father's promise true:
Anointed ruler of the state
Maintain his word inviolate.
From his great debt, dear brother, free
Our lord the king for love of me,
Thy mother's breast with joy inspire,
And from all woe preserve thy sire.
'Tis said, near Gaya's holy town(385)
Gaya, great saint of high renown,
This text recited when he paid
Due rites to each ancestral shade:
"A son is born his sire to free
From Put's infernal pains:
Hence, saviour of his father, he
The name of Puttra gains."(386)
Thus numerous sons are sought by prayer,
In Scripture trained with graces fair,
That of the number one some day
May funeral rites at Gaya pay.
The mighty saints who lived of old
This holy doctrine ever hold.
Then, best of men, our sire release
From pains of hell, and give him peace.
Now Bharat, to Ayodhya speed,
The brave Satrughna with thee lead,
Take with thee all the twice-born men,
And please each lord and citizen.
I now, O King, without delay
To Dandak wood will bend my way,
And Lakshman and the Maithil dame
Will follow still, our path the same.
Now, Bharat, lord of men be thou,
And o'er Ayodhya reign:
The silvan world to me shall bow,
King of the wild domain.
Yea, let thy joyful steps be bent
To that fair town to-day,
And I as happy and content,
To Dandak wood will stray.
The white umbrella o'er thy brow
Its cooling shade shall throw:
I to the shadow of the bough
And leafy trees will go.
Satrughna, for wise plans renowned,
Shall still on thee attend;
And Lakshman, ever faithful found,
Be my familiar friend.
Let us his sons, O brother dear,
The path of right pursue,
And keep the king we all revere
Still to his promise true."

Canto CVIII. Javali's Speech.

Thus Rama soothed his brother's grief:
Then virtuous Javali, chief
Of twice-born sages, thus replied
In words that virtue's law defied:
"Hail, Raghu's princely son, dismiss
A thought so weak and vain as this.
Canst thou, with lofty heart endowed,
Think with the dull ignoble crowd?
For what are ties of kindred? can
One profit by a brother man?
Alone the babe first opes his eyes,
And all alone at last he dies.
The man, I ween, has little sense
Who looks with foolish reverence
On father's or on mother's name:
In others, none a right may claim.
E'en as a man may leave his home
And to a distant village roam,
Then from his lodging turn away
And journey on the following day,