The Ramcharitmanas 2

by Tulsidas

  So go to Avadh for the sake of the gods.’

  Again and again they clasped her feet, embarrassing her,

  Till she left, thinking, ‘The gods have mean and contemptible minds!

  Their abodes up high, their actions lowly,

  They cannot bear to see another’s glory.’

  But reflecting again on the work that lay ahead, she thought,

  ‘Talented poets will seek my favour!’

  And rejoicing in her heart, she came to Dasharath’s city,

  Like some evil star that causes intolerable grief.

  Kaikeyi had a dull-witted bondswoman

  Whose name was Manthara.

  Choosing her as a receptacle of infamy,

  Gira perverted her good sense and left.

  (12)

  Manthara saw the city being decorated,

  And heard the sweet and joyous music of celebration.

  She asked the people, ‘What is this rejoicing?’

  Hearing of Ram’s investiture, her heart began to burn.

  She began to plot and scheme, that wicked, low-born wretch,

  How this might be undone that very night,

  Like a crafty tribal woman who sees a hive of honey

  And, looking longingly upon it, schemes how to get hold of it.

  Weeping loudly, she went to Bharat’s mother.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked the queen with a smile.

  She did not reply, but sighed deeply,

  And, using the wiles of women, shed copious tears.

  The queen laughed and said, ‘You are very impudent,

  And it seems to me that Lakshman has taught you a lesson!’

  Even then the wicked bondswoman would not speak,

  But only hissed like a venomous snake.

  The queen, alarmed, asked, ‘Why do you not speak?

  Is all well with Ram and the king,

  With Lakshman, Bharat and Ripusudan?’

  To hear this was as painful as a thorn in the hunchback’s heart.

  (13)

  ‘Why would anyone teach me a lesson, mistress?

  With whose encouragement would I be impudent?

  And who is well today but Ram,

  To whom the lord of men is giving the title of Jubaraj?

  Fate has favoured Kaushalya greatly,

  And, perceiving this, she cannot contain her pride within her heart.

  Why don’t you go and look at all the splendour,

  Seeing which has so tormented my mind?

  Your son is away in a foreign land, yet you are not concerned,

  For you believe the king is in your power.

  You are too fond of sleep upon your quilted bed,

  And do not see the king’s deceitful cunning.’

  Hearing the glad tidings and knowing her servant’s base and evil mind,

  The queen rebuked her angrily and said, ‘Now, be silent!

  If you ever speak like this again, you troublemaker,

  I will have your tongue pulled out!

  The one-eyed, the lame and the hunchbacked,

  Know them to be crooked and malicious,

  Especially women—and what’s more, a bondswoman!’

  So said Bharat’s mother, and then smiled.

  (14)

  ‘Sweet-spoken one, I have said this only to instruct you—

  I cannot be angry with you even in my dreams.

  The best and most auspicious day will be the one

  Upon which your words come true.

  The eldest the lord, the younger brothers his servants—

  This is the noble custom of the solar line.

  If Ram is truly crowned tomorrow,

  Ask of me anything your heart desires, my dear, and I will give it to you!

  Like Kaushalya, all the mothers

  Are innately dear to Ram.

  He holds a special affection for me—

  I have tested his love and know this.

  If Vidhi by his grace should give me another birth,

  Let Ram be my son, Sita my daughter-in-law.

  Ram is dearer to me than my life’s breath,

  So why then your distress at his investiture?

  On Bharat I swear—speak the truth,

  Give up your deceit and your secrets!

  You grieve at a time of rejoicing—

  Tell me the reason why!’

  (15)

  ‘All my hopes were fulfilled by speaking once,

  Now if I will speak it will be with a different tongue!

  My unfortunate skull deserves to be broken,

  For even my well-intentioned words make you unhappy.

  Those who make up tales and lie,

  Only they are dear to you, mistress, while I seem bitter and distasteful.

  Now I, too, will speak words of flattery,

  Or just keep silent, day and night.

  By making me ugly and deformed, providence made me dependent on others—

  But I must reap as I have sowed, and receive as I have given.

  Whoever becomes king, what do I have to lose?

  Will I cease to be a slave and now become a queen?

  My nature deserves to be cursed,

  For I cannot bear to see your misfortune.

  That is why I said a few words.

  Forgive me, mistress—I have made a great mistake.’

  Hearing these deceitful, flattering words, full of hidden meaning,

  The queen, with a woman’s weak mind and inferior understanding,

  And, in the grip of divine maya,

  Believed this enemy to be her friend, and trusted her.

  (16)

  Again and again she humbly questioned her,

  Like a doe bewitched by a savage huntress’s song,

  Her good sense perverted as had been ordained.

  Seeing her chance, the slave-woman rejoiced.

  ‘You ask me, but I am afraid to speak,

  For you have already named me a troublemaker.’

