Kusa and Lava.

As the story of the banishment of Sita and the subsequent birth in Valmiki's hermitage of Kusa and Lava the rhapsodists of the Ramayan, is intimately connected with the account in the introductory cantos of Valmiki's composition of the poem, I shall, I trust, be pardoned for extracting it from my rough translation of Kalidasa's Raghuvansa, parts only of which have been offered to the public.

"Then, day by day, the husband's hope grew high, Gazing with love on Sita's melting eye: With anxious care he saw her pallid cheek, And fondly bade her all her wishes speak. "Once more I fain would see," the lady cried, "The sacred groves that rise on Ganga's side, Where holy grass is ever fresh and green, And cattle feeding on the rice are seen: There would I rest awhile, where once I strayed Linked in sweet friendship to each hermit maid." And Rama smiled upon his wife, and sware, With many a tender oath, to grant her prayer. It chanced, one evening, from a lofty seat He viewed Ayodhya stretched before his feet: He looked with pride upon the royal road Lined with gay shops their glittering stores that showed, He looked on Sarju's silver waves, that bore The light barks flying with the sail and oar; He saw the gardens near the town that lay, Filled with glad citizens and boys at play. Then swelled the monarch's bosom with delight, And his heart triumphed at the happy sight. He turned to Bhadra, standing by his side,— Upon whose secret news the king relied.— And bade him say what people said and thought Of all the exploits that his arm had wrought. The spy was silent, but, when questioned still, Thus spake, obedient to his master's will: "For all thy deeds in peace and battle done The people praise thee, King, except for one: This only act of all thy life they blame,— Thy welcome home of her, thy ravished dame." Like iron yielding to the iron's blow, Sank Rama, smitten by those words of woe. His breast, where love and fear for empire vied, Swayed, like a rapid swing, from side to side. Shall he this rumour scorn, which blots his life, Or banish her, his dear and spotless wife? But rigid Duty left no choice between His perilled honour and his darling queen. Called to his side, his brothers wept to trace The marks of anguish in his altered face. No longer bright and glorious as of old, He thus addressed them when the tale was told: "Alas! my brothers, that my life should blot The fame of those the Sun himself begot: As from the labouring cloud the driven rain Leaves on the mirror's polished face a stain. E'en as an elephant who loathes the stake And the strong chain he has no power to break, I cannot brook this cry on every side, That spreads like oil upon the moving tide. I leave the daughter of Videha's King, And the fair blossom soon from her to spring, As erst, obedient to my sire's command, I left the empire of the sea-girt land. Good is my queen, and spotless; but the blame Is hard to bear, the mockery and the shame. Men blame the pure Moon for the darkened ray, When the black shadow takes the light away. And, O my brothers, if ye wish to see Rama live long from this reproach set free, Let not your pity labour to control The firm sad purpose of his changeless soul."

Thus Rama spake. The sorrowing brothers heard His stern resolve, without an answering word; For none among them dared his voice to raise, That will to question:—and they could not praise. "Beloved brother," thus the monarch cried To his dear Lakshman, whom he called aside.— Lakshman, who knew no will save his alone Whose hero deeds through all the world were known:— "My queen has told me that she longs to rove Beneath the shade of Saint Valmiki's grove: Now mount thy car, away my lady bear; Tell all, and leave her in the forest there."

The car was brought, the gentle lady smiled, As the glad news her trusting heart beguiled. She mounted up: Sumantra held the reins; And forth the coursers bounded o'er the plains. She saw green fields in all their beauty dressed, And thanked her husband in her loving breast. Alas! deluded queen! she little knew How changed was he whom she believed so true; How one she worshipped like the Heavenly Tree Could, in a moment's time, so deadly be. Her right eye throbbed,—ill-omened sign, to tell The endless loss of him she loved so well, And to the lady's saddening heart revealed The woe that Lakshman, in his love, concealed. Pale grew the bloom of her sweet face,—as fade The lotus blossoms,—by that sign dismayed. "Oh, may this omen,"—was her silent prayer,— "No grief to Rama or his brothers bear!"

When Lakshman, faithful to his brother, stood Prepared to leave her in the distant wood, The holy Ganga, flowing by the way, Raised all her hands of waves to bid him stay. At length with sobs and burning tears that rolled Down his sad face, the king's command he told; As when a monstrous cloud, in evil hour, Rains from its labouring womb a stony shower. She heard, she swooned, she fell upon the earth, Fell on that bosom whence she sprang to birth. As, when the tempest in its fury flies, Low in the dust the prostrate creeper lies, So, struck with terror sank she on the ground, And all her gems, like flowers, lay scattered round. But Earth, her mother, closed her stony breast, And, filled with doubt, denied her daughter rest. She would not think the Chief of Raghu's race Would thus his own dear guiltless wife disgrace. Stunned and unconscious, long the lady lay, And felt no grief, her senses all astray. But gentle Lakshman, with a brother's care, Brought back her sense, and with her sense, despair. But not her wrongs, her shame, her grief, could wring One angry word against her lord the King: Upon herself alone the blame she laid, For tears and sighs that would not yet be stayed. To soothe her anguish Lakshman gently strove; He showed the path to Saint Valmiki's grove; And craved her pardon for the share of ill He wrought, obedient to his brother's will. "O, long and happy, dearest brother, live! I have to praise," she cried, "and not forgive: To do his will should be thy noblest praise; As Vishnu ever Indra's will obeys. Return, dear brother: on each royal dame Bestow a blessing in poor Sita's name, And bid them, in their love, kind pity take Upon her offspring, for the father's sake. And speak my message in the monarch's ear, The last last words of mine that he shall hear: "Say, was it worthy of thy noble race Thy guiltless queen thus lightly to disgrace? For idle tales to spurn thy faithful bride, Whose constant truth the searching fire had tried? Or may I hope thy soul refused consent, And but thy voice decreed my banishment? Hope that no care could turn, no love could stay The lightning stroke that falls on me to-day? That sins committed in the life that's fled Have brought this evil on my guilty head? Think not I value now my widowed life, Worthless to her who once was Rama's wife. I only live because I hope to see The dear dear babe that will resemble thee. And then my task of penance shall be done, With eyes uplifted to the scorching sun; So shall the life that is to come restore Mine own dear husband, to be lost no more." And Lakshman swore her every word to tell, Then turned to go, and bade the queen farewell. Alone with all her woes, her piteous cries Rose like a butchered lamb's that struggling dies. The reverend sage who from his dwelling came For sacred grass and wood to feed the flame, Heard her loud shrieks that rent the echoing wood, And, quickly following, by the mourner stood. Before the sage the lady bent her low, Dried her poor eyes, and strove to calm her woe. With blessings on her hopes the blameless man In silver tones his soothing speech began: "First of all faithful wives, O Queen, art thou; And can I fail to mourn thy sorrows now? Rest in this holy grove, nor harbour fear Where dwell in safety e'en the timid deer. Here shall thine offspring safely see the light, And be partaker of each holy rite. Here, near the hermits' dwellings, shall thou lave Thy limbs in Tonse's sin-destroying wave, And on her isles, by prayer and worship, gain Sweet peace of mind, and rest from care and pain. Each hermit maiden with her sweet soft voice, Shall soothe thy woe, and bid thy heart rejoice: With fruit and early flowers thy lap shall fill, And offer grain that springs for us at will. And here, with labour light, thy task shall be To water carefully each tender tree, And learn how sweet a nursing mother's joy Ere on thy bosom rest thy darling boy.…"

That very night the banished Sita bare Two royal children, most divinely fair.…

The saint Valmiki, with a friend's delight, Graced Sita's offspring with each holy rite. Kusa and Lava—such the names they bore— Learnt, e'en in childhood, all the Vedas' lore; And then the bard, their minstrel souls to train, Taught them to sing his own immortal strain. And Rama's deeds her boys so sweetly sang, That Sita's breast forgot her bitterest pang.…

Then Sita's children, by the saint's command, Sang the Ramayan, wandering through the land. How could the glorious poem fail to gain Each heart, each ear that listened to the strain! So sweet each minstrel's voice who sang the praise Of Rama deathless in Valmiki's lays. Rama himself amid the wondering throng Marked their fair forms, and loved the noble song, While, still and weeping, round the nobles stood, As, on a windless morn, a dewy wood. On the two minstrels all the people gazed, Praised their fair looks and marvelled as they praised; For every eye amid the throng could trace Rama's own image in each youthful face. Then spoke the king himself and bade them say Who was their teacher, whose the wondrous lay. Soon as Valmiki, mighty saint, he saw, He bowed his head in reverential awe. "These are thy children" cried the saint, "recall Thine own dear Sita, pure and true through all." "O holy father," thus the king replied, "The faithful lady by the fire was tried; But the foul demon's too successful arts Raised light suspicions in my people's hearts. Grant that their breasts may doubt her faith no more, And thus my Sita and her sons restore."

Raghuvansa Cantos XIV, XV.



Parasurama, Page 87.

"He cleared the earth thrice seven times of the Kshatriya caste, and filled with their blood the five large lakes of Samanta, from which he offered libations to the race of Bhrigu. Offering a solemn sacrifice to the King of the Gods Parasurama presented the earth to the ministering priests. Having given the earth to Kasyapa, the hero of immeasurable prowess retired to the Mahendra mountain, where he still resides; and in this manner was there enmity between him and the race of the Kshatriyas, and thus was the whole earth conquered by Parasurama." The destruction of the Kshatriyas by Parasurama had been provoked by the cruelty of the Kshatriyas. Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II. p. 334.

The scene in which he appears is probably interpolated for the sake of making him declare Rama to be Vishnu. "Herr von Schlegel has often remarked to me," says Lassen, "that without injuring the connexion of the story all the chapters [of the Ramayan] might be omitted in which Rama is regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu. In fact, where the incarnation of Vishnu as the four sons of Dasaratha is described, the great sacrifice is already ended, and all the priests remunerated at the termination, when the new sacrifice begins at which the Gods appear, then withdraw, and then first propose the incarnation to Vishnu. If it had been an original circumstance of the story, the Gods would certainly have deliberated on the matter earlier, and the celebration of the sacrifice would have continued without interruption." LASSEN, Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol. I. p. 489.



