*' Oui! repondirent les Dieux au fils suppliant durishi; tu merites que nous t'ecoutious avec faveur, toi, brahme saint, et rn&ne, en premier lieu, ce roi. Comme recompense de ces differents sacrifices, le monarque obtendra cet objet le plus cher de ses desirs."
Ayant aussi parle et vu que le grand saint avait mis fin suivant les rites a son pieux sacrifice, les Dieux, Indra a leur t§te, s»'evanouissent dans le vide des airs et se rendent vers P architecte des mondes, le souverain des creatures, le donateur des biens, vers Brahma enfin, auquel tous, les mains jointes, ils adres- sent les paroles suivantes; " O Brahma, un rakshasa, nomm6 Ravana, tourne au APPENDIX. 513 mal les graces, qu'il a revues de toi. Dans son orgueil, il nous opprime tous; il opprime avec nous les grands anchoretes, qui se font un bonheur des macerations: car jadis, ayant su te plaire, O Bhagavat, il a recu de toi ce don incomparable. " Oui, as4u dit, exaugant le voeu du mauvais Genie; Dieu, Yaksha ou Demon ne pourra jamais causer ta mort! " Et nous, par qui ta parole est respectee, nous avons tout support^ de ce roi des rakshasas, qui ecrase de sa tyrannic les trois mondes, ou il promene 1' injure impunSment. Bnorgueilli de ce don victorieux, il opprime indignement les Dieux, les rishis, les Yakshas, les Gandharvas, les Asouras et les enfants de Manou. La ou se tient Rdvana, la peur empeche le Boleil d' ^chauffer, le vent craint de soutfler, et le feu n'ose flamboyer. A son aspect, la guirlande meme des grands flots tremble au sein de la mer. Accable par sa vigueur indomptable, Kouvera def ait lui a cede" Lanka. Sauve-nous done, 6 toi, qui reposes daus le bonheur absolu; sauve-nous de Ravana, le fleau des mondes. Daigne, 6 toi, qui souris aux vceux du suppliant, daigne imaginer un expedient pour oter la vie a ce cruel De"mon." Les Dieux ayant ainsi denonce leurs maux a Brahma, il r6fl£chit un instant et leur tint ce langage: " Bien, voici que j'ai decouvert un moyen pour tuer ce G6nie scele'rat. Que ni les Dieux. a-t-il dit, ni les rishis, ni les Gandharvas ni les Yakshas, ni les rakshasas, ni les Nagas meme ne puissent me donner la mort! Soitlui ai-je repondu. Mais, par d6dain pour la force humaine, les hommes n'ont pas 6te compris daus sa demande. C'est done par la main d' un homme, qu'il faut immoler ce mechant." Ainsi tombe"e de la bouche du createur, cette parole salutaire satisfit pleinement le roi des habitants du ciel et tous les Dieux avec lui. La, dans ce meme instant, sur- vint le fortune Visnou, revetu d' une splendeur infinie; car c'etait a lui, que Brahma avait pense dans son &me pour la mort du tyran. Celui-ci done avec I'essaim des Immortels adresse a Vishnou ces paroles: "Meurtrier de Madhou, comme tu aimes a tirer de 1' affliction les etres malheureux, nous te supplions, nous qui sommes plong6s dans la tristesse, Divinite* auguste, sois notre asyle! " " Dites! reprit Vishnou; que dois-je faire? " Ayant oui les paroles de 1' ineffable, tous les Dieux repondirent: " II est un roi nomm6 Da^aratha; il a embrasse une tres-dure penitence; il a celebre meme le sacrifice d' un acwa-medha, parce qu'il n'a point de fils et qu' il veut en obtenir du ciel. II est inebranlable dans sa piete, il est vante pour ses vertus; la justice est son caractere, la verite est sa parole. Acquiesce done a notre demande, 6 toi,,Vishnou, et consens a naitre comme son fils. Divise en quatre portions de toi-meme, daigne, 6 toi, qui foules aux pieds tes ennemis, daigne t' incarner dans le sein de ses trois epouses, belles comme la deesse de la beaute." Narayana, le maitre, non