  Trimming and shaping her words in every way to increase her trust,

  Avadh’s evil star then spoke.

  ‘You say Sita and Ram are dear to you, queen,

  And you are dear to Ram—these words were true,

  That is how it used to be, but now those days are over.

  When times change, even dear ones become foes.

  The sun nourishes a cluster of lotuses,

  But without water, the same sun burns them to ashes.

  Your co-wife, Kaushalya, wants to pull you out by the root—

  So protect yourself, build a strong fence of stratagems.

  Secure in your husband’s love, you have had no care,

  Thinking the king to be under your sway.

  The king is dark of heart though sweet of tongue,

  And you are simple-natured.

  (17)

  Ram’s mother is clever and devious.

  Finding an opportunity, she used it for her own ends.

  The king sent Bharat away to your father’s home—

  You know it was Ram’s mother’s suggestion.

  She thinks “All the other wives serve me well,

  Only Bharat’s mother is proud and arrogant, because of our husband’s love.”

  You are the thorn in Kaushalya’s side, mistress,

  But she is deceitful and clever, so it is difficult to see.

  The king has special love for you,

  Which your rival co-wife naturally cannot bear to see.

  So she schemed and plotted and won over the king,

  And made him set the date for Ram’s investiture.

  That Ram should be crowned is in accordance with family custom,

  It pleases everyone, and I like it very much too.

  What frightens me is the thought of what will follow!

  May fate give her back the fruit of this mischief!’

  Devising countless crafty lies,

  Manthara deceitfully persuaded her,

 
And told her hundreds of stories about rival wives

  To fuel her animosity.

  (18)

  In the grip of destiny, the queen was convinced.

  Making her swear an oath, she questioned Manthara again.

  ‘What is it you ask? Have you still not understood?

  Even a beast knows what is good or bad for it!

  A fortnight has passed with preparations every day,

  But you only got the news from me today!

  I am fed and clothed by your royal generosity,

  So commit no wrong by speaking the truth.

  Were I to make up lies and utter untruths,

  Vidhi would punish me.

  If Ram’s investiture takes place tomorrow,

  Fate will have sown the seed of calamity for you.

  I draw a line and most strongly declare—

  Mistress, you have become a fly in the milk.

  Only if you and your son serve Kaushalya,

  Will you stay in this house—there is no other way.

  Kaushalya will inflict on you

  The misery that Kadru had inflicted on Vinata.2

  Bharat will languish in a prison cell,

  While Lakshman will be Ram’s second-in-command.

  (19)

  When Kaikeya’s daughter heard these bitter words,

  She grew faint with fear and could not say a word.

  Her body was bathed in perspiration, she trembled like a plantain tree.

  The hunchback then bit her tongue.

  Then, relating again and again countless deceitful tales,

  She comforted the queen, ‘Be calm, take courage!’

  Instigating her into evil ways, she hardened her

  Till she became as unbending as a piece of dead wood.

  Kaikeyi’s destiny was reversed, so that the wicked Manthara became dear to her,

  And she began to praise that stork as if she were a swan.

  ‘Listen, Manthara, your words are true,

  For my right eye twitches incessantly.

  Every night I have had bad dreams,

  But overcome by my own delusions, I did not tell you.

  Oh my dear, what shall I do? I am direct by nature

  And do not know right from left.

  As long as it was in my power, I have never

  Harmed anyone to this day.

  For what crime has fate given me

  So much intolerable sorrow all at once?

  (20)

  I will go back to my father’s house to spend the rest of my life,

  But as long as I live, I will not serve my co-wife.

  Dying is better than living for one

  Whom fate condemns to live under a rival’s sway.’

  Many such wretched words did the queen speak,

  Hearing which the hunchback employed all the cunning artfulness of woman, and said,

  ‘Why do you speak thus, with so much sorrow and despair in your heart?

  Your happiness and wedded bliss will yet double every day!

  She who has wanted to do you such harm

  Will herself reap its fruit at the end.

  From the moment I heard of this wrong, mistress,

  I’ve had no appetite by day or sleep at night.

  I asked the astrologers, who made their calculations.

  “Bharat shall be king, it is certain,” they declared.

  Mistress, if you are willing to act upon it, I will tell you the way,

  For the king is still bound by your service to him.’

  ‘I would throw myself down a well at your word,

  Or abandon my son and my husband.

  You see my great distress—so how can I not do

  What you tell me for my own good?’

  (21)

  The hunchback, thus convincing Kaikeyi and receiving her assent,

  Sharpened the knife of deceit upon the whetstone of her heart.

  The queen did not see her impending doom—

  She was as oblivious as a sacrificial beast grazing upon green grass.

  Manthara’s words were sweet to hear, but cruel and terrible in their consequences,

  As though she were offering the queen honey laced with poison.