Yama, Page 68.

Son of Vivasvat=Jima son of Vivanghvat, the Jamshid of the later Persians.



Fate, Page 68.

"The idea of fate was different in India from that which prevailed in Greece. In Greece fate was a mysterious, inexorable power which governed men and human events, and from which it was impossible to escape. In India Fate was rather an inevitable consequence of actions done in births antecedent to one's present state of existence, and was therefore connected with the doctrine of metempsychosis. A misfortune was for the most part a punishment, an expiation of ancient faults not yet entirely cancelled." GORRESIO.



Visvamitra, Page 76.

"Though of royal extraction, Visvamitra conquered for himself and his family the privileges of a Brahman. He became a Brahman, and thus broke through all the rules of caste. The Brahmans cannot deny the fact, because it forms one of the principal subjects of their legendary poems. But they have spared no pains to represent the exertions of Visvamitra, in his struggle for Brahmanhood, as so superhuman that no one would easily be tempted to follow his example. No mention is made of these monstrous penances in the Veda, where the struggle between Visvamitra, the leader of the Kusikas or Bharatas, and the Brahman Vasishtha, the leader of the white-robed Tritsus, is represented as the struggle of two rivals for the place of Purohita or chief priest and minister at the court of King Sudas, the son of Pijavana." Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II. p. 336.



Household Gods, Page 102.

"No house is supposed to be without its tutelary divinity, but the notion attached to this character is now very far from precise. The deity who is the object of hereditary and family worship, the Kuladevata, is always one of the leading personages of the Hindu mythology, as Siva, Vishnu or Durga, but the Grihadevata rarely bears any distinct appellation. In Bengal, the domestic god is sometimes the Salagram stone, sometimes the tulasi plant, sometimes a basket with a little rice in it, and sometimes a water-jar—to either of which a brief adoration is daily addressed, most usually by the females of the family. Occasionally small images of Lakshmi or Chandi fulfil the office, or should a snake appear, he is venerated as the guardian of the dwelling. In general, however, in former times, the household deities were regarded as the unseen spirits of ill, the ghosts and goblins who hovered about every spot, and claimed some particular sites as their own. Offerings were made to them in the open air, by scattering a little rice with a short formula at the close of all ceremonies to keep them in good humour.

"The household gods correspond better with the genii locorum than with the lares or penates of autiquity."

H. H. WILSON.



Page 107.

Saivya, a king whom earth obeyed, Once to a hawk a promise made.

The following is a free version of this very ancient story which occurs more than once in the Mahabharat:

THE SUPPLIANT DOVE.

Chased by a hawk there came a dove With worn and weary wing, And took her stand upon the hand Of Kasi's mighty king. The monarch smoothed her ruffled plumes And laid her on his breast, And cried, "No fear shall vex thee here, Rest, pretty egg-born, rest! Fair Kasi's realm is rich and wide, With golden harvests gay, But all that's mine will I resign Ere I my guest betray." But panting for his half won spoil The hawk was close behind. And with wild cry and eager eye Came swooping down the wind: "This bird," he cried, "my destined prize, 'Tis not for thee to shield: 'Tis mine by right and toilsome flight O'er hill and dale and field. Hunger and thirst oppress me sore, And I am faint with toil: Thou shouldst not stay a bird of prey Who claims his rightful spoil. They say thou art a glorious king, And justice is thy care: Then justly reign in thy domain, Nor rob the birds of air." Then cried the king: "A cow or deer For thee shall straightway bleed, Or let a ram or tender lamb Be slain, for thee to feed. Mine oath forbids me to betray My little twice-born guest: See how she clings with trembling wings To her protector's breast." "No flesh of lambs," the hawk replied, "No blood of deer for me; The falcon loves to feed on doves And such is Heaven's decree. But if affection for the dove Thy pitying heart has stirred, Let thine own flesh my maw refresh, Weighed down against the bird." He carved the flesh from off his side, And threw it in the scale, While women's cries smote on the skies With loud lament and wail. He hacked the flesh from side and arm, From chest and back and thigh, But still above the little dove The monarch's scale stood high. He heaped the scale with piles of flesh, With sinews, blood and skin, And when alone was left him bone He threw himself therein. Then thundered voices through the air; The sky grew black as night; And fever took the earth that shook To see that wondrous sight. The blessed Gods, from every sphere, By Indra led, came nigh: While drum and flute and shell and lute Made music in the sky. They rained immortal chaplets down, Which hands celestial twine, And softly shed upon his head Pure Amrit, drink divine. Then God and Seraph, Bard and Nymph Their heavenly voices raised, And a glad throng with dance and song The glorious monarch praised. They set him on a golden car That blazed with many a gem; Then swiftly through the air they flew, And bore him home with them. Thus Kasi's lord, by noble deed, Won heaven and deathless fame: And when the weak protection seek From thee, do thou the same.

Scenes from the Ramayan, &c.



Page 108.

The ceremonies that attended the consecration of a king (Abhikshepa lit. Sprinkling over) are fully described in Goldstuecker's Dictionary, from which the following extract is made: "The type of the inauguration ceremony as practised at the Epic period may probably be recognized in the history of the inauguration of Rama, as told in the Ramayana, and in that of the inauguration of Yudhishthira, as told in the Mahabharatha. Neither ceremony is described in these poems with the full detail which is given of the vaidik rite in the Aitareya-Brahmanam; but the allusion that Rama was inaugurated by Vasishtha and the other Brahmanas in the same manner as Indra by the Vasus … and the observation which is made in some passages that a certain rite of the inauguration was performed 'according to the sacred rule' … admit of the conclusion that the ceremony was supposed to have taken place in conformity with the vaidik injunction.… As the inauguration of Rama was intended and the necessary preparations for it were made when his father Dasaratha was still alive, but as the ceremony itself, through the intrigues of his step-mother Kaikeyi, did not take place then, but fourteen years later, after the death of Dasaratha, an account of the preparatory ceremonies is given in the Ayodhyakanda (Book II) as well as in the Yuddha-Kanda (Book VI.) of the Ramayana, but an account of the complete ceremony in the latter book alone. According to the Ayodhyakanda, on the day preceding the intended inauguration Rama and his wife Sita held a fast, and in the night they performed this preliminary rite: Rama having made his ablutions, approached the idol of Narayana, took a cup of clarified butter, as the religious law prescribes, made a libation of it into the kindled fire, and drank the remainder while wishing what was agreeable to his heart. Then, with his mind fixed on the divinity he lay, silent and composed, together with Sita, on a bed of Kusa-grass, which was spread before the altar of Vishnu, until the last watch of the night, when he awoke and ordered the palace to be prepared for the solemnity. At day-break reminded of the time by the voices of the bards, he performed the usual morning devotion and praised the divinity. In the meantime the town Ayodhya had assumed a festive appearance and the inauguration implements had been arranged … golden water-jars, an ornamented throne-seat, a chariot covered with a splendid tiger-skin, water taken from the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, as well as from other sacred rivers, tanks, wells, lakes, and from all oceans, honey, curd, clarified butter, fried grain, Kusa-grass, flowers, milk; besides, eight beautiful damsels, and a splendid furious elephant, golden and silver jars, filled with water, covered with Udumbara branches and various lotus flowers, besides a white jewelled chourie, a white splendid parasol, a white bull, a white horse, all manner of musical instruments and bards.… In the preceding chapter … there are mentioned two white chouries instead of one, and all kinds of seeds, perfumes and jewels, a scimitar, a bow, a litter, a golden vase, and a blazing fire, and amongst the living implements of the pageant, instead of the bards, gaudy courtesans, and besides the eight damsels, professors of divinity, Brahmanas, cows and pure kinds of wild beasts and birds, the chiefs of town and country-people and the citizens with their train."



Page 109.

Then with the royal chaplains they Took each his place in long array.

The twice born chiefs, with zealous heed, Made ready what the rite would need.

"Now about the office of a Purohita (house priest). The gods do not eat the food offered by a king, who has no house-priest (Purohita). Thence the king even when (not) intending to bring a sacrifice, should appoint a Brahman to the office of house-priest." HAUG'S Autareya Brahmanam. Vol. II. p. 528.



Page 110.

There by the gate the Saras screamed.

The Saras or Indian Crane is a magnificent bird easily domesticated and speedily constituting himself the watchman of his master's house and garden. Unfortunately he soon becomes a troublesome and even dangerous dependent, attacking strangers with his long bill and powerful wings, and warring especially upon "small infantry" with unrelenting ferocity.



Page 120.

My mothers or my sire the king.

All the wives of the king his father are regarded and spoken of by Rama as his mothers.



Page 125.

Such blessings as the Gods o'erjoyed Poured forth when Vritra was destroyed.

"Mythology regards Vritra as a demon or Asur, the implacable enemy of Indra, but this is not the primitive idea contained in the name of Vritra. In the hymns of the Veda Vritra appears to be the thick dark cloud which Indra the God of the firmament attacks and disperses with his thunderbolt." GORRESIO.

"In that class of Rig-veda hymns which there is reason to look upon as the oldest portion of Vedic poetry, the character of Indra is that of a mighty ruler of the firmament, and his principal feat is that of conquering the demon Vritra, a symbolical personification of the cloud which obstructs the clearness of the sky, and withholds the fructifying rain from the earth. In his battles with Vritra he is therefore described as 'opening the receptacles of the waters,' as 'cleaving the cloud' with his 'far-whirling thunderbolt,' as 'casting the waters down to earth,' and 'restoring the sun to the sky.' He is in consequence 'the upholder of heaven, earth, and firmament,' and the god 'who has engendered the sun and the dawn.' " CHAMBERS'S CYCLOPAEDIA, Indra.

