as
evidently been rehandled several times, and there are three versions of
the poems still extant. The poem consists of twenty-four thousand
verses, and the story of it--now overlaid as it is with extravagant and
fabulous accretions--is evidently founded on fact. The scene of the poem
is laid in the city of Ayodhya, the modern Oudh, which is described in
glowing colors as a place of health, beauty, and prosperity--

"In by-gone ages built and planned
By sainted Manu's princely hand."

In the splendid palace of the Rajah, at Oudh, lives Dasaratha, mourning
in childlessness. He is one of the princes descended from the sun, and
his line now threatens to become extinct. He determines to appeal to the
Gods by the Asva-medha, the great sacrifice in which a horse is the
victim. The rites accordingly are performed with unparalleled
magnificence, and, at the close of the ceremony, the high priest
declares to the king--

"Four sons, O Monarch, shall be thine,
Upholders of the royal line."

Among the offspring duly granted to Dasaratha is Rama, who is a typical
Hindoo of the heroic type. His fair wife, Sita, is carried off by the
demon Ravana, who had assumed the form of a humble priest, or ascetic,
in order to gain access to her. He carries her in his chariot to Lanka,
the fair city built on an island of the sea. By the assistance of a
large army of monkeys, Rama marches against Lanka, and when they stand
helpless--for the water separates them from Ceylon--he then invokes the
goddess of the sea, as Achilles did Thetis, and she comes in radiant
beauty, telling them how to bridge the waves. The monkeys bring timber
and stones, the bridge is built, Lanka reached, and the battle begins.
Indra sends his own chariot down from heaven to Rama, who mounts it, and
vanquishes Ravana in single combat, upon which Sita is restored to her
husband. E.W.

THE RAMAYANA

INVOCATION

Praise to Valmiki, bird of charming song,
Who mounts on Poesy's sublimest spray,
And sweetly sings with accent clear and strong
Rama, aye Rama, in his deathless lay.

Where breathes the man can listen to the strain
That flows in music from Valmiki's tongue,
Nor feel his feet the path of bliss attain
When Rama's glory by the saint is sung?

The stream Ramayan leaves its sacred fount
The whole wide world from sin and stain to free.
The Prince of Hermits is the parent mount,
The lordly