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The talk at the lattices runs on. The young women of Janakpur are still at their houses with the two brothers in sight. One of them asks what being with a body could look at this form and not be charmed. Another has news: she has heard who the two are and why they have come. What follows her report is a talk of marriage, a groom fit for Sita. A king who holds to his vow, and a hard bow and tender boys.
The report names Rama and Lakshmana, Dasharatha’s sons. The women take turns with hope and doubt, ending on a wish that it may be so and a rain of flowers. After the meal, with a watch of daylight left, the sage had given the two leave to see the city and come back. The seeing takes them east of the city, to the ground made ready for the bow-sacrifice, with the city’s children for guides. They go back late and shy to their guru. The night passes in old stories, the pressing of feet, and an order given again and again. Lakshmana rises at the cock’s call.
The people met in the lanes
The main figures in this episode
- Rama Dasharatha’s son, the dark one, whom a woman names. At the sight of his beauty one of them calls him the groom fit for Sita. The city’s children show him the work on the ground made ready for the bow-sacrifice and touch him on that pretext. He praises the places and goes with his brother at the children’s call. He shows Lakshmana the work and looks at the hall in amazement. He sends the children away and sits shy before the guru. He presses his feet, tells Lakshmana to sleep, and wakes before the guru.
- Lakshmana Rama’s younger brother, the fair one behind him with arrows and bow, Sumitra’s son in the women’s account. He is shown the work and presses the guru’s feet with his brother. He presses Rama’s feet, holding them against his heart. He lies down with the lotus feet placed in his heart, and rises at the cock’s call.
- Vishvamitra the sage whose sacrifice the two guarded, as a woman tells it. He is the guru at whose feet they bow when they come back late, and who gives them leave to sit. At nightfall he gives his order, and all do the evening worship. He lies down and the brothers press his feet. He gives his order again and again, and then Rama goes and lies down.
- The women of Janakpur one of whom asks who could see this form and not be charmed. They learn from one of their number who the two are. They hope, doubt, and trust in turn about the marriage and the bow. They say “So may it be,” and rain flowers.
- The city’s children who show the Lord the work on the ground made ready for the bow-sacrifice. They touch him on that pretext and thrill. They call the two to them, each by his own liking, and are sent away with soft words, against their will.
- Sita and Janaka neither of them in the scene: Sita is the princess for whom one woman calls the dark one the fitting groom. The Brahma who made her, another says, has made a dark groom after thought. Janaka is the king who, one woman says, has recognized the two and honored them with the sage. He holds to his vow.
The two brothers, as one woman tells it to the rest
The women were still at the lattices of their houses, the two brothers still in sight. The talk went on: “Tell me, friend, what being that wears a body could look at this form and not be charmed?” One of them spoke with love, in a soft voice: “Hear what I have heard, clever friend.”
“These two are Dasharatha’s sons,” she said, “a lovely pair of young swans. They guarded the sage Vishvamitra’s sacrifice, and on the field of battle they killed night-walkers. The one with the dark body and the lovely lotus eyes, who broke the pride of Maricha and Subahu: that one is Kausalya’s son, a mine of happiness. His name is Rama, and he has bow and arrows in his hand. The fair one, in the age of youth, finely dressed, with arrows and bow in his hand, behind Rama: his name is Lakshmana, Rama’s younger brother. Hear, friend: his mother is Sumitra. Having done the brahmin’s work, and having freed a sage’s wife on the road, the two brothers have come to see the bow-sacrifice.” Behind her words lay what the two had done before they came to this city. The sacrifice had been guarded while the sages made their offerings into the fire. Maricha, struck with a headless arrow, had gone a hundred yojanas, beyond the sea. Subahu had been struck with an arrow of fire. At a hermitage where no bird or beast or living creature was, Gautama’s wife had borne a body of stone. She appeared at the touch of Rama’s feet and stood before him with her hands joined. Hearing this, all the women rejoiced.
A hope of marriage, and the king’s vow
The talk went round, one speaker and then the next. Looking at Rama’s beauty, one of them said: “This groom is fit for Sita. Friend, if the king sees them, he will give up the vow and insist on making the marriage.” One said: “The king has recognized them, and he has honored them with respect, together with the sage. But, friend, the king does not give up the vow. Under fate’s power he holds stubbornly to his want of discernment.” The commentary reads that want of discernment as the folly of standing on the vow. That same day Janaka had come to the sage’s grove with his court. He asked who the two were, and led them into the city, where he lodged them and served them.