"Throughout these hymns two images stand out before us with overpowering distinctness. On one side is the bright god of the heaven, as beneficent as he is irresistible: on the other the demon of night and of darkness, as false and treachorous as he is malignant.… The latter (as his name Vritra, from var, to veil, indicates) is pre-eminently the thief who hides away the rain-clouds.… But the myth is yet in too early a state to allow of the definite designations which are brought before us in the conflicts of Zeus with Typhon and his monstrous progeny, of Apollon with the Python, of Bellerophon with Chimaira of Oidipous with the Sphinx, of Hercules with Cacus, of Sigurd with the dragon Fafnir; and thus not only is Vritra known by many names, but he is opposed sometimes by Indra, sometimes by Agni the fire-god, sometimes by Trita, Brihaspati, or other deities; or rather these are all names of one and the same god." COX'S Mythology of the Aryan Nations. Vol. II. p. 326.



Page 125.

And that prized herb whose sovereign power Preserves from dark misfortune's hour. "And yet more medicinal is it than that Moly, That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; He called it Haemony, and gave it me, And bade me keep it as of sovereign use 'Gainst all enchantment, mildew, blast, or damp, Or ghastly furies' apparition." Comus.

The Moly of Homer, which Dierbach considers to have been the Mandrake, is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit Mula a root.



Page 136.

True is the ancient saw: the Neem Can ne'er distil a honeyed stream.

The Neem tree, especially in the Rains, emits a strong unpleasant smell like that of onions. Its leaves however make an excellent cooling poultice, and the Extract of Neem is an admirable remedy for cutaneous disorders.



Page 152.

Who of Nishada lineage came.

The following account of the origin of the Nishadas is taken from Wilson's Vishnu Purana, Book I. Chap. 15. "Afterwards the Munis beheld a great dust arise, and they said to the people who were nigh: 'What is this?' And the people answered and said: 'Now that the kingdom is without a king, the dishonest men have begun to seize the property of their neighbours. The great dust that you behold, excellent Munis, is raised by troops of clustering robbers, hastening to fall upon their prey.' The sages, hearing this, consulted, and together rubbed the thigh of the king (Vena), who had left no offspring, to produce a son. From the thigh, thus rubbed, came forth a being of the complexion of a charred stake, with flattened features like a negro, and of dwarfish stature. 'What am I to do,' cried he eagerly to the Munis. 'Sit down (nishida),' said they. And thence his name was Nishada. His descendants, the inhabitants of the Vindhya mountain, great Muni, are still called Nishadas and are characterized by the exterior tokens of depravity." Professor Wilson adds, in his note on the passage: "The Matsya says that there were born outcast or barbarous races, Mlechchhas, as black as collyrium. The Bhagavata describes an individual of dwarfish stature, with short arms and legs, of a complexion as black as a crow, with projecting chin, broad flat nose, red eyes, and tawny hair, whose descendants were mountaineers and foresters. The Padma (Bhumi Khanda) has a similar deccription; adding to the dwarfish stature and black complexion, a wide mouth, large ears, and a protuberant belly. It also particularizes his posterity as Nishadas, Kiratas, Bhillas, and other barbarians and Mlechchhas, living in woods and on mountains. These passages intend, and do not much exaggerate, the uncouth appearance of the Gonds, Koles, Bhils, and other uncivilized tribes, scattered along the forests and mountains of Central India from Behar to Khandesh, and who are, not improbably, the predecessors of the present occupants of the cultivated portions of the country. They are always very black, ill-shapen, and dwarfish, and have countenances of a very African character."

Manu gives a different origin of the Nishadas as the offspring of a Brahman father and a Sudra mother. See Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. I. p. 481.



Page 157.

Beneath a fig-tree's mighty shade, With countless pendent shoots displayed. "So counselled he, and both together went Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose The fig-tree: not that kind for fruit renowned, But such as at this day, to Indians known, In Malabar or Deccan spreads her arms Branching so broad and long, that in the ground The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother tree, a pillared shade High overarched, and echoing walks between."

Paradise Lost, Book IX.



Page 161.

Now, Lakshman, as our cot is made, Must sacrifice be duly paid.

The rites performed in India on the completion of a house are represented in modern Europe by the familiar "house-warming."



Page 169.

I longed with all my lawless will Some elephant by night to kill.

One of the regal or military caste was forbidden to kill an elephant except in battle.

Thy hand has made no Brahman bleed.

"The punishment which the Code of Manu awards to the slayer of a Brahman was to be branded in the forehead with the mark of a headless corpse, and entirely banished from society; this being apparently commutable for a fine. The poem is therefore in accordance with the Code regarding the peculiar guilt of killing Brahmans; but in allowing a hermit who was not a Divija (twice-born) to go to heaven, the poem is far in advance of the Code. The youth in the poem is allowed to read the Veda, and to accumulate merit by his own as well as his father's pious acts; whereas the exclusive Code reserves all such privileges to Divijas invested with the sacred cord." Mrs. SPEIR'S Life in Ancient India, p. 107.



Page 174. The Praise Of Kings

"Compare this magnificent eulogium of kings and kingly government with what Samuel says of the king and his authority: And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.

And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen: and some shall run before his chariots.

And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to work his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instrument of war, and instruments of his chariots.

And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

And he will take your fields, and your vineyards and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you. I. Samuel, VIII.

In India kingly government was ancient and consecrated by tradition: whence to change it seemed disorderly and revolutionary: in Judaea theocracy was ancient and consecrated by tradition, and therefore the innovation which would substitute a king was represented as full of dangers." GORRESIO.



Page 176. Salmali.

According to the Bengal recension Salmali appears to have been another name of the Vipasa. Salmali may be an epithet signifying rich in Bombax heptaphyllon. The commentator makes another river out of the word.



Page 178. Bharat's Return.

"Two routes from Ayodhya to Rajagriha or Girivraja are described. That taken by the envoys appears to have been the shorter one, and we are not told why Bharat returned by a different road. The capital of the Kekayas lay to the west of the Vipasa. Between it and the Satadru stretched the country of the Bahikas. Upon the remaining portion of the road the two recensions differ. According to that of Bengal there follow towards the east the river Indamati, then the town Ajakala belonging to the Bodhi, then Bhulinga, then the river Saradanda. According to the other instead of the first river comes the Ikshumati … instead of the first town Abhikala, instead of the second Kulinga, then the second river. According to the direction of the route both the above-mentioned rivers must be tributaries of the Satadru.… The road then crossed the Yamuna (Jumna), led beyond that river through the country of the Panchalas, and reached the Ganges at Hastinapura, where the ferry was. Thence it led over the Ramaganga and its eastern tributaries, then over the Gomati, and then in a southern direction along the Malini, beyond which it reached Ayodhya. In Bharat's journey the following rivers are passed from west to east: Kutikoshtika, Uttanika, Kutika, Kapivati, Gomati according to Schlegel, and Hiranyavati, Uttarika, Kutila, Kapivati, Gomati according to Gorresio. As these rivers are to be looked for on the east of the Ganges, the first must be the modern Koh, a small affluent of the Ramaganga, over which the highway cannot have gone as it bends too far to the north. The Uttanika or Uttarika must be the Ramaganga, the Kutika or Kutila its eastern tributary, Kosila, the Kapivati the next tributary which on the maps has different names, Gurra or above Kailas, lower down Bhaigu. The Gomati (Goomtee) retains its old name. The Malini, mentioned only in the envoys' journey, must have been the western tributary of the Sarayu now called Chuka." LASSEN'S Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol. II. P. 524.



Page 183.

What worlds await thee, Queen, for this?

"Indian belief divided the universe into several worlds (lokah). The three principal worlds were heaven, earth, and hell. But according to another division there were seven: Bhurloka or the earth, Bhuvarloka or the space between the earth and the sun, the seat of the Munis, Siddhas, &c., Svarloka or the heaven of Indra between the sun and the polar star, and the seventh Brahmaloka or the world of Brahma. Spirits which reached the last were exempt from being born again." GORRESIO.



Page 203.

When from a million herbs a blaze Of their own luminous glory plays.

This mention of lambent flames emitted by herbs at night may be compared with Lucan's description of a similar phenomenon in the Druidical forest near Marseilles, (Pharsalia, III. 420.).

Non ardentis fulgere incendia silvae.

Seneca, speaking of Argolis, (Thyestes, Act IV), says:—

Tota solet

Micare flamma silva, et excelsae trabes Ardent sine igni.

Thus also the bush at Horeb (Exod. II.) flamed, but was not consumed.

The Indian explanation of the phenomenon is, that the sun before he sets deposits his rays for the night with the deciduous plants. See Journal of R. As. S. Bengal, Vol. II. p. 339.



Page 219.

We rank the Buddhist with the thief.