perceptible aux sens, mais qui alors s* etait rendu visible, Narayana r6pondit cette parole salutaire aux Dieux, qui i invitaient a cet hero'ique avatdra. Quelle chose, une f ois revetu de cette incarnation, faudra-t-il encore quejefasse pour vous, et de quelle part vient la terreur, qui vous trouble ainsi? ' A ces mots du grand Vishnou: " C?est le demon Ravana, reprirent les Dieux; c'est lui, Vishnou, cette desolation des mondes, qui nous inspire un tel effroi. Enveloppe-toi d' un corps, humain, et qu'il te plaise arracher du monde cette blessante epine; car nul autre que toi parmi les habitants du ciel n'est capable d'immoler ce pecheur. Sache que longtemps il s'est impose la plus austere penitence, et que par elle il s'est rendu agreable au supreme ayeul de toutes les creatures. Aussi le distributeur ineffable des graces lui a-t-il accorde ce don insigne d'etre invulnerable k tous les etres, I* 514 APPENDIX.
homme seul excepte. Puisqae, doue ainsi de cette faveur, la mort terrible et sure ne peut venir & lui de nulle autre part que de I'homme, va, dorapteur puissant de tes ennemis, va dans la condition humaine, et tue-le. Car ce don, auquel on ne peut resister, elevant au plus haut point 1' ivresse de sa force, le vil rakshasa tourmente les Dieux, les rishis, les Gandharvas, les hommes sanctifies par la penitence; et, quoique, destructeur des sacrifices, lacerateur des Saintes Ecritures, ennemi des brahmes, devorateur des hommes, cette faveur incomparable sauve de la mort Ravana le triste fleau des mondes. II ose attaquer les rois, que dependent les chars de guerre, que remparent les elephants: d' autres blesses et mis en fuite, sont dissipes ca et la devant lui. II a devore des saints, il a devore meme une foule d'apsaras. Sans cesse, dans son delire, il s'amuse a tourmenter les sept mondes. Comme on vient de nous apprendre q\C il n' a point daigne parler d'eux ce jour, que lui fut donnee cette faveur, dontil abuse, entre dans un corps humain, 6 toi, qui peux briser tes ennemis, et jette sans vie a tes pieds, roi puissant des treize Dieux, ce Ravana superbe, d'une force epouvantable, d'un orgueil immense, 1' ennemi de tous les ascetes, ce ver; qiii les range, cette cause de leurs gemisse- ments."
Id, dans le premier tome du saint ltd may ana, Finit le quatorzieme chapitre, nomine: UN EXPEDIENT POUR TUEK HAVANA.
HIPPOLYTE FAUCHB.
UTTARAKA'NDA.
The Ramayan ends, epically complete, with the triumphant return of Rama and his rescued queen to Ayodhya and his consecration and coronation in the capital of his forefathers. Even if the story were not complete, the conclusion of the last Canto of the sixth Book, evidently the work of a later hand than Val- miki's, which speaks of Rama's glorious and happy reign and promises blessings to those who read and hear the Ramayan, would be sufficient to show that, when these verses were added, the poem was considered to be finished. The Uttarakanda or Last Book is merely an appendix or a supplement and relates only events an- tecedent and subsequent to those described in the original poem. Indian scholars however, led by reverential love of traditio?), unanimously ascribe this Last Book to Valmiki, and regard it as part of the Ramayan.
Signer Gorresio has published an excellent translation of the Uttarakanda, in Italian prose, from the recension current in Bengal;' and Mr. Muir has epi- tomized a portion of the book in the Appendix to the Fourth Part of his Sanskrit Texts (1862). From these scholars I borrow freely in the following pages, and give them my hearty thanks for saving me much wearisome labour.