  Said the slave woman, ‘Do you or do you not remember, mistress,

  The tale you had once told me?3

  The two boons he promised you still rest with the king—

  Ask for them today and soothe the distress in your breast.

  Give the kingdom to your son, exile in the forest to Ram,

  And take for yourself all the joy of your rival queen.

  Ask only when the king swears an oath upon Ram,

  So that he cannot go back on his word.

  If this night passes, it will be a calamity—

  So hold my words dearer to you than life.’

  Having thus put her treacherous plan into action,

  The vile wretch said, ‘Go into the sulking-room,4

  Carry out your purpose carefully and with caution,

  And do not suddenly start believing him.

  (22)

  The queen thought the hunchback as dear as life,

  And praised her great wisdom again and again.

  ‘I have no well-wisher like you in the world—

  I was being swept away, but you became my support.

  If Vidhi fulfils my heart’s desire tomorrow,

  I will cherish you like the pupil of my eye, my dear.’

  Showing the bondswoman her respect in many ways,

  Kaikeyi went into the sulking-room.

  Calamity was the seed, the slavewoman the season of rains,

  And Kaikeyi’s perverse mind the soil

  In which, watered by treachery, the seed took root and sprouted—

  The two boons were its leaves, and sorrow its final fruit.

  Arranging about her all the signs and tokens of anger, Kaikeyi lay down,

  Destroying her sovereignty by her own perversity.

  Meanwhile, there were tumultuous celebrations in the palace and the town,

  For no one knew of these evil doings.

  The men and women of the city, overjoyed,

  Were all preparing for the auspicious ceremony.

  People continuously went in and out—

  There was a great crowd at the king’s palace door.

  (23)

  Ram’s boyhood friends heard the news and rejoiced,

  And went in groups of five or ten went to visit him.

  Acknowledging their love, the Lord received them kindly

  And in sweet tones asked after their welfare.

  Returning home with their dear friend’s permission,

  They praised Ram to each other as they went.

  ‘Who in the whole world is like Raghubir,

  Always courteous and loving,

  Wandering through existence in karma’s grip, in whatever form we may be born,

  Oh God, give us only this—

  May we be the servants, Sita’s lord our master,

  And may this relationship endure to the end.’

  This was the longing of everyone in the city,

  But in Kaikeyi’s heart there burnt a great fire,

  For who is not destroyed by bad company?

  Under the counsel of the vile, good sense does not stay.

  At dusk, the lord of men went

  To Kaikeyi’s palace full of joy,

  Like love in bodily form

  Approaching cruelty personified.

  (24)

  Hearing that she was in the sulking-room, the king shrank back, alarmed,

  And, overcome by fear, could not take a step forward.

  He, by the might of whose arms the king of gods held sway,

  And whose aspect was guardedly watched by all the kings of men,

  Withered hearing of a woman’s anger—

  Look how mighty is the power of lust!

  He who endured upon his body the blows of trident, thund
erbolt and sword,

  Was slain by Ratinath’s flowery arrow.

  Timidly, the king approached his beloved,

  And was deeply distressed to see the state she was in.

  She lay on the ground in garments that were old and coarse,

  And had cast off the many jewels that had adorned her body.

  This wretched attire befitted the perverse-minded Kaikeyi

  As though heralding her imminent widowhood.

  Drawing near, the king said in sweet and gentle tones,

  ‘Beloved, tell me, why are you angry?’

  ‘Tell me, my queen, why are you angry?’ asked the king

  And touched her with his hand. She shook it off and recoiled.

  It was as though the woman was an angry serpent—she glared at her husband

  Like a venomous cobra,

  Her two wishes its forked tongue,

  The boons its fangs as she searched for a vulnerable spot to bite.

  But, says Tulsi, bound by what was ordained to be,

  The king saw it all as love’s sport.

  Again and again the king asked,

  ‘My beautiful and bright-eyed one, with your voice as sweet as a kokil’s,

  And gait as graceful as an elephant’s—

  Tell me the reason for your anger.

  (25)

  Who has wronged you, beloved?

  Who has a head to spare? Who does the god of death yearn to take?

  Tell me what pauper I should make king,

  Or what king banish from his realm.

  I could kill even an immortal were he your enemy,

  So what of men and women, who are but miserable worms?

  You know how I feel, my beautiful one—

  My heart is the chakor to the moon of your face.

  Dearest, my life, my sons, everything that I possess,

  My household, my subjects—all are under your sway.

  If you think I say all this to deceive you,

  Know, my beloved, I swear it a hundred times upon Ram’s name.

  Smile, ask of me whatever your heart desires,

  And adorn your lovely body with jewels.

  Understanding the difference between an auspicious and inauspicious hour,

  Abandon, beloved, this unbecoming attire.’

  Hearing this and thinking of the king’s great oath by Ram,

  The foolish queen rose up with a laugh,

  And began adorning herself with her jewels