Schlegel says in his Preface: "Lubrico vestigio insistit V. Cl. Heerenius, prof. Gottingensis, in libro suo de commerciis veterum populorum (OPP. Vol. HIST. XII, pag. 129,) dum putat, ex mentione sectatorum Buddhae secundo libro Rameidos iniecta de tempore, quo totum carmen sit conditum, quicquam legitime concludi posse.… Sunt versus spurii, reiecti a Bengalis in sola commentatorum recensione leguntur. Buddhas quidem mille fere annis ante Christum natun vixit: sed post multa demumsecula, odiointernecivo inter Brachmanos et Buddhae sectatores orto, his denique ex India pulsis, fingi potuit iniquissima criminatio, eos animi immortalitatem poenasque et praemia in vita futura negare. Praeterea metrum, quo concinnati sunt hi versus, de quo metro mox disseram, recentiorem aetatem arguit.… Poenitet me nunc mei consilii, quod non statim ab initio, … eiecerim cuncta disticha diversis a sloco vulgari metris composita. Metra sunt duo: pariter ambo constant quatuor hemistichiis inter se aequalibus, alterum undenarum syllabarum, alterum duodenarum, hunc in modum:

[-)] [-] [)] [-] [-] [)] [)] [-] [)] [-] [-)] [)] [-] [)] [-] [-] [)] [)] [-] [)] [-] [)] [-)]

Cuius generis versus in primo et secundo Rameidos libro nusquam nisi ad finem capitum apposita inveniuntur, et huic loco unice sunt accommodata, quasi peroratio, lyricis numeris assurgens, quo magis canorae cadant clausulae: sicut musici in concentibus extremis omnium vocum instrumentorumque ictu fortiore aures percellere amant. Igitur disticha illa non ante divisionem per capita illatam addi potuerunt: hanc autem grammaticis deberi argumento est ipse recensionum dissensus, manifesto inde ortus, quod singuli editores in ea constituenda suo quisque iudicio usi sunt; praeterquam quod non credibile est, poetam artis suae peritum narrationem continuam in membra tam minuta dissecuisse. Porro discolor est dictio: magniloquentia affectatur, sed nimis turgida illa atque effusa, nec sententiarum pondere satis suffulta. Denique nihil fere novi affertur: ampli ficantur prius dicta, rarius aliquid ex capite sequente anticipatur. Si quis appendices hosce legendo transiliat, sentiet slocum ultimum cum primo capitis proximi apte coagmentatum, nec sine vi quadam inde avulsum. Eiusmodi versus exhibet utraque recensio, sed modo haec modo illa plures paucioresve numero, et lectio interdum magnopere variat."

"The narrative of Rama's exile in the jungle is one of the most obscure portions of the Ramayana, inasmuch as it is difficult to discover any trace of the original tradition, or any illustration of actual life and manners, beyond the artificial life of self-mortification and selfdenial said to have been led by the Brahman sages of olden time. At the same time, however, the story throws some light upon the significance of the poem, and upon the character in which the Brahmanical author desired to represent Rama; and consequently it deserves more serious consideration than the nature of the subject-matter would otherwise seem to imply.

"According to the Ramayana, the hero Rama spent more than thirteen years of his exile in wandering amongst the different Brahmanical settlements, which appear to have been scattered over the country between the Ganges and the Godaveri; his wanderings extending from the hill of Chitra-kuta in Bundelkund, to the modern town of Nasik on the western side of India, near the source of the Godaveri river, and about seventy-five miles to the north-west of Bombay. The appearance of these Brahmanical hermitages in the country far away to the south of the Raj of Kasala, seems to call for critical inquiry. Each hermitage is said to have belonged to some particular sage, who is famous in Brahmanical tradition. But whether the sages named were really contemporaries of Rama, or whether they could possibly have flourished at one and the same period, is open to serious question. It is of course impossible to fix with any degree of certainty the relative chronology of the several sages, who are said to have been visited by Rama; but still it seems tolerably clear that some belonged to an age far anterior to that in which the Ramayana was composed, and probably to an age anterior to that in which Rama existed as a real and living personage; whilst, at least, one sage is to be found who could only have existed in the age during which the Ramayana was produced in its present form. The main proofs of these inferences are as follows. An interval of many centuries seems to have elapsed between the composition of the Rig-Veda and that of the Ramayana: a conclusion which has long been proved by the evidence of language, and is generally accepted by Sanskrit scholars. But three of the sages, said to have been contemporary with Rama, namely, Visvamitra, Atri and Agastya, are frequently mentioned in the hymns of the Rig-Veda; whilst Valmiki, the sage dwelling at Chitra-kuta, is said to have been himself the composer of the Ramayana. Again, the sage Atri, whom Rama visited immediately after his departure from Chitra-kuta, appears in the genealogical list preserved in the Maha Bharata, as the progenitor of the Moon, and consequently as the first ancestor of the Lunar race: whilst his grandson Buddha [Budha] is said to have married Ila, the daughter of Ikhsvaku who was himself the remote ancestor of the Solar race of Ayodhya, from whom Rama was removed by many generations. These conclusions are not perhaps based upon absolute proof, because they are drawn from untrustworthy authorities; but still the chronological difficulties have been fully apprehended by the Pundits, and an attempt has been made to reconcile all contradictions by representing the sages to have lived thousands of years, and to have often re-appeared upon earth in different ages widely removed from each other. Modern science refuses to accept such explanations; and consequently it is impossible to escape the conclusion that if Valmiki composed the Ramayana in the form of Sanskrit in which it has been preserved, he could not have flourished in the same age as the sages who are named in the Rig-Veda." WHEELER'S History of India, Vol. II, 229.



Page 249.

And King Himalaya's Child.

Uma or Parvati, was the daughter of Himalaya and Mena. She is the heroine of Kalidasa's Kumara-Sambhava or Birth of the War-God.



Page 250.

Strong Kumbhakarna slumbering deep In chains of never-ending sleep.

"Kumbhakarna, the gigantic brother of the titanic Ravan,—named from the size of his ears which could contain a Kumbha or large water-jar—had such an appetite that he used to consume six months' provisions in a single day. Brahma, to relieve the alarm of the world, which had begun to entertain serious apprehensions of being eaten up, decreed that the giant should sleep six months at a time and wake for only one day during which he might consume his six months' allowance without trespassing unduly on the reproductive capabilities of the " Scenes front the Ramayan, p. 153, 2nd Edit.



Page 257.

Like Siva when his angry might Stayed Daksha's sacrificial rite.

The following spirited version of this old story is from the pen of Mr. W. Waterfield:

"This is a favorite subject of Hindu sculpture, especially on the temples of Shiva, such as the caves of Elephanta and Ellora. It, no doubt, is an allegory of the contest between the followers of Shiva and the worshippers of the Elements, who observed the old ritual of the Vedas; in which the name of Shiva is never mentioned.

Daksha for devotion Made a mighty feast: Milk and curds and butter, Flesh of bird and beast, Rice and spice and honey, Sweetmeats ghi and gur,(1038) Gifts for all the Brahmans, Food for all the poor. At the gates of Ganga(1039) Daksha held his feast; Called the gods unto it, Greatest as the least. All the gods were gathered Round with one accord; All the gods but Uma, All but Uma's lord. Uma sat with Shiva On Kailasa hill: Round them stood the Rudras Watching for their will. Who is this that cometh Lilting to his lute? All the birds of heaven Heard his music, mute. Round his head a garland Rich of hue was wreathed: Every sweetest odour From its blossoms breathed. 'Tis the Muni Narad; 'Mong the gods he fares, Ever making mischief By the tales he bears. "Hail to lovely Uma! Hail to Uma's lord! Wherefore are they absent For her father's board? Multiplied his merits Would be truly thrice, Could he gain your favour For his sacrifice." Worth of heart was Uma; To her lord she spake:— "Why dost thou, the mighty, Of no rite partake? Straight I speed to Daksha Such a sight to see: If he be my father, He must welcome thee." Wondrous was in glory Daksha's holy rite; Never had creation Viewed so brave a sight. Gods, and nymphs, find fathers, Sages, Brahmans, sprites,— Every diverge creature Wrought that rite of rites. Quickly then a quaking Fell on all from far; Uma stood among them On her lion car. "Greeting, gods and sages, Greeting, father mine! Work hath wondrous virtue, Where such aids combine. Guest-hall never gathered Goodlier company: Seemeth all are welcome. All the gods but me." Spake the Muni Daksha, Stern and cold his tone:— "Welcome thou, too, daughter, Since thou com'st alone. But thy frenzied husband Suits another shrine; He is no partaker Of this feast of mine. He who walks in darkness Loves no deeds of light: He who herds with demons Shuns each kindly sprite. Let him wander naked.— Wizard weapons wield,— Dance his frantic measure Round the funeral field. Art thou yet delighted With the reeking hide, Body smeared with ashes. Skulls in necklace tied? Thou to love this monster? Thou to plead his part! Know the moon and Ganga Share that faithless heart Vainly art thou vying With thy rivals' charms. Are not coils of serpents Softer than thine arms?" Words like these from Daksha Daksha's daughter heard: Then a sudden passion All her bosom stirred. Eyes with fury flashing. Speechless in her ire, Headlong did she hurl her 'Mid the holy fire. Then a trembling terror Overcame each one, And their minds were troubled Like a darkened sun; And a cruel Vision, Face of lurid flame, Uma's Wrath incarnate, From the altar came. Fiendlike forms by thousands Started from his side, 'Gainst the sacrificers All their might they plied: Till the saints availed not Strength like theirs to stay, And the gods distracted Turned and fled away. Hushed were hymns and chanting, Priests were mocked and spurned; Food defiled and scattered; Altars overturned.— Then, to save the object Sought at such a price, Like a deer in semblance Sped the sacrifice. Soaring toward the heavens, Through the sky it fled? But the Rudras chasing Smote away its head. Prostrate on the pavement Daksha fell dismayed:— "Mightiest, thou hast conquered Thee we ask for aid. Let not our oblations All be rendered vain; Let our toilsome labour Full fruition gain." Bright the broken altars Shone with Shiva's form; "Be it so!" His blessing Soothed that frantic storm. Soon his anger ceases, Though it soon arise;— But the Deer's Head ever Blazes in the skies."

Indian Ballads and other Poems.



Page 286. Urvasi.

