Baal Kaanda
8 - Salutations to the immortal bards
Dohas
Description
The wise admire only that poetry which is lucid and portrays a spotless character and which even opponents hear with applause forgetting natural animosity. Such poetry is not possible without a refined intellect, and of intellectual power I have very little. Be gracious, therefore so that I may depict the glory of Sri Hari; I solicit again and again. Poets and wise men, lovely swans sporting in the Manasarovara lake of Sri Rama's exploits! Hearing my childlike prayer and recognizing my refined taste, be kindly disposed towards me.(14 A-C) I bow to the lotus feet of the sage (Valmiki) who composed the Ramayana, which though containing an account of the demon Khara (a cousin of Ravana), is yet very soft and charming, and though faultless, is yet full of references to Dusana (another cousin of the demon-king Ravana).* I reverence, all the four Vedas, barks as it were on the ocean of mundane existence, which never dream of weariness in singing the untarnished glory of Sri Rama, the Chief of Raghus. I greet the dust on the feet of Brahma (the Creator), who has evolved the ocean of worldly existence, the birth-place of nectar, the moon and the cow of plenty in the form of saints, on the one hand, and of poison and wine in the form of the wicked, on the other.† Making obeisance to the feet of gods, the Brahmanas, wise men and the deities presiding over the nine planets, I pray to them with joined palms! Be pleased to accomplish all my fair desires.(14 D-G)