One said: “If the creator is good, and it is heard that he gives everyone a fitting reward, then Sita will get this very groom. Friend, there is no doubt in it. If by fate such a union is made, then all the people would have their wish accomplished. Friend, my eagerness is so great for this reason: that by this bond they would come here sometimes. Otherwise, hear, friend, the sight of them is far from us. This meeting comes only when the merit of former deeds is great.”
A hard bow and tender boys
Another spoke: “You have said well, friend. In this marriage is the very great good of all.” One said: “Shiva’s bow is hard, and these dark, soft-bodied ones are youths. It is all a tangle, clever friend.” Hearing this, another said in a soft voice: “Friend, some say of them that their power is great and they look small. He at the touch of whose lotus-foot dust Ahalya crossed over, she who had done great sin: will he stay without breaking Shiva’s bow? Do not give up this faith, even by mistake. The Brahma who made Sita and adorned her has, after thought, made a dark groom.”
At her words all the women rejoiced, and they said in soft voices, “So may it be.” Fair-faced and fair-eyed, in their troops, they rejoiced in their hearts and rained down flowers. Wherever the two brothers went, there was supreme bliss.
The arena east of the city
The two brothers went to the east of the city, where the ground had been made ready for the bow-sacrifice. It is the arena, as the commentary calls that ground. There was a paved floor of great breadth, finely laid, and a pure altar, beautifully adorned. On four sides stood vast platforms of gold, made for the kings who would sit there. Behind them, close by, on four sides, another ring of platforms shone, somewhat higher and handsome in every way. There the townspeople would go and sit. Near those stood vast, handsome white houses made in many colors. There all the women would sit and watch, as was fitting, each according to her family.
The city’s children, saying soft words again and again, showed the Lord the work with respect.
The two brothers at the children’s call
All the children, on this pretext of showing the Lord the work, were in the power of love. They touched his enchanting body, and at the touch their own bodies thrilled. There was very great joy in their hearts as they looked and looked at the two brothers.
Rama knew all the children to be in the power of love, and he praised the places with love. The commentary adds that the children’s eagerness, joy, and love grew the more for it. Each child called the two to him by his own liking, and the two brothers went with affection.
Looking in wonder, and going back shy
Rama showed his younger brother the work, speaking soft, sweet, and enchanting words. He is the one at whose order maya makes the hosts of worlds in a fraction of the time an eyelid takes to fall. That same one looked in amazement at the hall of the bow-sacrifice, for bhakti’s sake.
When they had seen the spectacle they set out for the guru, with fear in their minds at knowing themselves late. He is the one at whose fear fear itself is afraid. That same one was showing the power of worship. The commentary reads the fear as a play that the power of worship makes so great a Lord act out. Saying soft, sweet, and handsome words, Rama sent the children away, against their will. With fear, with love, humble, and with great shyness, the two brothers bowed their heads at the guru’s lotus feet. When they had his leave, they sat.
Stories for two watches, and the guru’s feet
At the coming of night the sage gave his order, and all did the evening worship. Then the stories began, old stories and histories, and in the telling two watches of the fine night went by. The sage went and lay down, and the two brothers began to press his feet. For the lotus feet of these two the dispassionate perform many kinds of japa and yoga. Those same two, as if love had won them, lovingly pressed the guru’s lotus feet. Again and again the sage gave his order, and then Rama went and lay down.
Lakshmana’s service, and the first sound of dawn
Lakshmana pressed Rama’s feet, holding them against his heart, with fear and with love, finding supreme happiness in it. Again and again the Lord said, “Sleep, child.” Then Lakshmana lay down, with the lotus feet placed in his heart.
Lakshmana rose when the night had passed, at the sound of the cock’s call in his ears. The lord of the world, Rama, woke before the guru.
The wish to stay together
The episode begins at the lattices and ends at cockcrow. Between the two, the brothers are talked of by the women. One of them says that her eagerness is for the two to come here sometimes by this bond, and that otherwise the sight of them is far. They are called to by the city’s children, each by his own liking. The children are sent away against their will. In the night the guru’s feet are pressed, and then Rama’s. The next episode opens on the morning that follows, with a bath, a bow to the sage, and the two brothers going for flowers at the guru’s leave.
The same story, elsewhere: Valmiki’s Ramayana, chapter 4: Mithila, the Breaking of Shiva’s Bow, and the Wedding of Sita.
Source: the Gita Press edition of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, Balkand, doha 221 to 226, read with Hanuman Prasad Poddar’s Hindi commentary.