"The personification of Urvasi herself is as thin as that of Eos or Selene. Her name is often found in the Veda as a mere name for the morning, and in the plural number it is used to denote the dawns which passing over men bring them to old age and death. Urvasi is the bright flush of light overspreading the heaven before the sun rises, and is but another form of the many mythical beings of Greek mythology whose names take us back to the same idea or the same root. As the dawn in the Vedic hymns is called Uruki, the far-going (Telephassa, Telephos), so is she also Uruasi, the wide-existing or wide-spreading; as are Europe, Euryanassa, Euryphassa, and many more of the sisters of Athene and Aphrodite. As such she is the mother of Vasishtha, the bright being, as Oidipous is the son of Iokaste; and although Vasishtha, like Oidipous, has become a mortal bard or sage, he is still the son of Mitra and Varuna, of night and day. Her lover Pururavas is the counterpart of the Hellenic Polydeukes; but the continuance of her union with him depends on the condition that she never sees him unclothed. But the Gandharvas, impatient of her long sojourn among mortal men resolved to bring her back to their bright home; and Pururavas is thus led unwitingly to disregard her warning. A ewe with two lambs was tied to her couch, and the Gandharvas stole one of them; Urvasi said, 'They take away my darling, as if I lived in a land where there is no hero and no man.' They stole the second, and she upbraided her husband again. Then Pururavas looked and said, 'How can that be a land without heroes or men where I am?' And naked he sprang up; he thought it was too long to put on his dress. Then the Gandharvas sent a flash of lighting, and Urvasi saw her husband naked as by daylight. Then she vanished. 'I come back,' she said, and went. 'Then he bewailed his vanished love in bitter grief.' Her promise to return was fulfilled, but for a moment only, at the Lotos-lake, and Pururavas in vain beseeches her to tarry longer. 'What shall I do with thy speech?' is the answer of Urvasi. 'I am gone like the first of the dawns. Pururavas, go home again. I am hard to be caught like the winds.' Her lover is in utter despair; but when he lies down to die, the heart of Urvasi was melted, and she bids him come to her on the last night of the year. On that night only he might be with her; but a son should be born to him. On that day he went up to the golden seats, and there Urvasi told him that the Gandharvas would grant him one wish, and that he must make his choice. 'Choose thou for me,' he said: and she answered, 'Say to them, Let me be one of you.' "

COX'S Mythology of the Aryan Nations. Vol. I. p. 397.



Page 324.

The sovereign of the Vanar race.

"Vanar is one of the most frequently occurring names by which the poem calls the monkeys of Rama's army. Among the two or three derivations of which the word Vanar is susceptible, one is that which deduces it from vana which signifies a wood, and thus Vanar would mean a forester, an inhabitant of the wood. I have said elsewhere that the monkeys, the Vanars, whom Rama led to the conquest of Ceylon were fierce woodland tribes who occupied the mountainous regions of the south of India, where their descendants may still be seen. I shall hence forth promiscuously employ the word Vanar to denote those monkeys, those fierce combatants of Rama's army." GORRESIO.



Page 326.

No change of hue, no pose of limb Gave sign that aught was false in him. Concise, unfaltering, sweet and clear, Without a word to pain the ear, From chest to throat, nor high nor low, His accents came in measured flow.

Somewhat similarly in The Squire's Tale:

"He with a manly voice said his message, After the form used in his language, Withouten vice of syllable or of letter. And for his tale shoulde seem the better Accordant to his wordes was his chere, As teacheth art of speech them that it lere."



Page 329. Rama's Alliance With Sugriva.

"The literal interpretation of this portion of the Ramayana is indeed deeply rooted in the mind of the Hindu. He implicitly believes that Rama is Vishnu, who became incarnate for the purpose of destroying the demon Ravana: that he permitted his wife to be captured by Ravana for the sake of delivering the gods and Brahmans from the oppressions of the Rakshasa; and that he ultimately assembled an army of monkeys, who were the progeny of the gods, and led them against the strong-hold of Ravana at Lanka, and delivered the world from the tyrant Rakshasa, whilst obtaining ample revenge for his own personal wrongs.

One other point seems to demand consideration, namely, the possibility of such an alliance as that which Rama is said to have concluded with the monkeys. This possibility will of course be denied by modern critics, but still it is interesting to trace out the circumstances which seem to have led to the acceptance of such a wild belief by the dreamy and marvel loving Hindi. The south of India swarms with monkeys of curious intelligence and rare physical powers. Their wonderful instinct for organization, their attachment to particular localities, their occasional journeys in large numbers over mountains and across rivers, their obstinate assertion of supposed rights, and the ridiculous caricature which they exhibit of all that is animal and emotional in man, would naturally create a deep impression.… Indeed the habits of monkeys well deserve to be patiently studied; not as they appear in confinement, when much that is revolting in their nature is developed, but as they appear living in freedom amongst the trees of the forest, or in the streets of crowded cities, or precincts of temples. Such a study would not fail to awaken strange ideas; and although the European would not be prepared to regard monkeys as sacred animals he might be led to speculate as to their origin by the light of data, which are at present unknown to the naturalist whose observations have been derived from the menagerie alone.

Whatever, however, may have been the train of ideas which led the Hindu to regard the monkey as a being half human and half divine, there can be little doubt that in the Ramayana the monkeys of southern India have been confounded with what may be called the aboriginal people of the country. The origin of this confusion may be easily conjectured. Perchance the aborigines of the country may have been regarded as a superior kind of monkeys; and to this day the features of the Marawars, who are supposed to be the aborigines of the southern part of the Carnatic, are not only different from those of their neighbours, but are of a character calculated to confirm the conjecture. Again, it is probable that the army of aborigines may have been accompanied by outlying bands of monkeys impelled by that magpie-like curiosity and love of plunder which are the peculiar characteristics of the monkey race; and this incident may have given rise to the story that the army was composed of Monkeys."

WHEELER'S History of India. Vol. II. pp. 316 ff.



Page 342. The Fall Of Bali.

"As regards the narrative, it certainly seems to refer to some real event amongst the aboriginal tribes: namely, the quarrel between an elder and younger brother for the possession of a Raj; and the subsequent alliance of Rama with the younger brother. It is somewhat remarkable that Rama appears to have formed an alliance with the wrong party, for the right of Bali was evidently superior to that of Sugriva; and it is especially worthy of note that Rama compassed the death of Bali by an act contrary to all the laws of fair fighting. Again, Rama seems to have tacitly sanctioned the transfer of Tara from Bali to Sugriva, which was directly opposed to modern rule, although in conformity with the rude customs of a barbarous age; and it is remarkable that to this day the marriage of both widows and divorced women is practised by the Marawars, or aborigines of the southern Carnatic, contrary to the deeply-rooted prejudice which exists against such unions amongst the Hindus at large."

WHEELER'S History of India, Vol. II. 324.



Page 370. The Vanar Host.

"The splendid Marutas form the army of Indras, the red-haired monkeys and bears that of Ramas; and the mythical and solar nature of the monkeys and bears of the Ramayanam manifests itself several times. The king of the monkeys is a sun-god. The ancient king was named Balin, and was the son of Indras. His younger brother Sugrivas, he who changes his shape at pleasure (Kamarupas), who, helped by Ramas, usurped his throne, is said to be own child of the sun. Here it is evident that the Vedic antagonism between Indras and Vishnus is reproduced in a zoological and entirely apish form. The old Zeus must give way to the new, the moon to the sun, the evening to the morning sun, the sun of winter to that of spring; the young son betrays and overthrows the old one.… Ramas, who treacherously kills the old king of the monkeys, Balin, is the equivalent of Vishnus, who hurls his predecessor Indras from his throne; and Sugrivas, the new king of the monkeys resembles Indras when he promises to find the ravished Sita, in the same way as Vishnus in one of his incarnations finds again the lost vedas. And there are other indications in the Ramayanam of opposition between Indras and the monkeys who assist Ramas. The great monkey Hanumant, of the reddish colour of gold, has his jaw broken, Indras having struck him with his thunderbolt and caused him to fall upon a mountain, because, while yet a child, he threw himself off a mountain into the air in order to arrest the course of the sun, whose rays had no effect upon him. (The cloud rises from the mountain and hides the sun, which is unable of itself to disperse it; the tempest comes, and brings flashes of lightning and thunder-bolts, which tear the cloud in pieces.)

The whole legend of the monkey Hanumant represents the sun entering into the cloud or darkness, and coming out of it. His father is said to be now the wind, now the elephant of the monkeys (Kapikunjaras), now Kesarin, the long-haired sun, the sun with a mane, the lion sun (whence his name of Kesarinah putrah). From this point of view, Hanumant would seem to be the brother of Sugrivas, who is also the offspring of the sun.…

All the epic monkeys of the Ramayanam are described in the twentieth canto of the first book by expressions which very closely resemble those applied in the Vedic hymns to the Marutas, as swift as the tempestuous wind, changing their shape at pleasure, making a noise like clouds, sounding like thunder, battling, hurling mountain-peaks, shaking great uprooted trees, stirring up the deep waters, crushing the earth with their arms, making the clouds fall. Thus Balin comes out of the cavern as the sun out of the cloud.…

But the legend of the monkey Hanumant presents another curious resemblance to that of Samson. Hanumant is bound with cords by Indrajit, son of Ravanas; he could easily free himself, but does not wish to do so. Ravanas to put him to shame, orders his tail to be burned, because the tail is the part most prized by monkeys.…

The tail of Hanumant, which sets fire to the city of the monsters, is probably a personification of the rays of the morning or spring sun, which sets fire to the eastern heavens, and destroys the abode of the nocturnal or winter monsters."

DE GUBERNATIS, Zoological Mythology, Vol. II. pp. 100 ff.

"The Jaitwas of Rajputana, a tribe politically reckoned as Rajputs, nevertheless trace their descent from the monkey-god Hanuman, and confirm it by alleging that their princes still bear its evidence in a tail-like prolongation of the spine; a tradition which has probably a real ethnological meaning, pointing out the Jaitwas as of non-Aryan race."(1040) TYLOR'S Primitive Culture, Vol. I. p. 341.



Page 372.

The names of peoples occurring in the following slokas are omitted in the metrical translation:

"Go to the Brahmamalas,(1041) the Videhas,(1042) the Malavas,(1043) the Kasikosalas,(1044) the Magadnas,(1045) the Pundras,(1046) and the Angas,(1047) and the land of the weavers of silk, and the land of the mines of silver, and the hills that stretch into the sea, and the towns and the hamlets that are about the top of Mandar, and the Karnapravaranas,(1048) and the Oshthakarnakas,(1049) and the Ghoralohamukhas,(1050) and the swift Ekapadakas,(1051) and the strong imperishable Eaters of Men, and the Kiratas(1052) with stiff hair-tufts, men like gold and fair to look upon: And the Eaters of Raw Fish, and the Kiratas who dwell in islands, and the fierce Tiger-men(1053) who live amid the waters."



