their lives away in prayer,

Of these I sing, of Raghu's line,
Though weak mine art, and wisdom mine.
Forgive these idle stammerings
And think: For virtue's sake he sings.

The good who hear me will be glad
To pluck the good from out the bad;
When ore is proved by fire, the loss
Is not of purest gold, but dross.

After the briefest glance at the origin of the solar line, the poet
tells of Rama's great-great-grandfather, King Dilipa. The detailed
description of Dilipa's virtues has interest as showing Kalidasa's
ideal of an aristocrat; a brief sample must suffice here:

He practised virtue, though in health;
Won riches, with no greed for wealth;
Guarded his life, though not from fear;
Prized joys of earth, but not too dear.

His virtuous foes he could esteem
Like bitter drugs that healing seem;
The friends who sinned he could forsake
Like fingers bitten by a snake.

Yet King Dilipa has one deep-seated grief: he has no son. He therefore
journeys with his queen to the hermitage of the sage Vasishtha, in
order to learn what they must do to propitiate an offended fate. Their
chariot rolls over country roads past fragrant lotus-ponds and
screaming peacocks and trustful deer, under archways formed without
supporting pillars by the cranes, through villages where they receive
the blessings of the people. At sunset they reach the peaceful forest
hermitage, and are welcomed by the sage. In response to Vasishtha's
benevolent inquiries, the king declares that all goes well in the
kingdom, and yet:

Until from this dear wife there springs
A son as great as former kings,
The seven islands of the earth
And all their gems, are nothing worth.

The final debt, most holy one,
Which still I owe to life--a son--
Galls me as galls the cutting chain
An elephant housed in dirt and pain.

Vasishtha tells the king that on a former occasion he had offended the
divine cow Fragrant, and had been cursed by the cow to lack children
until he had propitiated her own offspring. While the sage is
speaking, Fragrant's daughter approaches, and is entrusted to the care
of the king and queen.

_Second canto. The holy cow's gift_.--During twenty-one days the king
accompanies the cow during her wanderings in the forest, and each
night the queen welcomes their return to the hermitage. On the
twenty-second day the cow is attacked by a lion, and when the king
hastens to draw an arrow, his arm i