, have never moved a step since the times of our
much honoured forefather Hanuman.

We awaited the performance of Sita-Rama with the liveliest curiosity.
Except ourselves and the building of the theatre, everything was
strictly indigenous and nothing reminded us of the West. There was not
the trace of an orchestra. Music was only to be heard from the stage,
or from behind it. At last the curtain rose. The silence, which had been
very remarkable before the performance, considering the huge crowd
of spectators of both sexes, now became absolute. Rama is one of the
incarnations of Vishnu and, as most of the audience were worshippers of
Vishnu, for them the spectacle was not a mere theatrical performance,
but a religious mystery, representing the life and achievements of their
favourite and most venerated gods.

The prologue was laid in the epoch before creation began (it may safely
be said that no dramatist would dare to choose an earlier one)--or,
rather, before the last manifestation of the universe. All the
philosophical sects of India, except Mussulmans, agree that the universe
has always existed. But the Hindus divide the periodical appearances and
vanishings into days and nights of Brahma. The nights, or withdrawals of
the objective universe, are called Pralayas, and the days, or epochs
of new awakening into life and light, are called Manvantaras, Yugas, or
"centuries of the gods." These periods are also called, respectively,
the inbreathings and outbreathings of Brahma. When Pralaya comes to an
end Brahma awakens, and, with this awakening, the universe that rested
in deity, in other words, that was reabsorbed in its subjective essence,
emanates from the divine principle and becomes visible. The gods, who
died at the same time as the universe, begin slowly to return to life.
The "Invisible" alone, the "Infinite," the "Lifeless," the One who is
the unconditioned original "Life" itself, soars, surrounded by shoreless
chaos. Its holy presence is not visible. It shows itself only in the
periodical pulsation of chaos, represented by a dark mass of waters
filling the stage. These waters are not, as yet, separated from the
dry land, because Brahma, the creative spirit of Narayana, has not yet
separated from the "Ever Unchanging." Then comes a heavy shock of
the whole mass and the waters begin to acquire transparency. Rays,
proceeding from a golden egg at the bottom, spread through the chaotic
waters. Receiving life from th