Page 374.

"Go to the Vidarbhas(1054) and the Rishtikas(1055) and the Mahishikas,(1056) and the Matsyas(1057) and Kalingas(1058) and the Kausikas(1059) … and the Andhras(1060) and the Pundras(1061) and the Cholas(1062) and the Pandyas(1063) and the Keralas,(1064) Mlechchhas(1065) and the Pulindas(1066) and the Surasenas,(1067) and the Prasthalas and the Bharatas and Madrakas(1068) and the Kambojas(1069) and the Yavanas(1070) and the towns of the Sakas(1071) and the Varadas."(1072)



Page 378. Northern Kurus.

Professor Lassen remarks in the Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des Morgenlandes, ii. 62: "At the furthest accessible extremity of the earth appears Harivarsha with the northern Kurus. The region of Hari or Vishnu belongs to the system of mythical geography; but the case is different with the Uttara Kurus. Here there is a real basis of geographical fact; of which fable has only taken advantage, without creating it. The Uttara Kurus were formerly quite independent of the mythical system of dvipas, though they were included in it at an early date." Again the same writer says at p. 65: "That the conception of the Uttara Kurus is based upon an actual country and not on mere invention, is proved (1) by the way in which they are mentioned in the Vedas; (2) by the existence of Uttara Kuru in historical times as a real country; and (3) by the way in which the legend makes mention of that region as the home of primitive customs. To begin with the last point the Mahabharata speaks as follows of the freer mode of life which women led in the early world, Book I. verses 4719-22: 'Women were formerly unconfined and roved about at their pleasure, independent. Though in their youthful innocence they abandoned their husbands, they were guilty of no offence; for such was the rule in early times. This ancient custom is even now the law for creatures born as brutes, which are free from lust and anger. This custom is supported by authority and is observed by great rishis, and it is still practiced among the northern Kurus.'

"The idea which is here conveyed is that of the continuance in one part of the world of that original blessedness which prevailed in the golden age. To afford a conception of the happy condition of the southern Kurus it is said in another place (M.-Bh, i. 4346.) 'The southern Kurus vied in happiness with the northern Kurus and with the divine rishis and bards.'

Professor Lassen goes on to say: 'Ptolemy (vi. 16.) is also acquainted with Uttara Kuru. He speaks of a mountain, a people, and a city called Ottorakorra. Most of the other ancient authors who elsewhere mention this name, have it from him. It is a part of the country which he calls Serica; according to him the city lies twelve degrees west from the metropolis of Sera, and the mountain extends from thence far to the eastward. As Ptolemy has misplaced the whole of eastern Asia beyond the Ganges, the relative position which he assigns will guide us better that the absolute one, which removes Ottorakorra so far to the east that a correction is inevitable. According to my opinion the Ottorakorra of Ptolemy must be sought for to the east of Kashgar.' Lassen also thinks that Magasthenes had the Uttara Kurus in view when he referred to the Hyperboreans who were fabled by Indian writers to live a thousand years. In his Indian antiquities, (Ind. Alterthumskunde, i. 511, 512. and note,) the same writer concludes that though the passages above cited relative to the Uttara Kurus indicate a belief in the existence of a really existing country of that name in the far north, yet that the descriptions there given are to be taken as pictures of an ideal paradise, and not as founded on any recollections of the northern origin of the Kurus. It is probable, he thinks, that some such reminiscences originally existed, and still survived in the Vedic era, though there is no trace of their existence in latter times." MUIR'S Sanskrit Texts, Vol. II. pp. 336, 337.



Page 428.

Trust to these mighty Vanars.

The corresponding passage in the Bengal recension has "these silvans in the forms of monkeys, vanarah kapirupinah." "Here it manifestly appears," says Gorresio, "that these hosts of combatants whom Rama led to the conquest of Lanka (Ceylon) the kingdom and seat of the Hamitic race, and whom the poem calls monkeys, were in fact as I have elsewhere observed, inhabitants of the mountainous and southern regions of India, who were wild-looking and not altogether unlike monkeys. They were perhaps the remote ancestors of the Malay races."



Page 431.

"Art thou not he who slew of old The Serpent-Gods, and stormed their hold."

All these exploits of Ravan are detailed in the Uttarakanda, and epitomized in the Appendix.



Page 434.

Within the consecrated hall.

The Brahman householder ought to maintain three sacred fires, the Garhapatya, the Ahavaniya and the Dakshina. These three fires were made use of in many Brahmanical solemnities, for example in funeral rites when the three fires were arranged in prescribed order.



Page 436.

Fair Punjikasthala I met.

"I have not noticed in the Uttara Kanda any story about the daughter of Varuna, but the commentator on the text (VI 60, 11) explains the allusion to her thus:

"The daughter of Varuna was Punjikasthali. On her account, a curse of Brahma, involving the penalty of death, [was pronounced] on the rape of women." MUIR, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV. Appendix.



Page 452.

"Shall no funereal honours grace The parted lord of Raghu's race?"

"Here are indicated those admirable rites and those funeral prayers which Professor Mueller has described in his excellent work, Die Todtenbestattung bei den Brahmanen, Sita laments that the body of Rama will not be honoured with those rites and prayers, nor will the Brahman priest while laying the ashes from the pile in the bosom of the earth, pronounce over them those solemn and magnificent words: 'Go unto the earth, thy mother, the ample, wide, and blessed earth.… And do thou, O Earth, open and receive him as a friend with sweet greeting: enfold him in thy bosom as a mother wraps her child in her robes.' " GORRESIO.



Page 462.

Each glorious sign That stamps the future queen is mine.

We read in Josephus that Caesar was so well versed in chiromancy that when one day a soi-disant son of Herod had audience of him, he at once detected the impostor because his hand was destitute of all marks of royalty.



Page 466.

In battle's wild Gandharva dance.

"Here the commentator explains: 'the battle resembled the dance of the Gandharvas,' in accordance with the notion of the Gandharvas entertained in his day. They were regarded as celestial musicians enlivening with their melodies Indra's heaven and the banquets of the Gods. But the Gandharvas before becoming celestial musicians in popular tradition, were in the primitive and true signification of the name heroes, spirited and ardent warriors, followers of Indra, and combined the heroical character with their atmospherical deity. Under this aspect the dance of the Gandharvas may be a very different thing from what the commentator means, and may signify the horrid dance of war." GORRESIO.

The Homeric expression is similar, "to dance a war-dance before Ares."



Page 470.

By Anaranya's lips of old.

"The story of Anaranya is told in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana.… Anaranya a descendant of Ixvaku and King of Ayodhya, when called upon to fight with Ravana or acknowledge himself conquered, prefers the former alternative; but his army is overcome, and he himself is thrown from his chariot.

When Ravana triumphs over his prostrate foe, the latter says that he has been vanquished not by him but by fate, and that Ravana is only the instrument of his overthrow; and he predicts that Ravana shall one day be slain by his descendant Rama." Sanskrit Texts, IV., Appendix.



Page 497.

"With regard to the magic image of Sita made by Indrajit, we may observe that this thoroughly oriental idea is also found in Greece in Homer's Iliad, where Apollo forms an image of AEneas to save that hero beloved by the Gods: it occurs too in the AEneid of Virgil where Juno forms a fictitious AEneas to save Turnus:

Tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram In faciem AEneae (visu mirabile monstrum) Dardaniis ornat telis; clipeumque jubasque Divini assimulat capitis; dat inania verba; Dat sine mente sonum, gressusque effingit euntis.

(AEneidos, lib. X.)" GORRESIO.



Page 489.

"To Raghu's son my chariot lend."

"Analogous to this passage of the Ramayana, where Indra sends to Rama his own chariot, his own charioteer, and his own arms, is the passage in the AEneid where Venus descending from heaven brings celestial arms to her son AEneas when he is about to enter the battle:

At Venus aethereos inter dea candida nimbos Dona fereus aderat;… … Arma sub adversa posuit radiantia quercum. Ille, deae donis et tanto laetus honore, Expleri nequit, atque oculus per singula volvit, Miraturque, interque manus et brachia versat Terribilem cristis galeam flammasque vomentem, Fatiferumque ensem, loricam ex aere rigentem.

(AEneidos, lib. VIII)" GORRESIO.



Page 489.

Agastya came and gently spake.

"The Muni or saint Agastya, author of several Vedic hymns, was celebrated in Indo-Sanskrit tradition for having directed the first brahmanical settlements in the southern regions of India; and the Mahabharata gives him the credit of having subjected those countries, expelled the Rakshases. and given security to the solitary ascetics, who were settled there. Hence Agastya was regarded in ancient legend as the conqueror and ruler of the southern country. This tradition refers to the earliest migrations made by the Sanskrit Indians towards the south of India. To Agastya are attributed many marvellous mythic deeds which adumbrate and veil ancient events; some of which are alluded to here and there in the Ramayana." GORRESIO.

The following is the literal translation of the Canto, text and commentary, from the Calcutta edition:

Having found Rama weary with fighting and buried in deep thought, and Ravan standing before him ready to engage in battle, the holy Agastya, who had come to see the battle, approached Rama and spoke to him thus: "O mighty Rama, listen to the old mystery by which thou wilt conquer all thy foes in the battle. Having daily repeated the Adityahridaya (the delighter of the mind of the Sun) the holy prayer which destroys all enemies (of him who repeats it) gives victory, removes all sins, sorrows and distress, increases life, and which is the blessing of all blessings, worship the rising and splendid sun who is respected by both the Gods and demons, who gives light to all bodies and who is the rich lord of all the worlds, (To the question why this prayer claims so great reverence; the sage answers) Since yonder(1073) sun is full of glory and all gods reside in him (he being their material cause) and bestows being and the active principle on all creatures by his rays; and since he protects all deities, demons and men with his rays.

