“Glory to You, O RŒma, perpetual abode of bliss. O Hari (the reliever of suffering), O Chief of the Raghus, bearing a bow and arrows! Lord, You are a veritable lion to tear in pieces the elephant of mundane existence, and an ocean of virtues, my clever and omnipresent Master. In Your person stands concentrated the incomparable beauty 934 * ÝR” RMACARITAMNASA* of a myriad Cupids; Siddhas, as well as the greatest of sages and bards sing Your praises. Your glory is not only sacred, it purifies all; in Your wrath You seized RŒva˜a even as Garu˛a (the king of the birds) might seize a huge serpent. Delight of devotees, and dispeller of their grief and fear, You are ever unmoved by passion, and are all- intelligence, my lord. Your descent on the mortal plane is beneficent and full of untold virtues: You come to relieve Earth’s burdens and Your manifestations on earth are wisdom personified. (Though descended on earth,) You are ever unborn, omnipresent, one (without a second) and beginningless. I gladly bow to You, O RŒma, fountain of mercy ! Ornament of Raghu’s race and Slayer of demon Dµuƒa˜a (RŒva˜a’s Cousin), You eradicate the faults of Your devotees and made Vibh¶ƒa˜a, destitute as he was, the Ruler of La˘kŒ. Storehouse of virtue and wisdom and beyond all measure, You have no pride in You and are unborn, all pervading and free from the taint of MŒyŒ; I constantly adore You, RŒma. Terrible is the glory and might of Your arms, which are deft in exterminating the hordes of the impious. Compassionate and friendly to the poor without any ostensible reason and a reservoir of beauty, I adore You alongwith RamŒ (S¶tŒ). Deliverer from the rounds of birth and death, You are beyond both cause (Prak¾ti) and effect (the phenomenal universe) and eradicate the awful weaknesses of the (devotee’s) mind. Armed with a charming bow, arrows, and quiver, You have eyes resembling a red lotus. A paragon of kings, home of bliss, Lakƒm¶’s lovely Consort, subduer of arrogance, lust and the false sense of mineness, You are free from blemish integral and imperceptible to the senses. Though manifest in all forms, You never transmuted Yourself into them all: so declare the Vedas; it is no mere gossip, as will be clear from the analogy of the sun and the sunshine, which are different and yet identical. Blessed are all these monkeys, O ubiquitous Lord, who reverently gaze on Your countenance; while accursed, O Hari, is our (so-called) immortal existence and our ethereal bodies in that we lack in devotion to You and are lost in worldly pleasures. Now show Your mercy to me, compassionate as You are to the afflicted, and take away my differentiating sense (which makes the world appear as apart from You), which leads me to wrong action and deluded by which I pass my days in merriment, mistaking woe for happiness. Destroyer of the wicked and lovely jewel of the earth, Your lotus feet are adored even by Ýambhu (Lord Ýiva) and UmŒ (Goddess PŒrvat¶). O King of kings, grant me this boon that I may cherish loving devotion to Your lotus feet, which is a perennial source of blessings.” (1—11)