The Ramayana Part 196

Yama, Page 68.

Son of Vivasvat=Jima son of Vivanghvat, the Jams.h.i.+d of the later Persians.

Fate, Page 68.

"The idea of fate was different in India from that which prevailed in Greece. In Greece fate was a mysterious, inexorable power which governed men and human events, and from which it was impossible to escape. In India Fate was rather an inevitable consequence of actions done in births antecedent to one's present state of existence, and was therefore connected with the doctrine of metempsychosis. A misfortune was for the most part a punishment, an expiation of ancient faults not yet entirely cancelled." GORRESIO.

Visvamitra, Page 76.

"Though of royal extraction, Visvamitra conquered for himself and his family the privileges of a Brahman. He became a Brahman, and thus broke through all the rules of caste. The Brahmans cannot deny the fact, because it forms one of the princ.i.p.al subjects of their legendary poems. But they have spared no pains to represent the exertions of Visvamitra, in his struggle for Brahmanhood, as so superhuman that no one would easily be tempted to follow his example. No mention is made of these monstrous penances in the Veda, where the struggle between Visvamitra, the leader of the Kusikas or Bharatas, and the Brahman Vasishtha, the leader of the white-robed Tritsus, is represented as the struggle of two rivals for the place of Purohita or chief priest and minister at the court of King Sudas, the son of Pijavana." _Chips from a German Workshop_, _Vol. II._ p. 336.

Household G.o.ds, Page 102.

"No house is supposed to be without its tutelary divinity, but the notion attached to this character is now very far from precise. The deity who is the object of hereditary and family wors.h.i.+p, the _Kuladevata_, is always one of the leading personages of the Hindu mythology, as Siva, Vish?u or Durga, but the _Grihadevata_ rarely bears any distinct appellation. In Bengal, the domestic G.o.d is sometimes the _Salagram_ stone, sometimes the _tulasi_ plant, sometimes a basket with a little rice in it, and sometimes a water-jar-to either of which a brief adoration is daily addressed, most usually by the females of the family. Occasionally small images of Lakshmi or Cha?di fulfil the office, or should a snake appear, he is venerated as the guardian of the dwelling. In general, however, in former times, the household deities were regarded as the unseen spirits of ill, the ghosts and goblins who hovered about every spot, and claimed some particular sites as their own. Offerings were made to them in the open air, by scattering a little rice with a short formula at the close of all ceremonies to keep them in good humour.

"The household G.o.ds correspond better with the genii locorum than with the lares or penates of autiquity."

H. H. WILSON.

Page 107.

_Saivya, a king whom earth obeyed,_ _Once to a hawk a promise made._

The following is a free version of this very ancient story which occurs more than once in the _Mahabharat_:

THE SUPPLIANT DOVE.

Chased by a hawk there came a dove With worn and weary wing, And took her stand upon the hand Of Kasi's mighty king.

The monarch smoothed her ruffled plumes And laid her on his breast, And cried, "No fear shall vex thee here, Rest, pretty egg-born, rest!

Fair Kasi's realm is rich and wide, With golden harvests gay, But all that's mine will I resign Ere I my guest betray."

But panting for his half won spoil The hawk was close behind.

And with wild cry and eager eye Came swooping down the wind: "This bird," he cried, "my destined prize, 'Tis not for thee to s.h.i.+eld: 'Tis mine by right and toilsome flight O'er hill and dale and field.

Hunger and thirst oppress me sore, And I am faint with toil: Thou shouldst not stay a bird of prey Who claims his rightful spoil.

They say thou art a glorious king, And justice is thy care: Then justly reign in thy domain, Nor rob the birds of air."

Then cried the king: "A cow or deer For thee shall straightway bleed, Or let a ram or tender lamb Be slain, for thee to feed.

Mine oath forbids me to betray My little twice-born guest: See how she clings with trembling wings To her protector's breast."

"No flesh of lambs," the hawk replied, "No blood of deer for me; The falcon loves to feed on doves And such is Heaven's decree.

But if affection for the dove Thy pitying heart has stirred, Let thine own flesh my maw refresh, Weighed down against the bird."

He carved the flesh from off his side, And threw it in the scale, While women's cries smote on the skies With loud lament and wail.

He hacked the flesh from side and arm, From chest and back and thigh, But still above the little dove The monarch's scale stood high.

He heaped the scale with piles of flesh, With sinews, blood and skin, And when alone was left him bone He threw himself therein.

