ΤΟ THE RIGHT HON. PROFESSOR F. MAX MÜLLER WHO HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFETIME TO THE ELUCIDATION OF THE LEARNING, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT INDIA AND HAS RECOGNISED AND VINDICATED WHAT IS TRUE AND GREAT AND ENNOBLING IN MODERN INDIA THIS TRANSLATION IS DEDICATED AS A SINCERE TOKEN OF THE ESTEEM AND REGARD OF MY COUNTRYMEN A CONTENTS Book 1. Sita-Swayamvara (The Bridal of Sita) . III. Dasa-ratha-Viyoga (The Death of the King) IV. Rama-Bharata-Sambada (The Meeting of the Princes) v. Panchavati (On the Banks of the Godavari) . Page I 17 38 77 XI. Rajya-Abhisheka (Rama's Return and Consecration) 161 OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE EPIC OF RAMA, PRINCE OF INDIA BOOK I SITA-SWAYAMVARA (The Bridal of Sita) THE Epic relates to the ancient traditions of two powerful races, the Kosalas and the Videhas, who lived in Northern India between the twelfth and tenth centuries before Christ. The names Kosala and Videha in the singular number indicate the kingdoms,-Oudh and North Behar,-and in the plural number they mean the ancient races which inhabited those two countries. According to the Epic, Dasa-ratha king of the Kosalas had four sons, the eldest of whom was Rama the hero of the poem. And Janak king of the Videhas had a daughter named Sita, who was miraculously born of a field furrow, and who is the heroine of the Epic. Janak ordained a severe test for the hand of his daughter, and many a prince and warrior came and went away disappointed. Rama succeeded, and won Sita. The story of Rama's winning his bride, and of the marriage of his three brothers with the sister and cousins of Sita, forms the subject of this Book. The portions translated in this Book form Section vi., Sections lxvii. to lxix., Section 1xxiii., and Section lxxvii. of Book i. of the original text. |