CHAP. VIII. Bide

as a deliverer.

Marriage of
Ráma and Sitá.

hands. A portion of the sacred food was given to the
three queens, and Vishnu became incarnate in the
first queen Kausalyá. At the moment of conception
Brahma and the gods appeared in their chariots
above the city of Ayodhya, and sounded the praises
of Ráma. At the moment of birth the gods again
appeared in the sky and scattered flowers from heaven.
The babe revealed his divinity to his mother alone.
He was crowned with a diadem of pearls. He had
four arms, holding respectively the shell, the
chakra, the mace, and the lotos.10 His mother knew
that he was god and adored him.
He then con-
cealed his four-armed shape, and assumed that of
an ordinary infant, and began to cry. The Malá-
raja heard the welcome sound and distributed
treasures in alms.

When Ráma was approaching manhood the sage Viswamitra appeared at Ayodhya. He explained to the Maharaja that Ráma was Vishnu, and that his female counterpart had been born at Mithilá as Sítá, the daughter of Raja Janaka. Accordingly Ráma was sent to Mithila under the charge of Viswamitra, and married Sítá in due course; but Janaka stated that she was not actually his daughter, but was found under a furrow when turned up by the plough."

10 The frequent representations of Hindú deities with four arms has long been a problem to Europeans. But the so-called idolatry of the Hindús is nothing more than theology in hieroglyphics; and the idols are often two or more conceptions of deities moulded into one form. Vishnu was at once the divine hero of the Kshatriyas, and the supreme spirit of the Brahmans. As a hero he carried the chakra and mace; as a god he carried the shell and lotos. Ráma exhibits the two-fold character of a hero and devotee throughout his exile.

11 See Adhyatma Rámáyana. History, vol. ii., Rámáyana. The myth that Sita sprang from the earth belongs to a class of religious fables, which appear to have originated during the Brahmanical revival. It would seem that certain Brahmans of this period endeavoured to revive the decaying worship of the

The account of the exile of Ráma is evidently CHAP. VIII. a perversion of the original form of the tradition. Exile of Rama. Amongst the ancient Rajpoots the sentence of exile was carried out with funeral pomp, whenever a prince was deprived of his birthright or declared an outlaw. The ceremony was marked as a day of mourning in the calendar. The offender was clothed in black, and invested with a black sword and buckler, and then placed upon a black horse, and solemnly commanded to depart out of the limits of the kingdom. Some such ceremony was no doubt carried out in the case of Ráma; 12 but the Rámáyana represents him as a religious devotee.

champion of the Brahmans.

The story of this exile presents many beautiful, the scenes, though it is tedious from the wildness of oriental exaggerations. Brahmanical hermitages are described with groves and pools of water, after the fashion of the hermitage where the Raja Dushyanta discovered the beautiful Sakúntalá. The holy men, however, are constantly harassed by the

spirits or elemental deities of the Vedas, by converting the heroes and heroines of Kshatriya traditions into similar personifications. In order to carry out this purpose they appear to have introduced new names and myths into the Maha Bhárata and Ramayana. This attempt to revive the worship of the Vedic deities utterly failed. Mr Cox, in his Mythology of the Aryan nations, has propounded a theory which is too exclusively based upon these later myths.

12 This ceremony was carried out as late as the seventeenth century in the case of Umia Sing, a prince of Mai war. (See Tod's Rajasthan, vol. i., p. 687; vol. ii., p. 44.) Umra went out of Marwar with his personal retainers, and entered the service of the emperor Shah Jehan, the son of Jehangir. He proved a true Rajpoot. He absented himself from court without leave, and spent a fortnight in hunting. On his return the emperor reprimanded and fined him, but he refused to pay. He was then summoned to the presence, but there he stabbed the paymaster to the heart, and drew his sword to cut down the emperor, but shivered the weapon against a pillar. He, however, plied his dagger with such reckless fury, that he slew five Mogul nobles before he was mortally wounded. His retainers perished after the old Rajpoot fashion. They put on saffron garments, and rushed to the palace sword in hand, and slaughtered all they met, until they were at last cut to pieces to a man.

