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146
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
midst of noxious animals and "raw-flesh eating" cannibals, when she was about to become a mother. By the interference of supernatural agencies, Sita was both preserved and also safely delivered of twin sons, who were entrusted to the fostering care of Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana. Meanwhile an incident occurred, itself an index of social manners of the age, which led Rama to a second visit of the forests of D and a ka, the scene of his previous exile. An infant son of a Brahman expired by an untimely, and therefore an unaccountable, death. His body, together with the guilt of his death, was laid at R&ma's door. It could not be believed that such a life would be cut off in its very bloom, without some national sin pressing on the empire through the king's misrule. Nor could R&ma himself disown a responsibility, which the sense of the age attached to the royal office. But then where was the misrule?. What official neglect could be attributed to a monarch who had gone the length of sacrificing the wife of his bosom for the sake of the commonwealth ? While he was thus musing in his mind, an "aerial voico" declared that a S'udra of the name of Sambaka was practising religious austerities on the earth. "His head must be struck off by thee O Rama! by slaying him, raise thou the Brahman to life."
Rám a now discovered the cause of the Brahman boy's untimely death. A S'udra, who should have devoted his whole time to the service of the twiceborn orders, had undertaken religious exercises which were forbidden to his class. Even a Brahman was subject to ex-communication if he performed any spiritual services for the benefit of a Sudra. This invasion of the privileges of twiceborn men by Sambaka, was a sin which infected the whole community, and threw the kingdom under the ban of the divine displeasure. Rama set out, sword in hand, in search of the audacious Sudra who was aspiring after heavenly felicity. This brings the king a second time to the Dandak a forest, where he found Sambaka in the act of spiritual devotion, and, having thus caught him in the fact, struck off his head without a question.
By an extraordinary combination of circumstances, brought about through supernatural agency, and after many painful and tantalizing adventures, R&m a at last discovers his much injured wife and recognizes his princely sons. The drama concludes with their happy reunion.
[MAY 3, 1872.
for it is impossible to read the description without the most affecting emotions.
And here we must notice our author's incidental representation of an ancient Hindu custom which may surprise some of our readers. The learned Brahmans knew how to relish beef long before the English came into the country.
In the Vishkambhaka (or prelude) of the 4th Act, two Brahman pupils of Valmiki are introduced-one of whom was an attentive student, the other, fonder of jests and witticisms than of lessons, and unable even to speak Sanskrit. The boys had got a holiday in consequence of the arrival of Vasishtha on the very day which was to terminate with the happy re-union of Râma and Sîtâ. The jester asks his more learned companion the name of "the guest that came to-day at the head of this great troop of reverend seniors." He was told it was Vasishtha.
"Saudhátaki-Ah, Vasishtha is his name. Bhandayana. Certainly.
S. I was thinking he must be a tiger or a wolf. B. What do you mean?
The most touching descriptions in this tragicomic drama are those pourtrayed in the scenes where the banished Sit & meets, and, herself being invisible, recognizes R &m a, who hears her voice and recognizes her touch, but (the supernatural powers having so managed it) without optical perception of her form. His distractions on the occasion are vividly-perhaps too vividly described
S. Why, the moment he arrived he gobbled up that poor little calf that was only a month old.
B. Householders reverencing the holy text"An offering of curds and honey must be accompanied with flesh"-when a sage, learned in the Vedas, arrives, slay, in his honour a calf, a bull, or a goat, for that is what the writer on ceremonial law ordains.
S. Ha! you are caught out.
B. How do you mean?
S. Why, when Vasishta and his companions came, the calf was slaughtered, whereas this very day when the royal sage J-a na k a arrived, an offer. ing consisting of curds, and honey only was presented to him by the Reverend Valmiki himself and the calf was let go unharmed.
B. The ceremony first mentioned is appointed by sages for those who do not abstain from flesh, but the revered Janaka is under a vow of abstinence."
Abbe du Bois despaired of the extension of Christianity in India, simply because he thought the parable of the prodigal son, exhibiting the killing of the "fatted calf" on the return of the penitent, would itself disgust the Brahmans; and close their ears against the preaching of Christianity. But the Abbe did not know of the ancient Hindu custom of entertaining reverend sages in the identical way. The slaughter of a calf or bull on the arrival of a distinguished guest was as generally practised in India, as the slaughter of a horse among the Arabians for the purposes of hospitality. The custom was indeed so widely prevalent that goghna or "cow-killer" passed as a recognized term for "guest." Pânini the grammarian had to give the etymology of "cow-killer" in the sense of a guest. He did so in the Sutra (III. 4, 73) Dása-goghnau sampradáne, which is
