Classic Poem

HOW sweetly G ANGA smiles, and glides
Luxuriant o'er her broad autumnal bed!
Her waves perpetual verdure spread,
Whilst heath and plenty deck her golden sides:
As when an eagle, child of light,
On Cambala's unmeasur'd height,
By Patala, the pontiff's throne rever'd,
O'er her eyry proudly rear'd
Sits brooding, and her plumage vast expands,
Thus G ANGA o'er her cherish'd lands,
To Brahma's grateful race endear'd,
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 bless'd Cailasa's top, where every stem
Glow'd with a vegetable gem,
Mahesa stood, the dread and joy of men;
While Parvati, to gain a boon,
Fix'd on his locks a beamy moon,
And hid his frontal eye, in jocund play,
With reluctant sweet delay:
All nature straight was lock'd in dim eclipse
Till Brahmans pure with hallow'd lips
And warbled prayers restor'd the day;
When G ANGA from his brow by heavenly fingers press'd
Sprang radiant, and descending grac'd the caverns of the west.

The sun's car blaz'd, and laugh'd the morn;
What time near proud Cantesa's eastern bow'rs,
(While Devata's rain'd living flow'rs)
A river god, so Brahma will'd, was born,
And roll'd mature his vivid stream
Impetuous with celestial gleam:
The charms of G ANGA , through all worlds, proclaim'd,
Soon his youthful breast inflam'd,
But destiny the bridal hour delay'd;
Then, distant from the westering maid,
He flow'd, now blissful Sanpo nam'd,
By Palte crown'd 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
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 rush'd,
And from her sacred mansion gush'd,
Yet ah! with erring step—The western hills
Pride, not pious ardour, fills:
In fierce confederacy the giant bands
Advance with venom-darting hands,
Fed by their own malignant rills:
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!
But thou, lov'd father, teach my waves to flow.’
Loud thunder her high birth confess'd;
Then from the' inhospitable west
She turn'd, and gliding o'er a lovelier plain,
Cheer'd the pearled East again:
Through groves of nard she roll'd, o'er spicy reeds,
Through golden vales and emerald meads;
Till, pleas'd with I NDRA'S fair domain,
She won through yielding marl her heaven-directed way:
With lengthen'd notes her eddies curl'd, and pour'd a blaze of day.

Smoothly by Sanbal's flaunting bow'rs,
Smoothly she flows, where Calinadi brings
To Canyacuvja, seat of kings,
On prostrate waves her tributary flow'rs;
Whilst Yamunà, whose waters clear
Fam'd Indraprestha's vallies cheer,
With Soreswati knit in mystic chain,
Gurgles o'er the vocal plain
Of Mathura, by sweet Brindávan's grove,
Where Gopa's love lorn daughters rove,
And hurls her azure stream amain,
Till bless'd 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,
Sonorous rivers, bright though deep,
O'er thirsty deserts youth and freshness throw.
‘A goddess comes,’ cried Gumti chaste,
And roll'd her flood with zealous haste;
Her follow'd Soma with pellucid wave
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 odour flings,
And Mahanadi laughing wild at cities, thrones, and kings.

Thy temples, Casi, next she sought,
And verdurous flames by tepid breezes fan'd,
Where health extends her pinions bland,
Thy groves, where pious Valmic sat and thought,
Where Vyása pour'd the strain sublime,
That laughs at all consuming time,
And Brahmans wrapt the lofty Veda sing
Cease, oh! cease—a ruffian king,
The demon of his empire, not the grace,
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 sway'd by nations yet unknown.

Less hallow'd scenes her course prolong;
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
To domes and turrets gives his awful name
Fragrant in the gales of fame!
Nor stop, where R AMA , bright from dire alarms,
Sinks in chaste Sita's constant arms,
While bards his wars and truth proclaim:
There from a fiery cave the bubbling crystal flows,
And Muctigir, delightful hill, with mirth and beauty glows.

Oh! rising bowers, great Cali's boast,
And thou, from Gangà nam'd, enchanting mount,
What voice your wailings can recount,
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,
Whom rigour fir'd, nor legions could appal,
I see before thy mildness fall,
Thy wisdom love, thy justice fear:
A race, whom rapine nurs'd, whom gory murder stains,
Thy fair example wins to peace, to gentle virtue trains.

But mark, where old Bhágírath leads
(This boon his prayers of Mahádèw obtain:
Grace more distinguish'd who could gain!)
Her calmer current o'er his western meads,
Which trips the fertile plains along,
When vengeance waits the' oppressor's wrong;
Then girds, fair Nawadwip, thy shaded cells,
Where the Pendit musing dwells;
Thence by the' abode of arts and commerce glides,
Till Sagar breasts the bitter tides:
While she, whom struggling passion swells,
Beyond the labyrinth green, where pards by moonlight prowl,
With rapture seeks her destin'd lord, and pours her mighty soul.

Meanwhile o'er Pótyid's musky dales,
Gay Rangamar, where sweetest spikenard blooms,
And Siret, fam'd for strong perfumes,
That, flung from shining tresses, lull the gales.