1 The Academy, Vol. III., No. 43, contains an able and interesting notice of this work from the pen of the Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Cam- bridge: * The Uttarakanda^ Mr. Co well remarks, ' bears the same relation to the Rdmdyana as the Cyclic poems to the Iliad. Just as the Cypria of Stasinus, the u&thiopis of Arctinus, and the little Iliad of Lescnes completed the story of the "After H&ma had returned to Avodhyd and taken possession of the throne, the rishis [saints] assembled to greet him, and Agastya, in answer to his questions recounted many particulars regarding his old enemies. In the Krita Ynga (of Golden Age) the austere and pious Brahman-fishi Pulastya, a son of Brahma, being teased with the visits of different damsels, proclaimed that any one of thent whom he again saw near his hermitage should become pregnant. This had not been heard by the daughter of the royal rishi Trinavindu, who one day came into Pulastya's neighbourhood, and her pregnancy was the result (Sect. 2, vv. 14 f£ ). After her return home, her father, seeing her condition, took her to Pulastya. who accepted her as his wife, and she bore a son who received the name of' Visravas. This son was, like his father, an austere and religious sage. He married the daughter of the muni Bharadvaja, who bore him a son to whom Brahma gave the name of Vaisravafi=Kuvera (Sect. 3, vv. 1 ff ). He performed austerities for thousands of years, when he" obtained from Brahma as a boon that he should be one of the guardians of the world (along with Indra, Varuna, and Yama) and the god of riches. He afterwards consulted his father Visravas about an abode, and at his suggestion took possession of the city of Lanka, which had formerly been built by Visvakarman for the Raxasas, but had been abandoned by them through fear of Vishnu, and was at that time unoccupied. Rama then (Sect. 4) says he is surprised to hear that Lanka had formerly belonged to the Raxasas, as he had always understood that they were the descendants of Pulastya, and now he learns that they had also another origin. He therefore asks who was their ancestor, and what fault they had committed that they were chased away by Vishnu. Agastya replies that when Brahma created the waters, he formed cer- tain beings,— some of whom received the name of Raxasas,--to guard them. The first Raxasa kings were Heti and Praheti. Heti married a sister of Kala (Time). She bore him a son Vidyutkesa, who in his turn took for his wife Lankatanknta, the daughter of Sandhya (V. 21). She bore him a son Sukesa, whom she aban- doned, but he was* seen by 6iva as he was passing by with his wife Pa'rvati, who made the child as old as his mother, and immortal, and gave him a celestial city. Sukesa married a Gandharvi called Devavati who bore three sons, Malyavat, Sumali and Mali. These sons practised intense austerities, when Brahm^ appeared and conferred on them invincibility and long life. They then harassed the gods. Visvakarman gave them a city, Lanka,, on the mountain Trikuta, on the shore of Jliad, and not only added the series of events which preceded and follo'wed it, but also founded episodes of their own on isolated allusions in Homer, so the Uttarakdnda is intended to complete the Rdmdyana, and at the same time to supplement it by intervening episodes to explain casual allusions or isolated inci- dents which occur in it. Thus the early history of the giant Ravana and his family fills nearly forty Chapters, and we have a full account of his wars with, the gods and his conquest of Lanka, which all happened long before the action of the poem commences, just as the Cypria narrated the birth and early-history of Helen, and the two expeditions of the Greeks against Troy; and the latter chapters continue the history of the hero Rama after his triumphant return to his paternal kingdom, and the poem closes with his death and that of his brothers, and the founding by their descendants of various kingdoms in different parts of India.'
