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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

D as a r ſ p a, namely, the Udditta-Răghava" and the Chhalita-Ráma (Hall, p. 36). All three are quoted also in the Sáhityadarpana. In addi

[AUGUST 2, 1872.

tion here only the Adabhuttotarakānda (see Verz. der Berl. S. H. p. 123–127), since it clearly makes a direct reference to the Rāmāyana.

tion to these we have still to mention the follow

ing dramas that bear upon our subject:-the

Anargharāghava of Murari (quoted as early as by S a r fig a d h a ra, Aufrecht, 124b; according to Wilson, II. 383, dating from the thirteenth or fourteenth century), the Krityá-Rávana, —the Jánaki-Rághava—the Balibadha—the Rá

ghavābhyudaya, the Rámacharita (or is Bha vabhūti's work here meant 2), the Rāmābhi manda, and the Rāmābhyudaya.f The Rāma chandrachampá of

K a vic h and y a was not

Let us briefly sum up the results of our in vestigation. 1. The earliest indigenous testimonies to the existence of a Rāmāyana date from about the third or fourth century of our era. 2. Considering the present extent of the work about 24,000 slokas), and the great diver sity found in the numerous recensions, it is im possible to pronounce a judgment, with any thing approaching to certainty, regarding the original condition of the text. In the existing condition of the text, however, we find un

composed till after the date of the Sáhitya darpana (Aufrecht, 2.11b). The Abhirama maninétaka dates, (according to Wilson, II. 395, Aufrecht, 137b), from the year 1599 A.D. The Dútángada of Śri-Sub hat a appears also (Wilson, II. 390; Aufrecht, 139b) to be a modern production, composed by order of the Mahārājādhirāja Śri Tribhuva napāladeva for the pilgrimage to the temple of Deva-Śri-Kumārapāla. Hall (Introduction to the Das'aripa, p. 30) mentions also a drama called Amogha-Rághava, which he had found quoted from, and one called Chokk an āth a 's Jánakºparinaya, which he had himself looked into. The Itámchandradaya of Purus hot tama (Aufrecht, 201a) probably also belongs to this category. I might now mention also, in conclusion, those works which, in a greater or less degree, treat of the worship of the Rāma sects. But I will not go into this part of the subject, partly

it, and which has done so, according to the testi mony of the literature on the subject, for a long time back, belonged to the poem originally ; but it is clear that the presence of this bias is due to

mistakeable indications that the influence

of

Greece upon India was already firmly estab lished.

-

3. Seeing that the earliest form of the story told in the Rāmāyana, as we find it, namely, in the Buddhist legend," knows nothing of the abduction of Sità by Rāvana, or of the siege of L a fi ka, it is possible that, in the addition of these two elements by Vál m i ki, we should recognise the influence of an acquaintance with the Homeric saga-cycle, just as other stories. belonging to the cycle have found their way into the Buddhist legend. 4.

It is uncertain whether the Vaishnava bias

which characterises the Rāmāyana, as we possess

because I am able to refer, for information on

the endeavour of the author to avail himself of

it, to my Abh. iiber die Rāma-Tapaniya-Upani shad (Berlin, 1864), Š and partly because a full

national legends and the heroic figures of national

treatment of the quite modern literature of this description, which is connected with the names

est of the Brahmanical theology, as an antidote to Buddhism.

of Rám a nuja and R 3 m an and a, would certainly lead us too far a-field. I will men

5. It is certainly at least possible that Wheeler is right when he refers the conflict with

sabhyasya S'ankaravarmanah. In the third Act there is in serted a nätaka of Bharatāchārya, called Sittisvayamvara (p. 58–85), which is represented by Kohala's troupe in resence of Rāvana, with the object of diverting his mind rom the contemplation of his love-sorrows. Regarding the Síºdswayamvara, see the account in the Sahityadarpana, $279 p. 127. IV. 283; See Aufrecht Catal. p. 180a. + The Rāmābhyudaya is quoted as early as by Dhanika (Das'artípa p. 42); also a Hanumannataka (ibid. p. 61), which, however, is perhaps only another name for the Mahdnataka. There is still another of the dramas quoted in the Sahitya darpana that may be included in our list, namely the Bala charita, as in the quotation made from it in that work (§ 346. p. 148), according to the account in Ballantyne's
 * Quoted also by Hemachandra in his Prakrit Grammar,

translation (201), Bhārgava speaks to Rāma.

tradition, and to make use of these, in the inter

1 In that treatise (I.47) the version of the Ramacharita

closes with the return from Lańka to Ayodhyā : no notice is taken of the later incidents in Rāma's history till his

final entrance into heaven with all that belonged to him (I. 93; conf. Uttarakanda, 114 and 115).

§ About the middle of the twelfth century

T.

date

1127 A.D.), according to Wilson, Select Works, I. 35ff : Auf recht, Catalogus p. 285b. 286a.

46ff.
 * End of the fourteenth century, Wilson, Select Works, I.

the sister of Rāma, and becomes his wife only at the close of the exile, probably finds its counterpart in the Rāmā yana in he representation that during the entire period of the exile (and in fact throughout the poem) she remains without children. It is only when we come to the Uttara kanda that we hear of her being a mother.—For a different
 * The circumstance that in this legend Sità appears as

and singular view of this circumstance: see Wheeler, p. 652