| |
| HOW sweetly Ganga smiles, and glides | |
| Luxuriant o’er her broad autumnal bed! | |
| Her waves perpetual verdure spread, | |
| Whilst health and plenty deck her golden sides: | |
| As when an eagle, child of light, | 5 |
| On Carabala’s unmeasured height, | |
| By Patala, the pontiffs throne revered, | |
| O’er her eyry proudly reared | |
| Sits brooding, and her plumage vast expands, | |
| Thus Ganga o’er her cherished lands, | 10 |
| To Brahma’s grateful race endeared, | |
| Throws wide her fostering arms, and on her banks divine | |
| Sees temples, groves, and glittering towers, that in her crystal shine. | |
| |
| Above the stretch of mortal ken, | |
| On blessed Cailasa’s top, where every stem | 15 |
| Glowed with a vegetable gem, | |
| Mahesa stood, the dread and joy of men; | |
| While Parvati, to gain a boon, | |
| Fixed on his locks a beamy moon, | |
| And hid his frontal eye, in jocund play, | 20 |
| With reluctant sweet delay: | |
| All nature straight was locked in dim eclipse | |
| Till Brahmans pure with hallowed lips | |
| And warbled prayers restored the day; | |
| When Ganga from his brow by heavenly fingers pressed | 25 |
| Sprang radiant, and descending graced the caverns of the west. | |
| |
| The sun’s car blazed, and laughed the morn; | |
| What time near proud Cantesa’s eastern bowers, | |
| (While Devata’s rained living flowers) | |
| A river-god, so Brahma willed, was born, | 30 |
| And rolled mature his vivid stream | |
| Impetuous with celestial gleam: | |
| The charms of Ganga, through all worlds proclaimed, | |
| Soon his youthful breast enflamed, | |
| But destiny the bridal hour delayed; | 35 |
| Then, distant from the westering maid, | |
| He flowed, now blissful Sanpo named, | |
| By Palte crowned with hills, bold Rimbu’s towering state, | |
| And where sage Trashilhumbo hails her Lama’s form renate. | |
| |
| But she, whose mind, at Siva’s nod | 40 |
| The picture of that sovereign youth had seen, | |
| With graceful port and warlike mien, | |
| In arms and vesture like his parent God, | |
| Smit with the bright idea rushed, | |
| And from her sacred mansion gushed, | 45 |
| Yet ah! with erring step. The western hills | |
| Pride, not pious ardor, fills; | |
| In fierce confederacy the giant bands | |
| Advance with venom-darting hands, | |
| Fed by their own malignant rills; | 50 |
| Nor could her placid grace their savage fury quell: | |
| The madding rifts and shouldering crags her foamy flood repel. | |
| |
| “Confusion wild and anxious woe | |
| Haunt your waste brow,” she said, “unholy rocks, | |
| Far from the nectar-dropping locks! | 55 |
| But thou, loved Father, teach my waves to flow.” | |
| Loud thunder her high birth confessed; | |
| Then from the inhospitable west | |
| She turned, and, gliding o’er a lovelier plain, | |
| Cheered the pearled East again; | 60 |
| Through groves of nard she rolled, o’er spicy reeds, | |
| Through golden vales and emerald meads; | |
| Till, pleased with Indra’s fair domain, | |
| She won through yielding marl her heaven-directed way: | |
| With lengthened notes her eddies curled, and poured a blaze of day. | 65 |
| |
| Smoothly by Sambal’s flaunting bowers, | |
| Smoothly she flows, where Calinadi brings | |
| To Canyacuvja, seat of kings, | |
| On prostrate waves her tributary flowers; | |
| Whilst Yamunà, whose waters clear | 70 |
| Famed Indraprestha’s valleys cheer, | |
| With Sereswati knit in mystic chain, | |
| Gurgles o’er the vocal plain | |
| Of Mathura, by sweet Brindávan’s grove, | |
| Where Gopa’s love-lorn daughters rove, | 75 |
| And hurls her azure stream amain, | |
| Till blest Prayága’s point beholds three mingling tides, | |
| Where pilgrims on the far-sought bank drink nectar, as it glides. | |
| |
| From Himola’s perennial snow, | |
| And southern Palamau’s less daring steep, | 80 |
| Sonorous rivers, bright though deep, | |
| O’er thirsty deserts youth and freshness throw. | |
| “A goddess comes,” cried Gumti chaste, | |
| And rolled her flood with zealous haste: | |
| Her followed Soma with pellucid wave | 85 |
| Dancing from her diamond cave, | |
