Here Viswamitra tells his young companions the origin of the name of the city KányaKubja, now called Kanouj, on the Ganges, sixty miles north of Cawnpore (xxxiv. 37). Next day they crossed the Sone, and journeyed through the district of the Ganges, where the episode of the origin of this river is introduced *. On the following day crossing the Ganges (xlv.9) they entered Tirhut †, arriving the first night at Viśálá (xlv. 10; xlvii. 13), where they were hospitably received by king Sumati (xlvii. 20); and the history of the district is detailed by Viśwámitra (xlv. 14). Proceeding towards Mithilá (the capital of Tirhut), they passed through the hermitage of the sage Gautama (xlviii. 10), whose story is then told. (His wife Ahalyá was seduced by Indra, and the latter cursed in consequence ‡.) Thence proceeding onwards, they arrived at a great enclosure prepared for the sacrifice (yajna-váța) by king Janaka, where thousands of Bráhmans were collected. King Janaka there met them (1), and Satánanda, son of Gautama, the domestic chaplain of Janaka, narrated to Ráma the history of Viśwámitra ||. Thence with Janaka they proceeded to Mithilá, the capital of his kingdom (now known as Janakpore, in the kingdom of Nepál, just beyond the Tirhut district), and were there hospitably entertained. The story of the bending the bow of Siva by Ráma is here told § (lvii; see p. 5 of this volume). In consequence of this exploit Sítá became the prize of Ráma (lxvii. 23); and messengers being sent to king Daśaratha (lxviii) to bid him to the wedding, he came accompanied by his two other sons, Bharata and Satrughna. A sister of Sítá (U'rmilá) was given to Lakshmaṇa (lxxiii.

* See p. 13 of this volume.

+ Or Sanskritice Tírabhuktí, the province bounded by the banks of three rivers, the Gandak (Gandakí), the Ganges, and the Kosí (Kauśikí). The most ancient name of the district is Videha, its capital being Mithila.

This is one of the grossly indelicate stories of Hindú mythology.

|| The various episodes which occur in this part of the poem are most interesting, especially this history of Viśwámitra, the birth of Kártikeya, god of war, the success of Bhagiratha in bringing down the Ganges from heaven (p. 14), the churning of the ocean and production of the nectar. The history of Viswámitra includes the stories of Trisánku and that of Ambarísha. The last is very curious. Ambarisha, king of Ayodhya, performed a sacrifice (lxii), but the victim being stolen by Indra (see note, p. 63), he is told by the priest that either the victim itself must be recovered, or a human victim substituted in its place. Ambarisha wanders over the earth in search of the real victim, and meets at last with a Bráhman named Richíka, to whom he offers a hundred thousand cattle for one of his sons. Richíka refuses to let his eldest son go, and his wife will not part with the youngest. Upon this the middle son, S'unahsephah, offers himself and is accepted. When about to be offered up as a sacrifice he is saved by Viśwámitra, who teaches him a prayer to Agni, and two hymns to Indra and Vishnu.

§ In Bhavabhúti's drama, the Mahá-víra-charitra (Act I), the bow is represented as arriving, self-conveyed.

28); and two nieces of Janaka, daughters of his brother Kuśadhwaja (viz. Máṇḍaví and Sruta-kírti), became the brides of Bharata and Satrughna respectively. The wedding is minutely described, as well as the pedigree of both families (lxx. lxxi), with special mention of the costly presents given to the Bráhmans and family priests (lxxii). After the ceremony king Janaka bestowed munificent dowries on his daughters (lxxiv. 2—6); and Dasaratha and his sons then set out on their return to Ayodhya. Viswamitra too took his leave, and retired towards the northern mountains* (lxxiv. 1).

On their way home Dasaratha and his sons are met by Parasu-Ráma (regarded in the later mythology as a previous incarnation of Vishņu; see note, p. 11), who was angry at the breaking of Siva's † bow by Ráma-chandra, and challenged the latter to a trial of strength with another bow (once the property of Vishņu ‡, lxxv. 13), telling him that if he could shoot an arrow from this bow he would consent to a personal combat. Ráma-chandra easily accomplished this feat also; and by so doing excluded Parasu-Ráma from a seat in the celestial world ||, but spared his life in consideration of his being a Brahman (lxxvi. 6). On the party reaching Ayodhya, Bharata was taken by his mother's brother, Yudhájit, to finish his education at the court of his maternal grandfather, Aswapati or Kekaya, who lived in the city of Girivraja, said to be in the Punjab (I. lxxvii. 18; II. lxviii. 21), and Satrughna accompanied him.

SECOND BOOK or AYODHYA-KANDA.—At the commencement of this book we have an account of the circumstances which led the king Dasaratha, at the instigation of Bharata's mother, Kaikeyí, to countermand the intended inauguration of Ráma, as heir-apparent, and to decide on banishing him (i-xviii; and see p. 6 of this volume). It is remarkable that the virtues of Ráma had disarmed his stepmothers; and even the mother of Bharata (who was the king's favourite wife, xi. 6) felt no jealousy, until a humpbacked female slave named Manthará, like a fiend incarnate, instigated her to plot the degradation of Ráma, by suggesting that his elevation to the throne would involve the banishment or even death of Bharata, and her own disgrace (viii. 27). When all Kaikey's evil passions were thus roused, she tore

* That is, to the Nepál hills, and we hear no more of him.

