
Exceedingly pleasant and charming were the apartments given to them,
Where everybody was given every kind of comfort.
When Sita learnt that the wedding procession had arrived in the city,
She made known some of her own majesty.
Meditating upon them in her heart, she summoned all the mystical powers89
And sent them to attend upon the king.
All those powers, upon hearing Sita’s commands,
Went to the guests’ apartments
Taking with them riches and all comforts
And the pleasures and luxuries of the abode of the gods.
(306)
Beholding their apartments, the wedding guests
Found all the pleasures of the gods at hand.
No one knew the secret behind this splendour,
And everybody praised it as Janak’s doing.
But Raghunayak knew Sita’s power
And rejoiced in his heart to see this manifestation of her love.
The two brothers heard of their father’s arrival
And could not contain their great joy in their hearts.
Though hesitant to say so to their guru,
Their hearts yearned to see their father.
Perceiving their deep humility and reverence, Visvamitra
Was greatly pleased.
Delighted, he clasped the two brothers to his heart,
He trembled with joy and his eyes filled with tears.
They set off for Dasharath’s guest apartment,
Like a lake that has seen a thirsty man.
When the king saw the muni
Approaching with his sons,
He rose, rejoicing, and stepped forward as one trying to assess the depth
Of this ocean of joy.
(307)
The lord of the earth prostrated himself in reverence before the muni,
Taking again and again the dust of his feet upon his head.
Kaushik raised up the king and clasped him to his heart,
And blessing him, asked if he was well.
Then the two brothers prostrated themselves,
And, gazing upon them, the king could not contain his happiness within his heart.
As he clasped his sons to his bosom, the unbearable pain of parting from them disappeared—
It was as though a corpse had been given the gift of life.
Then they bowed their heads at Vasishtha’s feet,
And the great muni clasped them to his heart with loving delight.
The two brothers then saluted the company of Brahmans,
And received their affectionate blessings.
Bharat and his younger brother Shatrughna paid homage,
And Ram drew them up and hugged them to his heart.
Lakshman rejoiced to see his two brothers,
And embraced them, full of love.
The citizens of Avadh, members of his household and his clan
Dependents, ministers and friends—
The Lord, most compassionate and gentle,
Appropriately greeted them all.
(308)
Seeing Ram, the wedding party were soothed and comforted—
The ways of love are indescribable.
With the king his four sons looked as glorious
As though the four rewards of life had taken bodily form.
Seeing Dasharath with his sons,
The men and women of the city were delighted beyond measure.
The gods rained down flowers and beat upon their drums,
While apsaras danced and sang.
Shatanand, the company of Brahmans and ministers,
And minstrels, bards, jesters and musicians—all those who had gone to receive the guests,
Paid homage to the king and his wedding party,
And then, with his permission, returned.
The wedding party had arrived before the wedding date,
At which there was great rejoicing in the city.
The people, full of supreme bliss,
Entreated Vidhi to lengthen the days and nights.
‘Ram and Sita are the pinnacles of beauty,
The two kings, Dasharath and Janak, the pinnacles of virtue,’
So said the people of the city to each other, men and women,
Wherever they gathered.
(309)
‘Janak’s virtue has taken form as Vaidehi,
And Dasharath’s piety is embodied in Ram.
No one has worshipped Shiv like these two kings,
Nor received such rewards as they.
There has never been any like them in this world,
Nor is anyone like them now, nor will there ever be.
We all, too,
are the repositories of virtue,
To have been born in this world as residents of Janak’s city
And to have beheld the beauty of Janaki and Ram.
Who can be more fortunate than us?
And now we will see Raghubir’s wedding,
Making the best and fullest use of our eyes!’
Women with voices as sweet as the kokil’s say to each other,
‘O beautiful-eyed ones, there is great profit in this marriage.
By great good fortune, providence has arranged this match—
These two brothers will often come to visit, and dwell in our eyes as guests.
Again and again, compelled by love,
Janak will send for Sita,
And the two brothers, as desirable and comely as innumerable Kamdevs,
Will come to fetch her back.
(310)
They will be received and entertained in many ways—
And who, dear friend, would not love such a father-in-law?
Then, each time, gazing at Ram and Lakshman,
All the townsfolk will rejoice!
And, my friends, just as Ram and Lakshman are a pair,
With the king are two other boys exactly like them,
One dark, the other fair-complexioned, and beautiful in every limb—
So say all those who have seen them.’
Said one, ‘I saw them today,
And they seemed as though Viranchi had fashioned them with his own hands.
Bharat looks just like Ram,
So that no man or woman can tell them apart at a casual glance.
Lakshman and Shatrughna look the same,
Incomparable in every part from head to foot.
They charm and enchant the heart, but the tongue is unable to describe them—
None in all three worlds is comparable to them.’
There is none comparable to them, so poets and wise men declare,
Says their servant Tulsi.
Oceans of strength, modesty, wisdom, virtue and beauty,
They have no equals but themselves.
The women of the city all entreated Vidhi,
And said these words to him:
‘May all four brothers marry in this city
And may we sing their wedding songs!’
Their eyes full of happy tears, their bodies trembling with joy,
The women said to each other,
‘Friend, Purari will make all this happen,
For the two kings are oceans of merit.’
(311)
In this manner the women all made their wishes,
And joy welled up and flooded their hearts.
The kings who had come for Sita’s svayamvar,
Also rejoiced as they gazed upon the four brothers.
Praising Ram’s great and unblemished glory,
The kings returned, each to his own home.
Some days passed in this manner—
The citizens and all the wedding guests were full of joy.
