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 lore
The mystic arms they use above,
For worthy thou to have revealed
The weapons I have learnt to wield.
41:1 The famous pleasure-garden of Kuvera
the God of Wealth. 41:2 'The whole of this Canto together
with the following one, regards the belief,
formerly prevalent in India, that by virtue
of certain spells, to be learnt and muttered,
secret knowledge and superhuman
powers might be acquired. To this the
poet has already alluded in Canto xxiii.
These incorporeal weapons are partly represented
according to the fashion of
those ascribed to the Gods and the different
orders of demi-gods, partly are the
mere creations of fancy; and it would not
be easy to say what idea the poet had of
them in his own mind, or what powers he
meant to assign to each.' SCHLEGEL.