Then thundered voices through the air; The sky grew black as night; And fever took the earth that shook To see that wondrous sight.

The blessed G.o.ds, from every sphere, By Indra led, came nigh: While drum and flute and sh.e.l.l and lute Made music in the sky.

They rained immortal chaplets down, Which hands celestial twine, And softly shed upon his head Pure Amrit, drink divine.

Then G.o.d and Seraph, Bard and Nymph Their heavenly voices raised, And a glad throng with dance and song The glorious monarch praised.

They set him on a golden car That blazed with many a gem; Then swiftly through the air they flew, And bore him home with them.

Thus Kasi's lord, by n.o.ble deed, Won heaven and deathless fame: And when the weak protection seek From thee, do thou the same.

_Scenes from the Ramayan, &c._

Page 108.

The ceremonies that attended the consecration of a king (_Abhikshepa lit.

Sprinkling over_) are fully described in Goldstucker's Dictionary, from which the following extract is made: "The type of the inauguration ceremony as practised at the Epic period may probably be recognized in the history of the inauguration of _Rama_, as told in the _Ramayana_, and in that of the inauguration of _Yudhish?hira_, as told in the _Mahabharatha_.

Neither ceremony is described in these poems with the full detail which is given of the vaidik rite in the _Aitareya-Brahma?am_; but the allusion that Rama was inaugurated by _Vasish?ha_ and the other Brahmanas in the same manner as Indra by the Vasus ... and the observation which is made in some pa.s.sages that a certain rite of the inauguration was performed 'according to the sacred rule' ... admit of the conclusion that the ceremony was supposed to have taken place in conformity with the vaidik injunction.... As the inauguration of _Rama_ was intended and the necessary preparations for it were made when his father Dasaratha was still alive, but as the ceremony itself, through the intrigues of his step-mother _Kaikeyi_, did not take place then, but fourteen years later, after the death of _Dasaratha_, an account of the preparatory ceremonies is given in the _Ayodhyaka??a_ (Book II) as well as in the _Yuddha-Ka??a_ (Book VI.) of the Ramaya?a, but an account of the complete ceremony in the latter book alone. According to the _Ayodhyaka??a_, on the day preceding the intended inauguration _Rama_ and his wife _Sita_ held a fast, and in the night they performed this preliminary rite: _Rama_ having made his ablutions, approached the idol of _Naraya?a_, took a cup of clarified b.u.t.ter, as the religious law prescribes, made a libation of it into the kindled fire, and drank the remainder while wis.h.i.+ng what was agreeable to his heart. Then, with his mind fixed on the divinity he lay, silent and composed, together with _Sita_, on a bed of Kusa-gra.s.s, which was spread before the altar of Vish?u, until the last watch of the night, when he awoke and ordered the palace to be prepared for the solemnity. At day-break reminded of the time by the voices of the bards, he performed the usual morning devotion and praised the divinity. In the meantime the town Ayodhya had a.s.sumed a festive appearance and the inauguration implements had been arranged ... golden water-jars, an ornamented throne-seat, a chariot covered with a splendid tiger-skin, water taken from the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, as well as from other sacred rivers, tanks, wells, lakes, and from all oceans, honey, curd, clarified b.u.t.ter, fried grain, Kusa-gra.s.s, flowers, milk; besides, eight beautiful damsels, and a splendid furious elephant, golden and silver jars, filled with water, covered with _Udumbara_ branches and various lotus flowers, besides a white jewelled _chourie_, a white splendid parasol, a white bull, a white horse, all manner of musical instruments and bards.... In the preceding chapter ... there are mentioned _two_ white _chouries_ instead of one, and all kinds of seeds, perfumes and jewels, a scimitar, a bow, a litter, a golden vase, and a blazing fire, and amongst the living implements of the pageant, instead of the bards, gaudy courtesans, and besides the eight damsels, professors of divinity, Brahma?as, cows and pure kinds of wild beasts and birds, the chiefs of town and country-people and the citizens with their train."

Page 109.

_Then with the royal chaplains they_ _Took each his place in long array._

_The twice born chiefs, with zealous heed,_ _Made ready what the rite would need._

"Now about the office of a Purohita (house priest). The G.o.ds do not eat the food offered by a king, who has no house-priest (Purohita). Thence the king even when (not) intending to bring a sacrifice, should appoint a Brahman to the office of house-priest." HAUG'S _Autareya Brahmanam. Vol.

II. p. 528_.

Page 110.