He is Brahma,(1074) Vishnu,(1075) Siva,(1076) Skanda,(1077) Prajapati,(1078) Mahendra,(1079) Dhanada,(1080) Kala,(1081) Yama,(1082) Soma,(1083) Apam Pati i.e. The lord of waters, Pitris,(1084) Vasus,(1085) Sadhyas,(1086) Asvins,(1087) Maruts,(1088) Manu,(1089) Vayu,(1090) Vahni,(1091) Praja,(1092) Prana,(1093) Ritukarta,(1094) Prabhakara,(1095) (Thou,(1096) art) Aditya,(1097) Savita,(1098) Surya,(1099) Khaga,(1100) Pushan,(1101) Gabhastiman,(1102) Suvarnasadrisa,(1103) Bhanu,(1104) Hiranyaretas,(1105) Divakara,(1106) Haridasva,(1107) Sahasrarchish,(1108) Saptasapti,(1109) Marichiman,(1110) Timironmathana,(1111) Sambhu,(1112) Twashta,(1113) Martanda,(1114) Ansuman,(1115) Hiranyagarbha,(1116) Sisira,(1117) Tapana,(1118) Ahaskara,(1119) Ravi,(1120) Agnigarbha,(1121) Aditiputra,(1122) Sankha,(1123) Sisiranasana,(1124) Vyomanatha,(1125) Tamobhedi,(1126) Rigyajussamaparaga,(1127) Ghanavrishti,(1128) Apam-Mitra,(1129) Vindhyavithiplavangama,(1130) Atapi,(1131) Mandali,(1132) Mrityu (death), Pingala,(1133) Sarvatapana,(1134) Kavi,(1135) Visva,(1136) Mahatejas,(1137) Rakta,(1138) Sarvabhavodbhava.(1139) The Lord of stars, planets, and other luminous bodies, Visvabhavana,(1140) Tejasvinam-Tejasvi,(1141) Dwadasatman:(1142) I salute thee. I salute thee who art the eastern mountain. I salute thee who art the western mountain. I salute thee who art the Lord of all the luminous bodies. I salute thee who art the Lord of days.

I respectfully salute thee who art Jaya,(1143) Jayabhadra,(1144) Haryasa,(1145) O Thou who hast a thousand rays, I repeatedly salute thee. I repeatedly and respectfully salute thee who art Aditya, I repeatedly salute thee who art Ugra,(1146) Vira,(1147) and Saranga.(1148) I salute thee who openest the lotuses (or the lotus of the heart). I salute thee who art furious. I salute thee who art the Lord of Brahma, Siva and Vishnu. I salute thee who art the sun, Adityavarchas,(1149) splendid, Sarvabhaksha,(1150)and Raudravapush.(1151)

I salute thee who destroyest darkness, cold and enemies: whose form is boundless, who art the destroyer of the ungrateful; who art Deva;(1152) who art the Lord of the luminous bodies, and who appearest like the heated gold. I salute thee who art Hari,(1153) Visvakarman,(1154) the destroyer of darkness, and who art splendid and Lokasakshin.(1155) Yonder sun destroys the whole of the material world and also creates it. Yonder sun dries (all earthly things), destroys them and causes rain with his rays. He wakes when our senses are asleep; and resides within all beings. Yonder sun is Agnihotra(1156) and also the fruit obtained by the performer of Agnihotra. He is identified with the gods, sacrifices, and the fruit of the sacrifices. He is the Lord of all the duties known to the world, if any man, O Raghava, in calamities, miseries, forests and dangers, prays to yonder sun, he is never overwhelmed by distress.

Worship, with close attention Him the God of gods and the Lord of the world; and recite these verses thrice, whereby thou wilt be victorious in the battle. O brave one, thou wilt kill Ravana this very instant."

Thereupon Agastya having said this went away as he came. The glorious Rama having heard this became free from sorrow. Raghava whose senses were under control, being pleased, committed the hymn to memory, recited it facing the sun, and obtained great delight. The brave Rama having sipped water thrice and become pure took his bow, and seeing Ravana, was delighted, and meditated on the sun.



Page 492. Ravan's Funeral.

"In the funeral ceremonies of India the fire was placed on three sides of the pyre; the Dakshina on the south, the Garhapatya on the west, and the Ahavaniya on the east. The funeral rites are not described in detail here, and it is therefore difficult to elucidate and explain them. The poem assigns the funeral ceremonies of Aryan Brahmans to the Rakshases, a race different from them in origin and religion, in the same way as Homer sometimes introduces into Troy the rites of the Grecian cult." GORRESIO.

Mr. Muir translates the description of the funeral from the Calcutta edition, as follows: "They formed, with Vedic rites, a funeral pile of faggots of sandal-wood, with padmaka wood, usira grass, and sandal, and covered with a quilt of deer's hair. They then performed an unrivalled obsequial ceremony for the Raxasa prince, placing the sacrificial ground to the S.E. and the fire in the proper situation. They cast the ladle filled with curds and ghee on the shoulder(1157) of the deceased; he (?) placed the car on the feet, and the mortar between the thighs. Having deposited all the wooden vessels, the [upper] and lower fire-wood, and the other pestle, in their proper places, they departed. The Raxasas having then slain a victim to their prince in the manner prescribed in the Sastras, and enjoined by great rishis, cast [into the fire] the coverlet of the king saturated with ghee. They then, Vibhishana included, with afflicted hearts, adorned Ravana with perfumes and garlands, and with various vestments, and besprinkled him with fried grain. Vibhishana having bathed, and having, with his clothes wet, scattered in proper form tila seeds mixed with darbha grass, and moistened with water, applied the fire [to the pile]."



Page 496.

The following is a literal translation of Brahma's address to Rama according to the Calcutta edition, text and commentary:

"O Rama, how dost thou, being the creator of all the world, best of all those who have profound knowledge of the Upanishads and all-powerful as thou art, suffer Sita to fall in the fire? How dost thou not know thyself as the best of the gods? Thou art one of the primeval Vasus,(1158) and also their lord and creator. Thou art thyself the lord and first creator of the three worlds. Thou art the eighth (that is Mahadeva) of the Rudras,(1159) and also the fifth(1160) of the Sadhyas.(1161) (The poet describes Rama as made of the following gods) The Asvinikumaras (the twin divine physicians of the gods) are thy ears; the sun and the moon are thy eyes; and thou hast been seen in the beginning and at the end of creation. How dost thou neglect the daughter of Videha (Janaka} like a man whose actions are directed by the dictates of nature?" Thus addressed by Indra, Brahma and the other gods, Rama the descendant of Raghu, lord of the world and the best of the virtuous, spoke to the chief of the gods. "As I take myself to be a man of the name of Rama and son of Dasaratha, therefore, sir, please tell me who I am and whence have I come." "O thou whose might is never failing," said Brahma to Kakutstha the foremost of those who thoroughly know Brahma, "Thou art Narayana,(1162) almighty, possessed of fortune, and armed with the discus. Thou art the boar(1163) with one tusk; the conqueror of thy past and future foes. Thou art Brahma true and eternal or undecaying. Thou art Visvaksena,(1164) having four arms; Thou art Hrishikesa,(1165) whose bow is made of horn; Thou art Purusha,(1166) the best of all beings; Thou art one who is never defeated by any body; Thou art the holder of the sword (named Nandaka). Thou art Vishnu (the pervader of all); blue in colour: of great might; the commander of armies; and lord of villages. Thou art truth. Thou art embodied intelligence, forgiveness, control over the senses, creation, and destruction. Thou art Upendra(1167) and Madhusudana.(1168) Thou art the creator of Indra, the ruler over all the world, Padmanabha,(1169) and destroyer of enemies in the battle. The divine Rishis call thee shelter of refugees, as well as the giver of shelter. Thou hast a thousand horns,(1170) a hundred heads.(1171) Thou art respected of the respected; and the lord and first creator of the three worlds. Thou art the forefather and shelter of Siddhas,(1172) and Sadhyas.(1173) Thou art sacrifices; Vashatkara,(1174) Omkara.(1175) Thou art beyond those who are beyond our senses. There is none who knows who thou art and who knows thy beginning and end. Thou art seen in all material objects, in Brahmans, in cows, and also in all the quarters, sky and streams. Thou hast a thousand feet, a hundred heads, and a thousand eyes. Thou hast borne the material objects and the earth with the mountains; and at the bottom of the ocean thou art seen the great serpent. O Rama, Thou hast borne the three worlds, gods, Gandharvas,(1176) and demons. I am, O Rama, thy heart; the goddess of learning is thy tongue; the gods are the hairs of thy body; the closing of thy eyelids is called the night: and their opening is called the day. The Vedas are thy Sanskaras.(1177) Nothing can exist without thee. The whole world is thy body; the surface of the earth is thy stability."

O Srivatsalakshana, fire is thy anger, and the moon is thy favour. In the time of thy incarnation named Vamana, thou didst pervade the three worlds with thy three steps; and Mahendra was made the king of paradise by thee having confined the fearful Bali.(1178) Sita (thy wife) is Lakshmi; and thou art the God Vishnu,(1179) Krishna,(1180) and Prajapati. To kill Ravan thou hast assumed the form of a man; therefore, O best of the virtuous, thou hast completed this task imposed by us (gods). O Rama, Ravana has been killed by thee: now being joyful (i.e. having for some time reigned in the kingdom of Ayodhya,) go to paradise. O glorious Rama, thy power and thy valour are never failing. The visit to thee and the prayers made to thee are never fruitless. Thy devotees will never be unsuccessful. Thy devotees who obtain thee (thy favour) who art first and best of mankind, shall obtain their desires in this world as well as in the next. They who recite this prayer, founded on the Vedas (or first uttered by the sages), and the old and divine account of (Rama) shall never suffer defeat."



Page 503. The Meeting.

