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A word to the mind opens the episode. After it Rama sets out with Lakshmana. The two, lions among men, are of matchless strength, and Rama goes grieving, like one parted. He tells Lakshmana what the does say to the fleeing deer. He says that without his beloved the handsome spring makes fear arise in him. And he names to Lakshmana three foes, lust, anger, and greed, each with the strength it has.
Kama, Rama says, knowing him without strength and alone, has charged at him with forest, bees, and birds. After that, as if checking his army, Kama has made camp. Rama tells the camp in likenesses, the tents, the archers, the elephants, the horses, the kettledrums, and the bards. He tells Lakshmana whose is the example in the world, and the strength of each of the three foes. At the end of Rama’s words Parvati is told what Rama has shown and made firm, and the teller tells his own experience. Rama comes to Pampa. Its water and its fish are told in likenesses of a saint’s heart, of Brahman, and of those whose conduct is dharma. The last likeness is the trees bowed with the weight of fruit.
Rama in separation, Lakshmana who hears him, and Kama
The main figures in this episode
- Rama who sets out and leaves that forest too. Grieving like one parted, he tells many tales and talks. He tells Lakshmana that the creatures of the forest are as if reproaching him, and that the handsome spring without his beloved makes fear arise in him. He tells of Kama’s charge and his camp, and of the camp in likenesses. He names the three foes and their strengths. Then he goes to the bank of Pampa.
- Lakshmana one of the two lions among men. Rama speaks to him from the beauty of the forest to the three foes, and Kama’s envoy, Rama says, saw him with Rama and went.
- Sita (spoken of) Rama’s beloved, without whom the handsome spring, he says, makes fear arise in him.
- Kama the god of love, who, Rama says, made a charge at him with the forest, the bees, and the birds, and then, as if checking his army, made camp. Rama tells his camp in likenesses.
- Shiva who tells the story to Parvati. When Rama’s words to Lakshmana end, he turns to her. He tells her who Rama is and what he has shown and made firm. He names what leaves by Rama’s pity, and tells her his own experience.
- Parvati the one who listens, to whom Shiva turns at the end of Rama’s words.
- The mind the one addressed by the word that opens the episode.
A word said to the mind
The mind is told, “Low of birth, a birthplace of sins, such was the woman the Lord freed. Most dull mind, you want happiness, forgetting such a Lord?”
The forest left behind, and grief on the way
Rama set out. He left that forest too. The two, lions among men, were of matchless strength. Like one parted, Rama grieved, telling many tales and talks.
Rama said, “Lakshmana, see the beauty of the forest. Seeing it, whose mind is not stirred? The flocks of birds and the herds of beasts are all with their mates, as if they were reproaching me.”
What the does say
Rama went on. “Seeing us, the herds of deer flee. The does say to them, ‘You have no fear. You, born of deer, be joyful. These have come searching for a golden deer.’ The elephants take their she-elephants along with them, as if giving me a lesson. A shastra well thought out is to be looked at again and again. A king well served is not to be counted as in one’s power. Though a woman be kept in the heart, a young woman, a shastra, and a king are not in one’s power. See, dear one, the handsome spring. Without my beloved it makes fear arise in me.”
The commentary reads the elephants’ lesson as this, that a woman is never to be left alone.
Kama’s charge
Rama went on. “Knowing me distraught with separation, without strength, and wholly alone, Kama made a charge at me with the forest, the bees, and the birds. Seeing me with my brother, his envoy went. Then, hearing the word, Kama, as if checking his army, has made camp.”
Kama’s camp
Rama went on. “Creepers are tangled in the great trees, as if tents of many kinds were pitched. The plantain and the palm are fine banners and flags. One whose mind is steady is not deluded at the sight. Many trees are flowering in many ways, as if archers were dressed in many uniforms. Here and there beautiful trees look handsome, as if warriors, going apart, had camped. The koels calling are as if maddened elephants. The dhek and the mahokh are camels and mules. Peacocks, chakoras, and parrots are fine horses, and pigeons and swans are all Tajik horses. Partridges and quails are the bands on foot. Kama’s host is past telling. The rocks of the hills are the chariots, and the waterfalls the kettledrums. The chataks are the bards, telling a host of virtues. The humming bees are the trumpets and the shehnais. The threefold breeze has come as envoy. With his fourfold army taken along, Kama roams, challenging all.”
