488
quickly and bring from the lake of Kuvera golden lotuses, and mandára*[1] flowers from his garden, then worship, both of you brothers, this linga with those flowers; in this way this crime of those two will be atoned for." When Lava heard this, he went, though a boy, to Kailása, and invaded that lake and garden of Kuvera, and after killing the Yakshas, brought back the lotuses and the flowers, and as he was returning, being tired, he rested in the way under a tree. And in the meanwhile Lakshmana came that way, seeking a man with auspicious marks for Ráma's human sacrifice, †[2] He, according to the custom of Kshatriyas, challenged Lava to fight, and paralyzed him by the stupefying weapon, and taking him prisoner, led him to the city of Ayodhyá. And in the meanwhile Válmíki comforted Sítá, who was anxious about the return of Lava, and said to Kuśa in his hermitage, " Lakshmana has taken prisoner the child Lava and has carried him off to Ayodhyá; go and deliver him from Lakshmana, after conquering him with these weapons." When the sage said this, and gave to Kuśa a heavenly weapon, he went and with it attacked and besieged the sacrificial enclosure in Ayodhyá, and he conquered in fight Lakshmana, who advanced to repel him, by the help of those heavenly weapons; then Ráma advanced to meet him; and when he could not, though exerting himself to the utmost, conquer with weapons that Kuśa, owing to the might of Válmíki, he asked him who he was, and why he came. Then Kuśa said, " Lakshmana has taken my elder brother prisoner and brought him here; I have come here to set him at liberty. We two are Kuśa and Lava the sons of Ráma, this is what our mother, the daughter of Janaka, says." Thereupon he told her story. Then Ráma burst into tears, and summoned Lava and embraced both, saying, " I am that same wicked Ráma." Then the citizens assembled and praised Sítá, beholding those two heroic youths, and Rama recognised them as his sons. And then he summoned the queen Sítá from the hermitage of Válmíki, and dwelt with her in happiness, transferring to his sons the burden of the empire.
" Thus heroic souls endure separation for so long a time, and how can you find it difficult to endure it for only one night?" When Kánchanaprabha had said this to her daughter Alankáravatí, who was eager to be married, and to Naraváhanadatta, she departed through the air with the
- ↑ *One of the five trees of Paradise. For the golden lotuses, see Chapter XXV. In Ch. LII we find trees with trunks of gold and leaves and fruit of jewels. A similar tree is found in the mediæval romance of king Alexander. Dunlop compares the golden vine carried away by Pompey. Liebrecht remarks that there was also a golden vine over the gate of the temple at Jerusalem, and compares the golden lotus made by the Chinese emperor Tunghwan. He refers also to Huon of Bordeaux, Ysaie le Triste, and Grimm's Kindermärchen 130 and 133. (Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 184). See also Milton's Paradise Lost, IV. 220 and 256.
- ↑ † See page 445.