The auspicious day for the main wedding ceremony came—
It was the cold season, the pleasant month of Agahan,
And the planets, the date, the stars, and their conjunctions were all at their most propitious.
Vidhi himself calculated and fixed the auspicious moment with care,
And sent a note with Narad to Janak.
Janak’s own astrologers had made the very same calculations,
And when the people heard this, they all declared,
‘Our astrologers here are like Brahma himself!’
It was the sacred hour before sunset, when the cows return home from the fields,
The most pleasing and auspicious time of the day.
Seeing that the omens were favourable,
The Brahmans alerted King Janak.
(312)
The king asked the high priest,
‘Now, why delay any further?’
Shatanand then summoned the ministers,
Who brought with them all the auspicious articles required for the ceremony.
Conches, drums and tabors sounded loudly,
Sacred pitchers and articles signifying good fortune were made ready,
Beautiful women in costly attire began to sing,
And pious Brahmans chanted the Vedas.
In this way, they reverently went to fetch the bridegroom’s wedding party
From the guesthouses where they were staying.
When they beheld the king of Koshal’s retinue,
Even Indra’s glory appeared to them quite insignificant.
‘It is time, so please do start,’ they said.
At this, mighty drums resounded.
Consulting his guru, the king performed the family rites
And set off with a crowd of munis and sages.
Beholding the good fortune and splendour of the king of Avadh,
Brahma and the other gods
Began to praise him with a thousand tongues,
Regarding their own births to be worthless.
(313)
The gods, knowing that the auspicious hour had come,
Rained down flowers and sounded their drums.
Shiv, Brahma and all the great multitude of gods,
Mounted their chariots in crowds,
And overcome with love, their hearts full of gladness,
They set forth to witness Ram’s wedding.
Upon seeing Janak’s city, the gods were enchanted
And their own abodes now appeared insignificant to them all.
They gazed, struck with wonder, at the gorgeous pavilions
With all their marvellous adornments,
And at the men and women of the city, who were all repositories of beauty,
Handsome, virtuous, courteous and learned.
Beholding them, all the gods and their wives
Faded like stars in the light of the moon.
Vidhi especially was overcome with astonishment,
For nowhere could he see any of his own handiwork.
Then Shiv admonished all the gods,
‘Do not lose yourself in wonder.
Recover yourselves and reflect in your hearts:
This is Sita and Raghubir’s wedding,
(314)
At the mention of whose names, all evil in the world
Is destroyed at its root
And the four ends of life fall into one’s hand—
They are those very Sita and Ram.’ So explained Kamarilxxvii.
Having thus admonished the gods, Shambhu
Again urged forward his noble bull.
The gods saw Dasharath setting forth joyfully,
Supreme delight in his heart.
The crowd of sadhus and Brahmans who accompanied him
Seemed like all the joys in bodily form attending upon him.
With him shone his four handsome sons
As though they were the four kinds of moksha embodied.
The gods were overcome with great love
To see the two handsome pairs—one dark, the other fair, of emerald and golden hue.
Then they looked upon Ram, rejoicing in their hearts,
Praising the king, and raining down flowers.
As Uma and Purari
Gazed again and again upon Ram’s perfect form
Beautiful from head to toe,
They were overcome with joy and their eyes filled with tears.
(315)
His dark limbs were as radiant as a peacock’s throat,
His raiment of beautiful yellow outshone the lightning,
Wedding ornaments of many kinds, auspicious and beautifully fashioned,
Graced his form in every way.
His charming countenance was like the flawless full moon of autumn,
His eyes put the new-blooming lotus to the blush—
His divine beauty
Enraptured the heart, yet could not be described.
With him, resplendent, were his
charming brothers
Making their swift and spirited steeds prance and trot,
The other princes, too, showed off their noble horses,
While the family bards recited the fame and glory of their line.
The horse upon which Ram was in splendour mounted,
Made Garud, the king of the birds, blush for shame with its speed.
Its beauty was beyond description in every way,
As though Kamdev himself had taken on the form of a horse.
It seemed as though the mind-born one had taken, for the love of Ram,
The form of a magnificent horse,
And its youth, strength, beauty, merits,
And gait had enraptured all the worlds.
Its saddle, encrusted with jewels, glittered
With the radiance of pearls, rubies and precious gems,
And its exquisite bridle, embellished with tiny, tinkling bells,
Captivated gods, men and munis alike.
Its heart and mind completely immersed in the Lord’s will,
The horse stepped forth, resplendent.
It seemed as though a dark raincloud, adorned with stars and flashes of lightning,
Was making a beautiful peacock dance.
(316)
Even Sharada could not describe
The beautiful horse upon which Ram was mounted.
Shankar became so enamoured of Ram’s beauty
That his fifteen eyes seemed very precious to him.
When Hari gazed upon Ram with fond affection,
He who is Ramaa’s lord, and Ramaa, were enchanted.
Beholding Ram’s beauty, Vidhi rejoiced
But regretted that he had only eight eyes.
Skand, commander of the divine armies, was delighted
That he had one and half times as many eyes as Vidhi.
Looking at Ram, all-wise Indra, king of the gods,
Considered Gautam’s curse his greatest blessing.90
All the gods were envious of Indra and declared,
‘No one is as fortunate as Purandar today!’
The whole company of gods rejoiced, looking at Ram,
While there was joy unparalleled amongst the retinue of both kings.
There was great joy amongst the royal retinue on each side
As countless drums thundered
And the gods rained down flowers, rejoicing
And calling, ‘Hail, hail, hail to the jewel of Raghu’s line!’