For neither here, nor in the world to come,
Can there be peace to one who casts aside
The friend whose love is pure and true--the friend
Who serves him from the heart. Return!
Return! to heaven! O Indra! If thou grant
My friends to rise with me, to heav'n will I
Ascend; if not, with them will I descend
To Naraka." "O king! thy prayer is heard!
Thy people's sins are pardoned: even for them,
Hard though it be, thy toils and pains have gained
A place in heaven." Thus mighty Indra spoke.
Replied the king: "Indra! I will not leave
My kinsmen. By his kinsmen's help a king
His kingdom rules; by them he offers up
The kingly sacrifice, and for himself
Lays up a store of meritorious deeds.
So have my kinsmen too enabled me
To work whate'er I may of righteousness.
My actions virtuous, my granted prayers,
Truly I owe to them, for by their aid
Have these been possible. May the reward
Thou grantest me, I pray, be shared with them.
My kinsmen, though I should ascend to heaven,
I will not leave." "So be it!" Indra said;
"So be it!" said the Brahman; Dharma, too,
Gave his assent; and then, in countless hosts,
Appeared the heavenly chariots. Indra said:
"Men of Ayodhya, ascend to heaven."
The saintly Brahman, having heard with joy
The words of Indra, poured the sacred oil