Explore "The Ramayan" by Valmiki on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Thus to Lord Indra, Thousand-eyed, Softly beseeching Diti sighed. When but a blighted bud was left, Which Indra's hand in seven had cleft: "No fault, O Lord of Gods, is thine; The blame herein is only mine. But for one grace I fain would pray, As thou hast reft this hope away. This bud, O Indra, which a blight Has withered ere it saw the light-- From this may seven fair spirits rise To rule the regions of the skies. Be theirs through heaven's unbounded space On shoulders of the winds to race, My children, drest in heavenly forms, Far-famed as Maruts, Gods of storms. One God to Brahma's sphere assign, Let one, O Indra, watch o'er thine; And ranging through the lower air, The third the name of Vayu bear. Gods let the four remaining be, And roam through space, obeying thee."
The Town-destroyer, Thousand-eyed, Who smote fierce Bali till he died, Joined suppliant hands, and thus replied: "Thy children heavenly forms shall wear; The names devised by thee shall bear, And, Maruts called by my decree, Shall Amrit drink and wait on me. From fear and age and sickness freed, Through the three worlds their wings shall speed."