26. I do not belong to this body, nor does it belong to me, nor is any thing else mine; I shall be null and void like the oil-less lamp, and abandon every thing with this body. 27. Válmíki said:—Then Ráma who was as lovely as the moon, and whose mind was well fraught with reasoning, became silent before the assemblage of the eminent men, as the peacock ceases from his screaming before the gathering clouds in awe. CHAPTER XXXII. PRAISES ON RÁMA’S SPEECH. Válmíki said:—When the prince Ráma (having his eyes resembling the petals of a lotus), had concluded his speech calculated to remove all ignorance from the mind. 2. All the men in the assembly had their eyes beaming forth with wonder, and the hairs on their bodies stood erect and pierced through their garments, as if wishing to hear the speech. 3. The assembly seemed for a moment to have lost their worldly desires in their eagerness after a stoic indifference, and to be rolling in the sea of nectar. 4. The audience remained (motionless) as the figures in a painting, being enraptured with internal delight at hearing the sweet words of the fortunate Ráma. 5. There were Vasishtha and Viswámitra with other sages, and the prime minister Jayanta and other counsellors (of the king) then seated in that assembly. 6. There were also king Dasaratha and his subordinate rajas, with the citizens and foreign delegates, the chieftains and princes, together with Bráhmans and men learned in the Vedas and divine knowledge. 7. These accompanied by their friends and allies, with the birds in the cages and the royal antelopes and steeds of sport (about the palace), listened to Ráma with fixed and mute attention. 8. There were likewise the queen Kausalyá and other ladies adorned with their best jewels, and seated at the windows, all mute and motionless. 9. Besides these the birds on the trees and creepers of the princely pleasure garden, were listening to Ráma without fluttering their wings or making any motion or sound. 10. There were the Siddhas and ærial beings, and the tribes of Gandharvas and Kinnaras, together with Nárada, Vyása and Pulapa the chiefs of sages (present at that place). 11. There were also some of the gods and chiefs of gods, Vidyádharas and the Nágas, who heard the speech of Ráma which was full of meaning and clearness. 12. As Ráma whose eyes were beautiful as the lotus, whose face was as lovely as the moon, and who likened the nocturnal luminary in the atmosphere of Raghu’s family, held his silence. 13. Flowers were cast upon him from heaven in showers by the hands of the divine personages with their loud cheers and blessings. 14. The people in the assembly were highly regaled with the sweet scent and beauty of these flowers of paradise fraught with humming bees in their cells.