Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/108

98 She even tells him her own story, how Rama had won her for his bride and taken her to his father's home, and how the jealous Kaikeyi had cast them forth to roam the woods; and after dwelling fondly on her husband's praise, she invited her guest to tell his name and lineage, and what had induced him to leave his native land for the wilds of the Dandaka forest, inviting him to await hei husband's return, for “to him are holy wanderers dear.” Suddenly Ravana declares himself to be the demon monarch of the earth, “at whose name Heaven's armies flee.” He has come, he says, to woo Seeta for his queen, and to carry her to his palace in the island of Ceylon! Astonished and indignant at his character and proposal, the wrath of Rama's wife burst forth in these words:

But vain was poor Seeta's indignant remonstrance. Ravana's only answer was to throw off his disguise, and, “with brows as dark as the storm-cloud,” he carried off the shrieking Seeta as an eagle bears its prey, mounting up aloft and flying with his burden through the sky. The unhappy Seeta calls loudly upon Rama, and bids the flowery bowers and trees and rivers all tell her Rama that Ravana has stolen his Seeta from his home. In Rama's time the woods were inhabited by demons and monkeys. On returning and ascertaining his great loss, Rama did not feel strong enough to recover Seeta single-handed. He therefore entered into an alliance with the monkeys. First, the monkey-king Sugriva dispatched emissaries in all directions to ascertain where Seeta was concealed; and when the monkey-general Hunoomam (the Mars of India)