________________ 96 COLETTE CAILLAT - ./hill T WW!! te ! Catu .. . . . . . SIN) . ch Rama and Sita on a raft, painting in Vat Bho, Siem Rap, Cambodia (drawing by Odette Mukherjee, after a cliche by Madeleine Giteau). According to Mlle. Giteau, this painting could refer to a passage in the Khmer Ramakerti. Cf. Ramakerti (XVle.-XVlle. siecles). Traduit et commente par Saveros Pou, and Texte khmer publie par Saveros Pou, Paris, 1977, 1979, EFEO 110, 117. Stanzas 623-627 run thuis (translatioa by Savercs Pou): 623. After listening to the Lord (= Ram), who was worried about how to take gentle Sita across the huge river inhabited by dangerous aquatic beasts, Laks who is very keen on looking after his elders, 624. determines to save them any worry. Thus, he fells some trees with his divine and keen sword, fastens the trunks 625. into a raft upon which he sets a couch. He picks flowers, strews them over it and makes some thick and heavy garlands. 626. He, tbus, achieves a heavenly flower-rug to cover the divinely magnificient raft. 627. Then, he bumbly presents it to his elders who embark for the crossing, whilst he himself swims along and guides the raft. [My thanks are due to Mmes. Giteau, Mukherjee and Pou for their kind help.)