The commentary reads the Tajik horses as Arab horses. It reads the banners, the camels, the horses, the envoy, and Kama’s roaming as likenesses too.
The example of those who stay steady
Rama went on. “Lakshmana, those who stay steady seeing Kama’s host, theirs is the example in the world. His one supreme strength is woman. Whoever escapes her, that one is a great warrior.”
Three mighty, wicked foes
Rama went on. “Dear one, three are most mighty and wicked: lust, anger, and greed. They stir the minds of sages, homes of wisdom, in the time an eyelid takes to fall. Greed’s strength is desire and hypocrisy. Lust’s strength is only woman. Anger’s strength is harsh words. So the best sages say, having weighed it.”
By whose pity these leave
Shiva, telling the story to Parvati, said, “Beyond the qualities and master of all that moves and all that does not, Rama, Parvati, is the inner knower of all. He has shown the wretchedness of the lustful and made dispassion firm in the minds of the steady. Anger, lust, greed, pride, and maya all leave by Rama’s pity. That man is not deceived by the conjuring, the one with whom that player is pleased. Parvati, I tell you my own experience. The Lord’s worship is true. The whole world is a dream.”
The commentary reads the showing and the firming as done by the words Rama has just spoken. It reads that player as Nataraja, the Lord.
Then Rama went to the bank of the lake named Pampa, handsome and deep.
The bank of Pampa
The lake’s water was pure as a saint’s heart. Four enchanting ghats were built there. Beasts of many kinds drank the water here and there, as if a crowd of beggars were at a generous man’s house. Behind the dense cover of lotus leaves the water’s secret was not soon found, as Brahman without qualities is not seen, covered by maya. In its most fathomless water all the fish were happy, all alike, as the days of those whose conduct is dharma pass with happiness.
Lotuses of many colors were open, and many bees hummed sweetly. The water-cocks and the swans called, as if, seeing Rama, they were praising him. Chakravakas, herons, and flocks of birds were to be seen, past any telling. The pleasing voices of the beautiful flocks of birds were as if calling the passing traveler.
Near the lake the sages had made their dwellings, and on every side forest trees looked handsome: champak, bakula, kadamba, tamala, patala, jackfruit, palash, and mango. Many trees were in new leaf and in flower, and bands of bees sang. By nature cool, gentle, and fragrant, an enchanting breeze blew always. The koels called ‘kuhu, kuhu’, and hearing the rich call, the sages’ meditation broke.
Bowed with the weight of fruit
Bowing with the weight of fruit, all the trees had come near the earth, as men who do good to others bow on gaining fine wealth. The commentary reads the bowing of such men as done with humility.
Grief, a teaching, and Pampa
The word to the mind came first. Rama set out and left that forest too. He grieved like one parted and said many things to Lakshmana. The flocks and herds with their mates were as if reproaching him, he said. The does, he said, told the fleeing deer who had come searching for a golden deer. Kama, he said, had charged at him, and had made camp as if checking his army. He told that camp in likenesses. He spoke to Lakshmana of the steady, and named the three foes with the strength of each. Parvati was told what Rama had shown and made firm, and that anger, lust, greed, pride, and maya leave by Rama’s pity. The teller told his own experience. Rama went to the bank of Pampa. Its water, fish, and birds were told in likenesses, down to the trees bowed with fruit. The next episode opens on Rama. Seeing a most bright pool, he bathes and finds supreme happiness. Seeing the shade of a beautiful, fine tree, he sits with his younger brother.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 14: Jatayu, Kabandha, and Shabari, and chapter 15: The Meeting of Hanuman and Rama, and the Pact with Sugriva.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Aranyakand, doha 36 to 40, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.