Chapter Two — Birds, Bees, and the Bakula Grove

The kadamba forest contained many exquisitely fragrant groves, one for each season, all flowering evenly on every side. Beautiful swarms of bees drank their honey and shone everywhere.

Patanti mattā rajasāruṇāṅgā nayanti kecit kusumākareṣu,
Kvacit mayūrāḥ parinṛtyayanti gāyanti kīrāḥ kvacid aprameyāḥ. (5)

Intoxicated bees, their bodies reddened by pollen, fell in swarms. Elsewhere they weighed down flowering branches; peacocks danced beautifully; innumerable parrots sang in wondrous voices.

Anye dvijā jāmbūnadāṅganasthā nirīkṣayante Raghuvaṃśa-nātham,
Dhyānekṣaṇāḥ sadya-nimeṣaṇāś ca cittārpitāś cinmanaso babhūvuḥ. (6)

Other birds sat in golden courtyards and pointed out the Lord of Raghu’s line to one another. Some closed their eyes in meditation, then quickly opened them to behold the Couple; offering up their minds, they became conscious through and through.

Tataḥ pratīcya Śrī-Rāmaḥ Sītayā saha śobhanam,
Kānanaṃ vakula-jūṣṭaṃ paramānanda-dāyakam. (7)

Rama then went westward with Sita and beheld a lovely forest thick with bakula and malshri trees, a bestower of supreme bliss.