Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/213

 IV.] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 183 long after this, she is brought by the sage Val- miki, in whose hermitage she was, to the court of Ram. There she stands, with down cast eyes like the young moon, the poet says, in its second day. The people are struck dumb at the sight of the lovely queen—that beautiful Sita who in her youth went to the forest of her own free will, out of devotion to Ram, and triumphed over the unheard- of persecutions of Ravana, and who now, though subjected to repeatea wrongs by her husband, is, as ever, a suppliant of his grace. When the question of her trial is again raised, however, the queen calls upon her mother, the Earth, to open and take her 9188 Vani. to herself. Verily she has been her true daughter, ,Shes away inthe arms ever since she was found by Janaka, the King, in _ of her mo- the furrow of a field, and she is a patient sufferer of 5 wrongs even as the Earth herself. A cavity opens, at these words, and the Earth in the guise of a stately woman appears from within. Sita throws herself into her arms, and, with her last looks fixed on Ram, enters in, and disappears. This is in brief the story of the Ramayana. It The ennob. is full of tender and pathetic interest. Its tales of ee দি righteousness, of life-long devotion, of holy ad- oe other auranic herence to one’s vows and consequent sufferings stories. have an ennobling influence on the people at large, and they are never weary of hearing them recited. One point need be mentioned here. The stories of the Puranas never involve their readers in a merely tragic interest. The sufferings that raise a man’s character—martyrdoms for the sake of virtue, are the subjects which they take up. The poem attracts the reader by its literary excellence,