By great Krisasva best of kings,
Son of the Lord of living things.
More fit recipient none can be
Than he who joys in following thee;
And for our sakes the monarch's seed
Has yet to do a mighty deed."

He spoke; and all the heavenly train
Rejoicing sought their homes again,
While honor to the saint they paid--
Then came the evening's twilight shade.
The best of hermits overjoyed
To know the monstrous fiend destroyed,
His lips on Rama's forehead pressed,
And thus the conquering chief addressed:--
"O Rama, gracious to the sight,
Here will we pass the present night,
And with the morrow's earliest ray
Bend to my hermitage our way."
The son of Dasaratha heard,
Delighted, Visvamitra's word--
And as he bade, that night he spent
In Tadaka's wild wood, content.
And the grove shone that happy day,
Freed from the curse that on it lay--
Like Chaitraratha fair and gay.

CANTO XXIX

THE CELESTIAL ARMS

That night they slept and took their rest;
And then the mighty saint addressed,
With pleasant smile and accents mild
These words to Raghu's princely child:--
"Well pleased am I. High fate be thine,
Thou scion of a royal line.
Now will I, for I love thee so,
All heavenly arms on thee bestow.
Victor with these, whoe'er oppose,
Thy hand shall conquer all thy foes--
Though Gods and spirits of the air,
Serpents and fiends, the conflict dare.
I'll give thee as a pledge of love
The mystic arms they use above,
For worthy thou to have revealed
The weapons I have learnt to wield.
First, son of Raghu, shall be thine
The arm of Vengeance, strong, divine:
The arm of Fate, the arm of Right,
And Vishnu's arm of awful might:--
That, before which no foe can stand,
The thunderbolt of Indra's hand;
And Siva's trident, sharp and dread,
And that dire weapon, Brahma's Head.
And two fair clubs, O royal child,
One Charmer and one Pointed styled--
With flame of lambent fire aglow,
On thee, O Chieftain, I bestow.
And Fate's dread net and Justice' noose
That none may conquer, for thy use:--
And the great cord, renowned of old,
Which Varun ever loves to hold.
Take these two thunderbolts, which I
Have got for thee, the Moist and Dry.
Here Siva's dart to thee I yield,
And that which Vishnu