CHAP. VIII. demon Rákshasas, who spoil the sacrifices. The divine Ráma, and the equally divine Sítá, go from one hermitage to another as incarnations of Vishnu and Lakshmí, receiving adorations and praises from holy sages and pious women. All had been longing for the advent of Ráma; all were rejoicing that the hour of their deliverance was nigh. Ráma becomes the champion of the Brahmans against the Rakshasas. Occasionally he encounters a demon, and then a combat is described with all the exuberant details, and love of the marvellous, which characterize the Hindú bards. Those whom he kills obtain salvation, and the gods wonder at his benevolence. Meantime the demon king is reigning at Lanká in palaces of gold and gems, scated in dens of matchless beauty and fragrance, thronged with young and blooming damsels, and surrounded by impregnable fortifications of stone and iron.

Abduction of
Sitá.

gar

The subsequent action of the poem is of a very Asiatic character. The sister of Rávana is smitten with love for Ráma, and offers to become his wife. She is told that Ráma is already married to Sítá, and immediately rushes upon Sítá, on which Ráma's brother draws his sword and cuts off her nose and ears. She goes away breathing vengeance, and after some unimportant incidents, she appears before Rávana at Lanká. She dwells upon the beauty of Sítá, and the demon king is easily induced to attempt the capture of Ráma's wife. He puts on the garb of a religious mendicant, and proceeds to the hut of Ráma. The hero is absent, hunting a deer which had caught the fancy of Ráma. The brother of Ráma is also absent, for Sítá had petulantly insisted on his going out to help Ráma.

The result was that Rávana engaged Sítá in CHAP. VIII. delusive conversation, and finally seized her and carried her away to his chariot, and then drove through the air to his palace at Lanká. But Sítá would not listen to his suit. If he had vanquished Ráma she would have been compelled to become his wife; but until he had conquered Ráma, he had established no right over her. Such was the ancient law of war amongst the Kshatriyas.13

with the Mon

Ráma is in an agony of grief at the loss of his Rama's alliance beloved Sítá. He bewails her in a fashion which is key Raja. scarcely compatible with his divine character. He searches for her in all directions, and at length discovers the fate that has befallen her. A monkey prince, named Sugríva, had beheld Rávana and Sítá driving through the air. Moreover, Sítá had thrown some of her ornaments from the chariot; and these had been preserved by Sugríva, and were at once identified by Ráma. An alliance is concluded between Ráma and Sugríva. The monkey prince has been deprived of his kingdom and his wife. Ráma enables him to recover both, and in return Sugríva sends his monkey armies to help Ráma.1

over

Ráma now prepared to march his army against Victory of Rávana. A celebrated monkey chieftain, named Ravana. Hanuman, had leaped over the strait which separates India from Lanká, and found Sítá in the royal gardens, and assured her that deliverance was nigh. Hanuman committed great havoc in the garden, and was ultimately seized by the guards and brought before the demon king. As a punishment

13 See ante, p. 23, et seq.

14 An army of bears also joined the monkeys, but their exploits are not deserving of special notice.

CHAP. VIIL his tail was dipped in melted butter and set on fire; but the monkey escaped from his tormentors, and set fire to the whole city with his burning tail, and then hastened off to carry the glad tidings to Ráma. War was commenced at once. The monkeys are fabled to have built a vast bridge of stone from the continent to the island, and huge rocks are pointed out to this day as the remains of Ráma's bridge. At last, after a series of battles, Ráma and Rávana engaged in a combat of life and death, and the demon king was slain by the hand of Vishnu. But Rávana saved his soul. In his heart he had always adored Ráma. He had perished by the hand of Ráma. The picture of Ráma was before his eye, and the name of Ráma was on his lips, as he drew his last breath; and his soul was seen to issue from his body in the form of flame and enter the foot of Ráma.15

Ráma and Krishna compared.

Birth of Krish na as a cowherd.

The legend of Krishna is different from that of Ráma, but indicates a warmer devotion and more impassioned love. Ráma is a family deity, the type of the husband and master of the household. He is proud and serene after the ideal of the Hindú householder. But Krishna is the playful, handsome hero, the universal lover who is idolized by every woman who sees him. Even wives and mothers are fascinated by his presence, and thrilled by his smiles.

Krishna was born amongst the cows in the pleasant meadows of Vrindavana on the left bank of the river Jumna. His father Nanda was a cowherd

15 For full details, see History, vol. ii., Rámáyana.