† Paraśu-Ráma is elsewhere described as a disciple of S'iva. See Muir's Texts, vol. I. p. 157. Both the bows, however, were made by Viswakarman (Vulcan); see Rám. I. lxxv. 11. It appears that somehow or other by the discharge of the arrow he was excluded from a seat in the celestial world, which he had earned by his penance, and consequently had to retire to the Himalaya mountains (lxxvi. 22): but the narrative is obscure; see p. 11 of this volume. The commentator to the Calcutta edition says-sara-mokshe gamishyámi pápasya tapasá dagdhatvát punyasya cha śara-moksheņa phala-pratibandhe jívan-mukto bhútvá gamishyámi ity arthah.

off her jewels, and threw herself on the bare ground in 'the chamber of anger' (krodhágára), an apartment which (according to Ward) is still maintained in Hindú houses for wives who are out of humour with their husbands. (See Calcutta Review, XLV. 183.) There she is found by Dasaratha (x. 22), who in astonishment asks her if any one has insulted her (x. 28). She replies by reminding him that formerly, in a battle between the gods and demons, in which he had aided the gods, he was dangerously wounded, and that she had then watched by his bedside, and that he then promised her two boons, the fulfilment of which she now required, viz. the installation of Bharata, and the banishment of Ráma for fourteen years to the forest of Daṇḍaka as a tápasa or devotee (xi. 23 and 24). A tremendous quarrel then ensues between the king and Kaikeyí* (xii); but the king is obliged to abide by his promise, and gives orders for the banishment of Ráma (xviii). The mother of Ráma (Kausalyá) is heartbroken: his friends counsel him to rebel, and the fiery Lakshmana urges resistance; but the good Ráma listens to no one, and thinks only of his duty to his father.

Ráma therefore is banished to the woods, and his wife Sítá and her brother Lakshmaņa insist on accompanying him (xxxi. xxxii). They set off for their fourteen years of exile, escorted at first by the citizens, and encamp the first night on the river Tamasá (now the Tonse, on which Azimgurh is situated, xlv). Ráma, hopeless of persuading the citizens to return, crosses the river in the night while they are asleep (xlvi. 20—28), hastens to the Gomatí (Goomtee, xlix. 10), and thence to the Ganges (1. 11) at Sungroor (in the district of Alláhabád), then called Sringavera. Here was the extremity of his father's kingdom; and here he made his charioteer Sumantra return (lii. 94), with a forgiving message to his father, urging him to send for the absent Bharata and inaugurate him as king (lii. 32), and to be kind to the stepmother who was the author of his own exile † (lii. 23). Here at Sringavera, on the Ganges (lxxxiii. 19), Guha, king of the Nishádas, received them hospitably (1. 22). They

* All the misfortunes of king Dasaratha are the result of polygamy; whereas Ráma was satisfied with one wife, the blameless Sítá, and remained ever faithful to her. In this Ráma is a contrast to the heroes of the Mahá-bhárata.

+ Before commencing their forest-life, Ráma and Lakshmana, in obedience to the desire of Kaikeyí (xi. 23), clothed themselves in bark-garments, and tied their hair so as to form a jațá or knot, projecting like a kind of horn over their foreheads, after the fashion of Hindú devotees (lii. 62). How many centuries have passed since the two brothers began their memorable journey, and yet every step of it is known, and traversed annually by thousands of pilgrims strong indeed are the ties of religion, when entwined with the legends of a country! Those who have followed the path of Ráma from the Gogra to Ceylon, stand out as marked men among their countrymen. It is this that gives the Rámáyana a strange interest; the story still lives: whereas no one now, in any part of the world, puts faith in the legends of Homer. (See Calcutta Review, XLV.)

slept under an Ingudí tree (1), and next day Guha ferried them across the Ganges (lii. 69), and thence they soon reached the sacred junction of the Ganges and the Jumná, called by Hindús Prayága (liv. 5), where now stands the celebrated city of Alláhabád *, and where then stood the hermitage of the sage Bharadwaja. He also treated them hospitably (liv. 32); and, with his approval, they determined on fixing their first residence on the hill Chitra-kúța (Chuteerkote, liv. 28), about two days' march beyond the river Jumná (also called Kálindí). They therefore crossed that river (lv) on a great raft (sumaháplava, lv. 14) into the district of Bandah (in Bundelkund) †, and, advancing into the forest (lv. 32), arrived at Chitra-kúța, where they erected their hermitage and commenced a forest-life, surrounded by various anchorites, whom they protected in the performance of their sacrifices ‡ (lvi).

p.

