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THE JAINA GAZETTE In giving this story in the British Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1921) Sir George Grierson says: "In the Kashmiri version of the Ramayana, Sita is referred to as the daughter of Mandodari, the wife of her abductor Ravana. *
I have long searched for some early authority for this surpris. ing statement. Now I have been able to trace a complete version of the legend to the Adbhuta Ramayana, a work current in Kashmiri language." This evidently implies that Sir George was not aware of the more natural and rational account of the Jaina writer Jinasena where also Sita figures as the natural daughter of Mandodari by Ravana, and not by a mysterious process of drinking the charmed liquid. Even Valmiki renders an indirect support to this legend, in as much as Sita is referred to as being discovered in the plough furrow and not as the natural daughter of Janaka.-(The Presidency College Magazine).
(To be concluded.)
BHAMASAH, THE SAVIOUR OF
MEWAR
BY
Umrao Singh Tank, B.A., LL.B. "THE name of Bhama Sah' says Col. Tod 'is still preserved
1 as the Saviour of Mewar.' An Oswali by birth and a Jain by religion, he was a perfect model of selfless fidelity and patriotic devotion. His father Bharmal was invited from Alwar (others say Ahmedabad) by the Mewar Chief Rana Udesingh in A.D. 1553 who not only enrolled him among his chief counsellors but also conferred on him'a handsome jagir. On the death of Udesingh, Pratap ascended the gadi and Bhama Sah acted as his prime minister.
1. He was a Kavadia Oswal. His family is still represented at Udaipur Mewar. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