The Bharat-Milap or meeting with Bharat, is the closing scene of the dramatic representation of Rama's great victory and triumphant return which takes place annually in October in many of the cities of Northern India. The Ram-Lala or Play of Rama, as the great drama is called, is performed in the open air and lasts with one day's break through fifteen successive days. At Benares there are three nearly simultaneous performances, one provided by H. H. the Maharajah of Benares near his palace at Ramnaggur, one by H. H. the Maharajah of Vizianagram near the Missionary settlement at Sigra and at other places in the city, and one by the leading gentry of the city at Chowka Ghat near the College. The scene especially on the great day when the brothers meet is most interesting: the procession of elephants with their gorgeous howdahs of silver and gold and their magnificently dressed riders with priceless jewels sparkling in their turbans, the enthusiasm of the thousands of spectators who fill the streets and squares, the balconies and the housetops, the flowers that are rained down upon the advancing car, the wild music, the shouting and the joy, make an impression that is not easily forgotten.

Still on his head, well trained in lore Of duty, Rama's shoes he bore.

Rama's shoes are here regarded as the emblems of royalty or possession. We may compare the Hebrew "Over Edom will I cast forth my shoe." A curiously similar passage occurs in LYSCHANDER'S Chronicon Greenlandiae Rhythmicon:

"Han sendte til Irland sin skiden skoe, Og boed den Konge. Som der monne boe, Han skulde dem haederlig baere Pan Juuledag i sin kongelig Pragt, Og kjende han havde sit Rige og Magt Af Norges og Quernes Herre."

He sent to Ireland his dirty shoes, And commanded the king who lived there To wear them with honour On Christmas Day in his royal state, And to own that he had his kingdom and power From the Lord of Norway and the Isles. Notes & Queries, March 30, 1872.



Final Notes.

I end these notes with an extract which I translate from Signor Gorresio's Preface to the tenth volume of his Ramayan, and I take this opportunity of again thankfully acknowledging my great obligations to this eminent Sanskritist from whom I have so frequently borrowed. As Mr. Muir has observed, the Bengal recension which Signor Gorresio has most ably edited is throughout an admirable commentary on the genuine Ramayan of northern India, and I have made constant reference to the faithful and elegant translation which accompanies the text for assistance and confirmation in difficulties:

"Towards the southern extremity and in the island of Lanka (Ceylon) there existed undoubtedly a black and ferocious race, averse to the Aryans and hostile to their mode of worship: their ramifications extended through the islands of the Archipelago, and some traces of them remain in Java to this day.

The Sanskrit-Indians, applying to this race a name expressive of hatred which occurs in the Vedas as the name of hostile, savage and detested beings, called it the Rakshas race: it is against these Rakshases that the expedition of Rama which the Ramayan celebrates is directed. The Sanskrit-Indians certainly altered in their traditions the real character of this race: they attributed to it physical and moral qualities not found in human nature; they transformed it into a race of giants; they represented it as monstrous, hideous, truculent, changing forms at will, blood-thirsty and ravenous, just as the Semites represented the races that opposed them as impious, horrible and of monstrous size. But notwithstanding these mythical exaggerations, which are partly due to the genius of the Aryans so prone to magnify everything without measure, the Ramayan in the course of its epic narration has still preserved and noted here and there some traits and peculiarities of the race which reveal its true character. It represents the Rakshases as black of hue, and compares them with black clouds and masses of black collyrium; it attributes to them curly woolly hair and thick lips, it depicts them as loaded with chains, collars and girdles of gold, and the other bright ornaments which their race has always loved, and in which the kindred races of the Soudan still delight. It describes them as worshippers of matter and force. They are hostile to the religion of the Aryans whose rites and sacrifices they disturb and ruin … Such is the Rakshas race as represented in the Ramayan; and the war of the Aryan Rama forms the subject of the epic, a subject certainly real and historical as far as regards its substance, but greatly exaggerated by the ancient myth. In Sanskrit-Indian tradition are found traces of another struggle of the Aryans with the Rakshas races, which preceded the war of Rama. According to some pauranic legends, Karttavirya, a descendant of the royal tribe of the Yadavas, contemporary with Parasurama and a little anterior to Rama, attacked Lanka and took Ravan prisoner. This well shows how ancient and how deeply rooted in the Aryan race is the thought of this war which the Ramayan celebrates.

"But," says an eminent Indianist(1181) whose learning I highly appreciate, "the Ramayan is an allegorical epic, and no precise and historical value can be assigned to it. Sita signifies the furrow made by the plough, and under this symbolical aspect has already appeared honoured with worship in the hymns of the Rig-veda; Rama is the bearer of the plough (this assertion is entirely gratuitous); these two allegorical personages represented agriculture introduced to the southern regions of India by the race of the Kosalas from whom Rama was descended; the Rakshases on whom he makes war are races of demons and giants who have little or nothing human about them; allegory therefore predominates in the poem, and the exact reality of an historical event must not be looked for in it." Such is Professor Weber's opinion. If he means to say that mythical fictions are mingled with real events,

Forsan in alcun vero suo arco percuote,

as Dante says, and I fully concede the point. The interweaving of the myth with the historical truth belongs to the essence, so to speak, of the primitive epopeia. If Sita is born, as the Ramayan feigns, from the furrow which King Janak opened when he ploughed the earth, not a whit more real is the origin of Helen and AEneas as related in Homer and Virgil, and if the characters in the Ramayan exceed human nature, and in a greater degree perhaps than is the case in analogous epics, this springs in part from the nature of the subject and still more from the symbol-loving genius of the orient. Still the characters of the Ramayan, although they exceed more or less the limits of human nature, act notwithstanding in the course of the poem, speak, feel, rejoice and grieve according to the natural impulse of human passions. But if by saying that the Ramayan is an allegorical epic, it is meant that its fundamental subject is nothing but allegory, that the war of the Aryan Rama against the Rakshas race is an allegory, that the conquest of the southern region and of the island of Lanka is an allegory, I do not hesitate to answer that such a presumption cannot be admitted and that the thing is in my opinion impossible. Father Paolino da S. Bartolommeo,(1182) had already, together with other strange opinions of his own on Indian matters, brought forward a similar idea, that is to say that the exploit of Rama which is the subject of the Ramayan was a symbol and represented the course of the sun: thus he imagined that Brahma was the earth, Vishnu the water, and that his avatars were the blessings brought by the fertilizing waters, etc. But such ideas, born at a time when Indo-sanskrit antiquities were enveloped in darkness, have been dissipated by the light of new studies. How could an epic so dear in India to the memory of the people, so deeply rooted for many centuries in the minds of all, so propagated and diffused through all the dialects and languages of those regions, which had become the source of many dramas which are still represented in India, which is itself represented every year with such magnificence and to such crowds of people in the neighbourhood of Ayodhya, a poem welcomed at its very birth with such favour, as the legend relates, that the recitation of it by the first wandering Rhapsodists has consecrated and made famous all the places celebrated by them, and where Rama made a shorter or longer stay, how, I ask, could such an epic have been purely allegorical? How, upon a pure invention, upon a simple allegory, could a poem have been composed of about fifty thousand verses, relating with such force and power the events, and giving details with such exactness? On a theme purely allegorical there may easily be composed a short mythical poem, as for example a poem on Proserpine or Psyche: but never an epic so full of traditions and historical memories, so intimately connected with the life of the people, as the Ramayan.(1183) Excessive readiness to find allegory whenever some traces of symbolism occur, where the myth partly veils the historical reality, may lead and often has led to error. What poetical work of mythical times could stand this mode of trial? could there not be made, or rather has there not been made a work altogether allegorical, out of the Homeric poems? We have all heard of the ingenious idea of the anonymous writer, who in order to prove how easily we may pass beyond the truth in our wish to seek and find allegory everywhere, undertook with keen subtlety to prove that the great personality of Napoleon I. was altogether allegorical and represented the sun. Napoleon was born in an island, his course was from west to east, his twelve marshals were the twelve signs of the zodiac, etc.

I conclude then, that the fundamental theme of the Ramayan, that is to say the war of the Aryan Rama against the Rakshases, an Hamitic race settled in the south, ought to be regarded as real and historical as far as regards its substance, although the mythic element intermingled with the true sometimes alters its natural and genuine aspect.

How then did the Indo-Sanskrit epopeia form and complete itself? What elements did it interweave in its progress? How did it embody, how did it clothe the naked and simple primitive datum? We must first of all remember that the Indo-European races possessed the epic genius in the highest degree, and that they alone in the different regions they occupied produced epic poetry … But other causes and particular influences combined to nourish and develop the epic germ of the Sanskrit-Indians. Already in the Rig-veda are found hymns in which the Aryan genius preluded, so to speak, to the future epopeia, in songs that celebrated the heroic deeds of Indra, the combats and the victories of the tutelary Gods of the Aryan races over enemies secret or open, human or superhuman, the exploits and the memories of ancient heroes. More recently, at certain solemn occasions, as the very learned A. Weber remarks, at the solemnity, for example of the Asvamedha or sacrifice of the horse, the praises of the king who ordained the great rite were sung by bards and minstrels in songs composed for the purpose, the memories of past times were recalled and honourable mention was made of the just and pious kings of old. In the Brahmanas, a sort of prose commentaries annexed to the Vedas, are found recorded stories and legends which allude to historical events of the past ages, to ancient memories, and to mythical events. Such popular legends which the Brahmanas undoubtedly gathered from tradition admirably suited the epic tissue with which they were interwoven by successive hands.… Many and various mythico-historical traditions, suitable for epic development, were diffused among the Aryan races, those for example which are related in the four chapters containing the description of the earth, the Descent of the Ganges, etc. The epic genius however sometimes created beings of its own and gave body and life to ideal conceptions. Some of the persons in the Ramayan must be, in my opinion, either personifications of the forces of nature like those which are described with such vigour in the Shahnamah, or if not exactly created, exaggerated beyond human proportions; others, vedic personages much more ancient than Rama, were introduced into the epic and woven into its narrations, to bring together men who lived in different and distant ages, as has been the case in times nearer to our own, in the epics, I mean, of the middle ages.