41. He bade adieu to the aerial, earthly and the subterraneous beings, that kept company with him with their encomiums on his merits; and then entering his house, he performed his Bráhmanical rites with a duteous disposition. CHAPTER II. RÁMA’S RECAPITULATION OF VASISHTHA’S LECTURES. Argument. Performance of Daily Rites, and Ráma’s Reflection of Vasishtha’s Teaching at night. Válmíki continued his relation to Bharadwája and said:—After the moon-bright princes had got to their residence, they discharged their daily services according to the diurnal ritual. 2. Even Vasishtha and the other saints, sages, and Bráhmans not excepting the king and the princes, were all engaged in their holy services at their own houses. 3. They bathed in the sacred streams and fountains, filled with floating bushes of lotuses and other aquatic plants, and frequented by the ruddy geese, cranes and storks on their border. 4. After they had performed their ablutions, they made donations of lands and kine, of seats and beddings and of sesamum grains, with gold and gems, and food and raiments to the holy Bráhmans. 5. They then worshipped the gods Vishnu and Siva in their temples, and made oblations to the sun and regents of the skies in their own houses, with offerings of gold and gems; which are sacred to particular deities and the planets. (Particular gems and metals are sacred to their presiding divinities). 6. After their offerings were over, they joined with their sons and grandsons, friends, and relatives, and their guests also, in partaking of their lawful food. (Unlawful food is hateful to the faithful). 7. Shortly after this, the daylight faded away at the eighth watch (yamárdha) of the day; and the charming scene of the city began to disappear from sight. 8. The people then employed themselves to their proper duties at the decline of the day, and betook to their evening service with the failing beams of the setting sun. 9. They recited their evening hymn (Sandhyá), repeated their _japamantras_, and uttered their prayer for the forgiveness of sins (_agha marshana_); they read aloud their hymns and sang their evening song of praise. 10. Then rose the shade of night to allay the sorrow of lovelorn damsels, as the moon arose from the milky ocean of the east, to cool the heat of the setting sun. 11. The princes of Raghu’s race then reclined on their downy and flowery beds, sprinkled over with handfuls of camphor powder, and appearing as a sheet of spreading moon-light. 12. The eyes of all men were folded in sleep, and they passed the live-long night as a short interval; but Ráma kept waking in his bed, meditating on all things he had heard from the sage. 13. Ráma continued to reflect on the lectures of Vasishtha, which appeared as charming to him, as the cry of the parent elephant, is gladsome to its tender young (karabha).