The Ramayana · 392 of 493

Sundara Kānda (The Beautiful Book): Canto 66 — Ráma’s Speech

There ceased the Vánar: Ráma pressed The treasured jewel to his breast, And from his eyes the waters broke As to the Vánar king he spoke: “As o’er her babe the mother weeps, This flood of tears the jewel steeps. This gem that shone on Sítá’s head Was Janak’s gift when we were wed, And the pure brow that wore it lent New splendour to the ornament. This gem, bright offspring of the wave, The King of Heaven to Janak gave, Whose noble sacrificial rite Had filled the God with new delight. Now, as I gaze upon the prize, Methinks I see my father’s eyes. Methinks I see before me stand The ruler of Videha’s land.(893) Methinks mine arms are folded now Round her who wore it on her brow. Speak, Hanumán, O say, dear friend, What message did my darling send? O speak, and let thy words impart Their gentle dew to cool my heart. Ah, ’tis the crown of woe to see This gem and ask “Where, where is she?” If for one month her heart be strong, Her days of life will yet be long. But I, with naught to lend relief, This very day must die of grief. Come, Hanumán, and quickly guide The mourner to his darling’s side. O lead me—thou hast learnt the way— I cannot and I will not stay. How can my gentle love endure, So timid, delicate, and pure, The dreadful demons fierce and vile Who watch her in the guarded isle? No more the light of beauty shines From Sítá as she weeps and pines. But pain and sorrow, cloud on cloud Her moonlight glory dim and shroud. O speak, dear Hanumán, and tell Each word that from her sweet lips fell, Her words, her words alone can give The healing balm to make me live.”(894)

Context

The Sundara Kāṇḍa ends with Rāma weeping over the gem and asking Hanumān to repeat every word Sītā spoke. The whole long book that began with the leap from a mountain ends in a quiet room with one man holding a small jewel and asking another to tell him again. That ending was already astonishing to medieval readers and it has not aged. The bhakti tradition reads the closing as the model for how prayer ends. The seeker has heard from the beloved, has been brought a token, has wept, and now does the simplest thing left to do. He asks for the words. Bring me her words, says the king, her words alone can give the healing balm to make me live. The Yuddha Kāṇḍa is about to bring the war. But the Sundara Kāṇḍa, the Beautiful Book, ends here, in the space between absence and reunion, on the word balm.On the closing of the Sundara Kāṇḍa as devotional model: Lutgendorf, Hanuman's Tale, conclusion; on Tulsidas's reception of this ending in the Rāmcaritmānas, Sundar Kāṇḍa, Lutgendorf, The Life of a Text.