516 APPENDIX.
the southern ocean, which he had built at the command of Indra,...The three Raxasas, Malyavat and his two brothers, then began to oppress the gods, rishis, etc.; who (Sect. 6, v. 1 ff.) in consequence resort for aid to Mahadeva, who hav- ing regard to bis protege Sukesa the father of Malyavat, says that he cannot kill the Raxasas, but advises the suppliants to go to Vishnu, which they do, and receive from him a promise that he will destroy their enemies. The three Raxasa kings, hearing of this, consult together, and proceed to heaven to attack the gods. Vishnu prepares to meet them. The battle is described in the seventh section. The Raxasas are defeated by Vishnu with great slaughter, and driven back to Lanka, one of their leaders, Mali, being slain. Malyavat remonstrates with Vishnu, who was assaulting the rear of the fugitives, for his unwarrior-like con- duct, and wishes to renew the combat (Sect. 8, v. 3 ff.). Vishnu replies that he must fulfil his promise to the gods by slaying the Raxasas and that he would destroy them even if they fled to Patala. These Raxasas, Agastya says, were more powerful than Ravana, and, could only be destroyed by Narayana, i. e. by Rama himself, the eternal, indestructible god. Sumali with his family lived for along time in Patala, while Kuvera dwelt in Lanka. In section 9 it is related that Sumali once happened to visit the earth, when he observed Euver a going in his chariot to see his father Visravas. This leads him to consider how he might restore his own fortunes. He consequently desires his daughter Kaikasi to go and woo Visravas, who receives her graciously. She becomes the mother of the dread- ful Ravana, of the huge Kumbhakarna, of Surpanakha, and of the righteous Vibhishana, who was the last son. These children grow up in the forest. Kumbha- karna goes about eating rishis. Kuvera comes to visit his father, when Kaikasi takes occasion to urge her son Ravana to strive to become like his brother (Kuvera) in splendour. This Ravana promises to do. He then goes to the hermitage of Ookarna with his brothers to perform austerity. In section 10 their austere ob- servances are described: after a thousand years' penance Ravana throws his head into the fire. He repeats this oblation nine times after equal intervals, and ia about to do it the tenth time, when Brahma appears, and offers a boon. Ravana asks immortality, but is refused. He then asks that he may be indestructible by all creatures more powerful than men; which boon is accorded by Brahm£ together with the recovery of all the heads he had sacrificed and the power of assuming any shape he pleased. Vibhishana asks as his boon that "even amid the greatest calamities he may think only of righteousness, and that the weapon of Brahma may appear to him unlearnt, etc. The god grants his request, and adds the gift of immortality. When Brahma is about to offer a boon to Kumbha- karna, the gods interpose, as, they say, he had eaten seven Apsarases and ten followers of Indra, besides rishis and men; and beg that under the guise of a boon stupefaction may be inflicted on him. BraUmft thinks on Sarasvati, who arrives and, by Brahma's command, enters into Kumbhakarna's mouth that she may speak for him. Under this influence he asks that he may receive the boon of sleeping for many years, which is granted. When however Sarasvati has left him. and he recovers his own consciousness, he perceives that he has been deluded. Kuvera by his father's advice, gives up the city of Lanka to Ravana." l Ravana marries (Sect. 12,) Mandodari the beautiful daughter of the Asur Maya whose 1 MUIB, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV., pp. 414 ff.
