Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/49

 an Aiitiunn Festival of the Hmdus. 39

In parts of Northern India, where the cult of Rama is popular, the observance is known as the Ramllla, or play of Rama. Rama, probably a deified king of Ayodhya, is the hero of the Ramayana epic, which describes his career : his banishment from his kingdom through a palace intrigue, his marriage to Sita, the impersonation of the field furrow and the Hindu type of wifely virtue, her abduction by the demon Ravana, Rama's quest for his wife, the conquest of the demon, the ordeal by which Sita establishes her chastity, the reunion of the pair and the recovery of their kingdom. This festival takes the place among Rama worshippers of the Dasahra, and is distinguished from it by the fact that as Vaishnavas, or followers of Vishnu, they abhor blood-shedding and animal sacrifice. During the feast a sort of mystery play describing the adventures of Rama is celebrated. As a finale, immense bamboo and paper images of Ravana and his demon brother Kumbha- karana, " he who has ears like a pitcher," are erected in a plain, filled with fireworks, which when lighted destroy the demons, to the delight of the excited crowd.

Such are the general features of this complex series of observances. They have obviously been developed from a more primitive ritual, partly by the action of the Brahmans, who have annexed them for the service of the sectarian gods, partly by the State officials, who have converted them into a palace ritual. It may be well to investigate the primitive nucleus from which these modern practices seem to have developed.

The time of the feast is, as we have seen, the winter solstice. This represents in Northern India the meeting of two seasons. The autumn crops, rice, millet, and the like, sown at the opening of the rainy season, about the beginning of July, are now ripe ; the time for sowing the cold-weather crops, wheat, barley, and so on, is at hand. In Madras the beginning of October is the change from the south-west to the north-east monsoon.