Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/195

 his stay in the forests) in company with Lakshmana (his brother by Sumitrā) that, while he was absent hunting, Rāvana appeared as a beggar, and enticed away Sītā, which gave rise to the war detailed in the Rāmayana. Sītā was daughter of Rājā Janaka, who had promised to give her to any person who could bend a certain bow, which was done by Rāma-Chandra. When in the forest, he drew a circle round Sītā, and forbad her to go beyond it, and left Lakshmana to take care of her; but Lakshmana hearing some noise which alarmed him for his brother, left her to seek him: then it was that Rāvana appeared, and enticed her out of the circle (gandī), and carried her off in his flying chariot. In the air Rāvana was opposed by the bird Jatāgu, whose wings he cut and escaped. Rāma-Chandra reigned in Awadh (Ayodhyā) before Christ 1600.

Vol. I. page 108, contains an account of the Ram Leela Festival, and of H[)u]noomān and his army of monkeys, most important personages in the history of Rāma-Chandra; the grief of the warrior when roaming the world in search of the beloved Sītā is described Vol. I. page 342. As the offspring of Shiv[)u], H[)u]noomān is sometimes represented five-headed. Sītā is described as "endued with youth, beauty, sweetness, goodness, and prudence; an inseparable attendant on her lord, as the light on the moon; the beloved spouse of Rāma, dear as his own soul, formed by the illusion of the deva; amiable, adorned with every charm." She is also a favourite in descriptive poetry, and is held forth as an example of conjugal affection.

I have an illuminated picture of Sītā, Rām, and H[)u]noomān. The happy pair are seated on a couch of silver and velvet, while H[)u]noomān, on the ground before them, is gravely employed shampooing one foot of the god; behind them stands an attendant, waving a chaunrī of peacock's feathers over their heads.

8. BALA-RAMAMA?].

Bala-Rāma, although a warrior, may, from his attributes, be esteemed a benefactor of mankind; for he bears a plough, and a pestle for beating rice; and he has epithets derived from the