i.e., poem "relating to Rama," is ascribed to the poet Valmiki; and, allowance being made for some later additions, the poem indeed presents the appearance of being the work of an individual genius. In its present form it consists of some 24,000 glokas, or 48,000 lines of sixteen syllables, divided into seven books.
King Dagaratha of Kogala, reigning at Ayodhy5, (Oudh), has four sons borne him by three wives, viz., Rama, Bharata and the twins Lakshmana and 8atrughna. Rama wins for a wife Sita, daughter of Janaka, king of Videha. (II.) On his return to Ayodhya he is to be appointed heir-apparent ; but Bharata's mother persuades the king now to grant her a long promised boon and insists on his banishing his eldest son for fourteen years, and appointing her son instead. Separation from his favourite son soon breaks the king's heart, whereupon the ministers call on Bharata to assume the reins of government. He refuses, how ever, and, betaking himself to Rama's retreat on the Chitrakiita mountain (in Bundelkhund), implores him to return; but, unable to shake Rama's resolve to complete his term of exile, he consents to take charge of the kingdom in the meantime. (III.) After a ten years' happy residence in the forest, Ravana, the demon-king of Ceylon, carries off Sita to his capital Lanka while her two pro tectors are away in pursuit of a golden deer sent to mislead them. While she resolutely rejects the Rakshasa's addresses, Rama sets out with his brother to her rescue. (IV.) After numerous ad ventures they enter into an alliance with Sugriva, king of the monkeys ; and, with the assistance of the monkey-general Hanu man, and Ravana's own brother Vibhishana, they prepare to as sault Lanka. (V.) The monkeys, tearing up rocks and trees, construct a passage across the straits—the so-called Adam's Bridge, still designated Rama's Bridge in India. (VI.) Rama crosses with his allies, slays the demon and captures the strong hold ; Sit5, successfully undergoes an ordeal by fire to clear herself of the suspicion of infidelity; they return to Ayodhy5,, where, after a triumphal entry, Rama is installed. (VII.) Rama, how ever, seeing that the people are not yet satisfied of Sita's purity, resolves to put her away; whereupon, in the forest, she falls in with Valmiki himself, and at his hermitage gives birth to two sons. While growing up there, they are taught by the sage the use of the bow, as well as the Vedas, and the Ramayana as far as the capture of Lanka and the royal entry into Ayodhya. Ulti
mately Rama discovers and recognizes them by their wonderful deeds and their likeness to himself, and takes his wife and sons back with him.
The first and last books are later additions by which the poem has been turned to the glory of Vishnu. In these two books Rama has become deified and identified with the god Vishnu, whilst in the body of the poem his character is simply that of a perfect man and model hero. The background of the epic is a purely mythological one—Rama representing the god Indra, and Sita—in accordance with the meaning of the name—the personi fied "Furrow," as which she is already invoked in the Rigveda, and hence is a tutelary spirit of the tilled earth, wedded to Indra, the Jupiter Pluvius. Ravana would correspond to the demon Vritra of the Rigveda.
One version of the same story, with, however, many important variations of details, forms an episode of the Mahabharata, the Rdmopakhyana, the relation of which to Valmiki's work is still a matter of uncertainty. In respect of both versification and dic tion the Ramayana is of a distinctly more refined character than the larger poem ; and, indeed, Valmiki is seen already to cultivate some of that artistic style of poetry which was carried to excess in the later artificial poems (Kavyas), whence the title of adi kavi, or first poet, is commonly applied to him. The Ramayana itself contains a prophecy like that of Horace's to the effect that it will always live on the lips of men, and it has been more than fulfilled. No story in India has attained such popularity. It has been translated into many vernaculars and through the version of Tulsi Das has exerted a tremendous influence on the spiritual life of India. To characterize the Indian epics in a single word: though often disfigured by fancies and exaggerations, they are yet noble works, abounding in passages of remarkable descriptive power, intense pathos, and high poetic grace and beauty; and while, as works of art, they are far inferior to the Greek epics, in some respects they appeal far more strongly to the romantic mind of Europe, namely, by their loving appreciation of natural beauty, their exquisite delineation of womanly love and devotion, and their tender sentiment of mercy and forgiveness.