lk;
And clinging to her finger, learned to walk:
These childish lessons stretched his father's joy,

Who clasped the baby to his breast, and thrilled
To feel the nectar-touch upon his skin,
Half closed his eyes, the father's bliss to win
Which, more for long delay, his being filled.

The baby hair must needs be clipped; yet he
Retained two dangling locks, his cheeks to fret;
And down the river of the alphabet
He swam, with other boys, to learning's sea.

Religion's rites, and what good learning suits
A prince, he had from teachers old and wise;
Not theirs the pain of barren enterprise,
For effort spent on good material, fruits.

This happy childhood is followed by a youth equally happy. Raghu is
married and made crown prince. He is entrusted with the care of the
horse of sacrifice,[1] and when Indra, king of the gods, steals the
horse, Raghu fights him. He cannot overcome the king of heaven, yet he
acquits himself so creditably that he wins Indra's friendship. In
consequence of this proof of his manhood, the empire is bestowed upon
Raghu by his father, who retires with his queen to the forest, to
spend his last days and prepare for death.

_Fourth canto. Raghu conquers the world_.--The canto opens with
several stanzas descriptive of the glory of youthful King Raghu.

He manifested royal worth
By even justice toward the earth,
Beloved as is the southern breeze,
Too cool to burn, too warm to freeze.

The people loved his father, yet
For greater virtues could forget;
The beauty of the blossoms fair
Is lost when mango-fruits are there.

But the vassal kings are restless

For when they knew the king was gone
And power was wielded by his son,
The wrath of subject kings awoke,
Which had been damped in sullen smoke.

Raghu therefore determines to make a warlike progress through all
India. He marches eastward with his army from his capital Ayodhya (the
name is preserved in the modern Oudh) to the Bay of Bengal, then south
along the eastern shore of India to Cape Comorin, then north along the
western shore until he comes to the region drained by the Indus,
finally east through the tremendous Himalaya range into Assam, and
thence home. The various nations whom he encounters, Hindus, Persians,
Greeks, and White Huns, all submit either with or without fighting. On
his safe return, Raghu offers a great sacrifice and gives away all his
wealth.[2]