When Ráma's charioteer arrived at Ayodhya with the empty chariot (lvii), king Dasaratha was so affected, that after relating (lxiii) how in his youth he had accidentally killed a hermit's son, and incurred in consequence the father's curse (see 6 of this volume), his spirit sank within him, and he died (lxiv). The lamentations of the women soon proclaimed the event (lxv). The absent Bharata was sent for from the house of his maternal grandfather in the city of Girivraja || (lxviii. 21). He was seven days on his journey home (lxxi. 18); and when on reaching home he heard of his brother's banishment, he was horror-struck, and heaped imprecations on his astonished mother, who expected only praise from her son (lxxviii and lxxiv). Meanwhile Satrughna seized Manthará, the humpbacked slave, dragged her along the ground, and would have killed her (lxxviii. 16), but was prevented by Bharata (lxxviii.

*This spot is also called Triveņi, because the sacred river Saraswatí is said to join the other two rivers underground.

+ The spot where they crossed is still shown in the Pergunnah of Mow. (Calcutta Review, XLV.) In fact, temples and shrines every where mark their steps.

‡ The isolated hill Chitra-kúṭa is the holiest spot of the worshippers of Ráma: it is crowded with temples and shrines of Ráma and Lakshmana. Every cavern is connected with their names; the heights swarm with monkeys, and some of the wild-fruits are still called Sítá-phal. It is situated on a river called the Piśuní, described as the Mandákiní (xcv), fifty miles south-east of the town of Bandah in Bundelkund, lat. 25.12, long. 8o. 47. The river is lined with ghats and flights of stairs suitable for religious ablutions.

|| This, as before mentioned, was the capital of the country of his mother Kaikeyf, and is also called Raja-griha. It was somewhere beyond the Vipáśá or Beeás, but not beyond the Chandrabhága or Chenáb. (See Calc. Review, XLV.) The locality is much disputed. Lassen connects the Kekeyi with the Kathæi, who are mentioned by Arrian, and are identified with the Khatree caste, in the Punjab. It was evidently beyond the Sutlej and the Beeás, as Bharata in returning is described as crossing the former river (see lxxi. 2); and the messengers who went to fetch him are described as passing the Vipásá (lxviii. 19).

21). The two brothers then went to Kausalyá, pronounced before her the most terrible execrations against those who had procured Ráma's banishment, and assured her of their determination to bring him back (lxxv).

Before the last occurrences Bharata, on the twelfth day, had performed the śráddha or funeral ceremonies (lxxvii. 1), which a son alone could lawfully discharge, and which were necessary to secure the rest and happiness of a deceased parent's soul. Soon afterwards (on the fourteenth day) the ministers assembled, and decided that Bharata was to assume the government (lxxix), but he declined to deprive his elder brother Ráma of his rightful inheritance, and declared his intention of setting out for the forest with a complete army (chatur-anga) to bring Ráma back, and his determination to undergo himself the fourteen years exile in the forest (lxxix. 8, 9).

When the army was prepared they started (lxxxii. lxxxiii), and on reaching Sringavera on the Ganges they roused the anger of Guha, king of the Nishádas, who fancied they were marching against Ráma (lxxxiv and lxxxv. 7). When he learned the real object of the expedition, he praised Bharata, and pointed out to him the spot, on the bare ground under the Ingudí tree, where his brother and Sítá had rested. Bharata was much affected at the sight, and expressed his sentiments in touching language (lxxxviii; see also 1). Next day they crossed the Ganges, and following Ráma's steps came to the hermitage of Bharadwaja at Prayága (lxxxix. xc), who, by the power of his devotion, created a magnificent palace, and compelled the gods to supply a splendid feast for the whole army (xci). They were feasted with flesh meat and spirituous liquors, and food of all kinds, such as in later times no twice-born man was allowed to touch; and all the dancing-girls, damsels, and garlands of Indra's paradise were in requisition on the occasion (xci. 45. 50). Next they crossed the Jumná, and approached Chitra-kúța (see note ‡, p. 69), where the noise of the coming army at first alarmed the exiles (xcvii. 8). The impetuous Lakshmaņa broke out into anger (xcvii. 17), but Ráma calmed him (xcviii); and presently Bharata and Satrughna stood before them (c). Ráma's first inquiry was about his father (ci). Bharata then broke the sad news of his father's death, and begged him to return to Ayodhya and assume the kingdom (cii).

Then ensued a generous contest between the brothers; Bharata imploring Ráma to accept the throne, and Ráma insisting on the duty of making good his father's vow (cvi. cvii). Here the Bráhman Jáváli, in a short discourse, tried to instil infidel, atheistic, and irreligious sentiments into Ráma, hoping to shake his resolution; but Ráma indignantly rebuked him (cviii). In the end Bharata yielded, but only consented to take charge of the kingdom as a deposit. He bore away on his head Ráma's shoes*

* In the northern recension Bharata is made to bring with him a pair of shoes adorned with gold (hema-bhúshita, cxii. 21). These he presents to Ráma, begging him to put them