APPENDIX. 517 name has several times occurred in the Ram£yan as that of an artist of wonderful skill. She bears a son Meghanada or the Roaring Cloud who was afterwards named Indrajit from his victory over the sovereign of the sides. The conquest of Kuvera, and the acquisition of the magic self-moving chariot which has done much service in the Ramayan, form the subject of sections XIII., XIV. and XV. " The rather pretty story of Vedavati is related in the seventeenth section, as follows: Ravana in the course of his progress through the world, comes to the forest on the Himalaya, where he sees a damsel of brilliant beauty, but in assetio garb, of whom he straightway becomes enamoured. He tells her that such an austere life is unsuited to her youth and attractions, and asks who she is and why she is leading an ascetic existence. She answers that she is called Vedavati, and is the vocal daughter of Vrihaspati's son, the rishi Kusadhvaja, sprung from him during his constant study of the Veda. The gods, gandharvas, etc., she says, wished that she should choose a husband, but her father would give her to no on* else than to Vishnu, the lord of the world, whom he desired for his son-in-law. Vedavati then proceeds: " In order that I may fulfil this desire of my father in respect of Narayana, I wed him with my heart. Having entered into this engage- ment I practise great austerity. Narayana and no other than he, Purushottama, is my husband. From the desire of obtaining him, I resort to this severe obser- Tance." Havana's passion is not in the least diminished by this explanation and he urges that it is the old alone who should seek to become distinguished by accumulating merit through austerity, prays that she who is so young and beauti- ful shall become his bride; and boasts that he is superior to Vishnu. She rejoins that no one but he would thus contemn that deity. On receiving this reply he touches the hair of her head with the tip of his finger. She is greatly incensed, and forthwith cuts off her hair and tells him that as he has so insulted her, she cannot continue to live, but will enter into the fire before his eyes. She goes on " Since I have been insulted in the forest by thee who art wicked-hearted, I shall be born again for thy destruction. For a man of evil desire cannot be slain by a woman; and the merit of my austerity would be lost if I were to launch a curse against thee. But if I have performed or bestowed or sacrificed aught may I be born the virtuous daughter, not produced from the womb, of a righteous man," Having thus spoken she entered, the blazing fire. Then a shower of celestial flowers fell (from every part of the sky). It is she, lord, who, having been Veda- vati in the Krita age, has been born (in the Treta age) as the daughter of the king of the Janakas, and (has become) thy [Rama's] bride; for thou art the eternal Vishnu. The mountain-like enemy who was [virtually] destroyed before by her wrath, has now been slain by her having recourse to thy superhuman energy." On this the commentator remarks: "By this it is signified that Sita was the principal cause of Ravana's death; but the function of destroying him is ascribed to Rama." On the words, "thou art Vishnu," in the preceding verse the same commentator remarks: " By this it is clearly affirmed that Sita was Laxmi. This is what Parasara says: " In the god's life as Rama, she became Sita, and in his birth as Krishna [she became] RukrninL" 1 In the following section (XVIII.) *' Ravana is described as violently inter^ ing a sacrifice which is being performed by king Marutta, and the assembled MUIB, Sanskrit Texts, Part IV., 391, 392, gods in terror assume different shapes to escape; Indra becomes a peacock, a crow, Kuvera a lizard, and Varuna a swan; and each deity bestows a boon on the animal he had chosen. The peacock's tail recalls Indra's thousand eyes; the swan's colour becomes white, like the foam of the ocean (Varuna being its lord); the lizard obtains a golden colour; and the crow is never to die except when killed by a violent death, and the dead are to enjoy the funeral oblations when they have been devoured by the crows." l Ravan then attacks Arjuna or Karttavirya the mighty king of Mahishmat! on. the banks of the Narmadaj and is defeated, captured and imprisoned by Arjuna. At the intercession of Pulastya (Sect. XXII.) he is released from his bonds. He then visits Kishkindha where he enters into alliance with Bali the King of the Vanars: "We will have all things in common," says Ravan, " dames, sons, cities and kingdoms, food, vesture, and all delights." His next exploit is the invasion of the kingdom of departed spirits and his terrific battle with the sovereign Yama. The poet in his description of these regions with the detested river with waves of blood, the dire lamentations, the Cries for a drop of water, the devouring worm, all the tortures of the guilty and the somewhat insipid plea- sures of the just, reminds one of the scenes in