| Broad Gogra, rushing swift from northern hills, | |
| Red Gandac, drawn by crocodiles, | |
| (Herds, drink not there, nor herdsmen, lave!) | |
| Cosa, whose bounteous hand Nepalian odor flings, | 90 |
| And Mahanadi laughing wild at cities, thrones, and kings. | |
| |
| Thy temples, Casi, next she sought, | |
| And verdurous flames by tepid breezes fanned, | |
| Where health extends her pinions bland, | |
| Thy groves, where pious Valmic sat and thought, | 95 |
| Where Vyása poured the strain sublime, | |
| That laughs at all consuming time, | |
| And Brahmans rapt the lofty Veda sing. | |
| Cease, O, cease, a ruffian king, | |
| The demon of his empire, not the grace, | 100 |
| His ruthless bandits bids deface | |
| The shrines, whence gifts ethereal spring: | |
| So shall his frantic sons with discord rend his throne, | |
| And his fair-smiling realms be swayed by nations yet unknown. | |
| |
| Less hallowed scenes her course prolong; | 105 |
| But Sama, restless power, forbids delay: | |
| To love all virtues homage pay, | |
| E’en stern religion yields. How full, how strong | |
| Her trembling, panting surges run, | |
| Where Patali’s immortal son | 110 |
| To domes and turrets gives his awful name | |
| Fragrant in the gales of fame! | |
| Nor stop, where Rama, bright from dire alarms, | |
| Sinks in chaste Sita’s constant arms, | |
| While bards his wars and truth proclaim: | 115 |
| There from a fiery cave the bubbling crystal flows, | |
| And Muctigir, delightful hill, with mirth and beauty glows. | |
| |
| O rising bowers, great Cali’s boast, | |
| And thou, from Ganga named, enchanting mount, | |
| What voice your wailings can recount | 120 |
| Borne by shrill echo o’er each howling coast, | |
| When He who bade your forests bloom, | |
| Shall seal his eyes in iron gloom? | |
| Exalted youth! The godless mountaineer, | |
| Roaming round his thickets drear, | 125 |
| Whom rigor fired, nor legions could appall, | |
| I see before thy mildness fall, | |
| Thy wisdom love, thy justice fear: | |
| A race, whom rapine nursed, whom gory murder stains, | |
| Thy fair example wins to peace, to gentle virtue trains. | 130 |
| |
| But mark, where old Bhágirath leads | |
| (This boon his prayers of Mahádèw obtain: | |
| Grace more distinguished who could gain?) | |
| Her calmer current o’er his western meads, | |
| Which trips the fertile plains along, | 135 |
| When vengeance waits the oppressor’s wrong; | |
| Then girds, fair Nawadwip, thy shaded cells, | |
| Where the Pandit musing dwells; | |
| Thence by the abode of arts and commerce glides, | |
| Till Sagar breasts the bitter tides; | 140 |
| While she, whom struggling passion swells, | |
| Beyond the labyrinth green, where pards by moonlight prowl, | |
| With rapture seeks her destined lord, and pours her mighty soul. | |
| |
| Meanwhile o’er Pótyid’s musky dales, | |
| Gay Rangamar, where sweetest spikenard blooms, | 145 |
| And Siret, famed for strong perfumes, | |
| That, flung from shining tresses, lull the gales, | |
| Wild Brahmaputra winding flows, | |
| And murmurs hoarse his amorous woes; | |
| Then, charming Gunga seen, the heavenly boy | 150 |
| Rushes with tumultuous joy: | |
| (Can aught but love to men or gods be sweet?) | |
| When she, the long-lost youth to greet, | |
| Darts, not as earth-born lovers toy, | |
| But blending her fierce waves, and teeming verdant isles; | 155 |
| While buxom Lacshmi crowns their bed, and sounding ocean smiles. | |
| |
| What name, sweet bird! will best allure | |
| Thy sacred ear, and give the honor due? | |
| Vishnupedi? Mild Bhismarsu? | |
| Smooth Suranimnaga? Trisrota pure? | 160 |
| By that I call; its power confess; | |
| With growing gifts thy suppliants bless, | |
| Who with full sails in many a light-oared boat | |
| On thy jasper bosom float; | |
| Nor frown, dread goddess, on a peerless race | 165 |
| With liberal heart and martial grace, | |
| Wafted from colder isles remote: | |
| As they preserve our laws, and bid our terror cease, | |
| So be their darling laws preserved in health, in joy, and peace! | |
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