the under world so vividly described by Homei-j Virgil, and Dante. Yama is defeated (Sect. XXVI.) by the giant, not so much by his superior power as because at the request of Brahma Yama refrains from smiting with his deadly weapon the Rakshas enemy to whom that God had once given the promise that preserved him. In the twenty-seventh section Ravan goes " under the earth into Patala the treasure-house of the waters inhabited by swarms of serpents and Daityas, and well defended by Varun." He subdues Bhogavati the city ruled by Vasuki and reduces the Nagas or serpents to subjec- tion. He penetrates even to the imperial seat of Varun. The God himself is absent, but his sons come forth and do battle with the invader. The giant is victorious and departs triumphant. The twenty-eighth section gives the details of a terrific battle between Ravan and Mandhata King of Ayodhya, a distinguished ancestor of Rama. Supernatural weapons are employed on both sides and the issue of the conflict is long doubtful. But at last Mandhata prepares to use the mighty weapon " acquired by severe austerities through the grace and favour of Rudra." The giant would inevitably have been slain. But two pre-eminent Munis Pulastya and Galava beheld the fight through the power given by contem- plation, and with w; rds of exhortation they parted King Mandhata and the sovereign of the Bakshases. Ravan at last (Sect. XXXII.) returns homeward carrying with him in his car Pushpak the virgin daughters of kings, of Rishis, of Daityas, and Gandharvas whom he has seized upon his way. The thirty-sixth section describes a battle with Indra, in which the victorious Meghanada son of the giant, makes the King of the Gods his prisoner, binds him with his magic art, and carries him away (Sect. XXVII.) in triumph to Lanka. Brahma intercedes (Sect. XXXVIII.) and Indrajit releases his prisoner on obtaining in return the boon that sacrifice to the Lord of Fire shall always make him invincible in the coming battle. In sections XXXIX., XL, " we have a legend related to Rama by the sage Agastya to account for the stupendous strength of the monkey Hanu- mat, as it had been described in the Rdindyana. Rama naturally wonders (as * See Academy, III,, 43.
APPENDIX. 519 perhaps many readers of the Rdmdyana have done since) why a monkey of such marvellous power and prowess had not easily evercorne Bali and secured the throne for his friend Sugriva. Agastya replies that Hanumat was at that time under a curse from a Eishi, and consequently was not conscious of his own might," l The whole story of the marvellous Vanar is here given at length, but nothing else of importance is added to the tale already given in the Ramayana. The Rishis or saints then (Sect. XL.) return to their celestial seats, and the Vanars, RaJkshases and bears also (Sect. XLIII.) take their departure. The chariot Pushpak is re- stored to its original owner Kuvera, as has already been related in the Ramayan.
The story of Rama and Sita is then continued, and we meet with matter of more human interest. The winter is past and the pleasant spring-time is come, arid Rama and Sita sit together in the shade of the Asoka trees happy as Indra and ^achi when they drink in Paradise the nectar of the Gods. "Tell me, my beloved," says Rama, "for thou wilt soon' be a mother, hast thou a wish in thy heart for me to gratify? " And Sita smiles and answers: " I long, O son of Raghu, to visit the pure and holy hermitages on the banks of the Ganges and to venerate the feet of the saints who there perform their rigid austerities and live on roots and berries. This is my chief desire, to stand within the hermits' grove were it but for a single day." And Rama said: " Let not the thought trouble thee: thou .shalt go to the grove of the ascetics." But slanderous tongues have been bus}' iu Ayodhya, and Sita has nofc been spared, Rama hears that the people are lament- ing his blind folly in taking back to his bosom the wife who was so long a captive in the palace of Ravan, Rama well knows her spotless purity in thought, word, and deed, and her perfect love of him; but he cannot endure the mockery and the shame and resolves to abandon his unsuspecting wife. He orders the sad but still obedient Lakshman to convey her to the hermitage which she wishes to visit and to leave her there, for he will see her face again no more. They arrive at the hermitage, and Lakshman tells her all. She falls fainting on the ground, and when she recovers her consciousness sheds some natural tears and bewails her cruel and undeserved lot. But she resolves to live for the sake of Rama and her unborn son, and she sends by Lakshman a dignified message to the husband who has forsaken her: " I grieve not for myself," she says " because I have been abandoned on account of what the people say, and not for any evil that I have done. The husband is the God of the wife, the husband is her lord and guide; and what seems good unto him she should do even at the cost of her life."