Story Of Rama In Tibet

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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ASIAN VARIATIONS IN RAMAYANA bloody wounds on the queen's hand and asks her the reason for it. She tells him what she has done for him during the battle. The king says to her that if this is true he will give her a great present. His retinue confirm her words and the king asks her what she desires. She tells him that at this moment there is nothing she wants, but if later she has a desire, he must not forget his promise. They live for a long time in great happiness. The king makes preparations to install Ramana as king. The younger queen comes to see him and asks him if he has forgotten his former promise. She now has a wish: that the throne will be given to her own son. "The king remembers his promise and tells Ramana that, although he ought to be made king because he is the son of the elder queen and much stronger, this cannot be. He tells him to take Sita with him and to remain twelve years in the forest, because he has promised to give the throne to Bharata, the son of the younger queen. The prince is very high-minded. He obeys the words of his father and departs with Sita for the forest.
THE STORY OF RAMA IN TIBET
175 She points out her son to him but when they are fighting the following day, Ramana is unable to distinguish between the two monkeys. The female monkey says to Ramana : 'You are very clever. You must know a way.' The king tells her to attach a shell ornament to the face of her son. The next day they fight again and Ramana kills the other monkey. The author adds that since that time it has become a custom to attach shell ornaments to monkeys. The mother of the dead monkey, looking very terrible, goes towards Ramana who is on the point of shooting her with an arrow. She asks him if he is King Ramana. When he answers: 'Yes'. She tells him that all those at whom he shoots an arrow will be hit. All those who are hit die, and all who die are rebom in noble families. Her son has also been reborn in a noble family and therefore she will do him no harm. She departs with the corpse of her son.
The monkeys go back to the forest and enjoy food and drink, and time passes. One day King Ramana goes to the forest and sces that they are living on a hill top and enjoying food and drink. He is not content and plans to shoot an arrow. A female monkey arrives in haste and asks the king to forgive the monkeys for their forgetfulness. She promises that they will do all he tells them, and Ramana asks the monkeys to assemble an army and to go to Lanka. When they arrive at the shore of the ocean, they see heaps of foam which look like snowy mountains. The monkeys have always lived in sandy deserts and are dejected by the idea that they have to climb these mountains. The king shoots an arrow which passes through the foam without any resistance. The monkeys are comforted and go straight forward without any hindrance. They see the great ocean and the expanse of heaven. In the middle of the heavens they see a dark spot which looks like a city. The king of the monkeys asks Ramana to shoot an arrow towards it, and a monkey who is very small and resembles a snake, coils around the arrow before it is released.
The king of the demons, Rävana of Lanka, also called Daśagriva, had in the past fathered a beautiful daughter but he was told that she was a human girl and would destroy the city of the demons if she remained in the land of the demons. She was put in a copper box and thrown into the ocean. Peasants find her in a furrow and see that she is very beautiful. They decide to offer her as wife to King Ramana. Ramana marries her and she received the name Sita. Her other name is Rol-rñed-ma "Found in the furrow". Some time later, the king of the demons discovers the beautiful Sita in Jambudvipa. He abducts her and carries her off to the land of the demons. Ramana, who had left Sita in order to scarch for food, retums and cannot find her. He realises that she has been abducted by a demon. He follows his trail and arrives in a valley where there is a stream of warm and foul-smelling water. He discovers that this river has been produced by the drops of sweat of two monkey kings who are fighting for the kingdom. A female monkey asks him who he is. He tells her that he is Ramana and asks why these two monkeys are fighting. She tells him that the former king has died of old age and that they do not agree about the succession. She asks him why he has come here, and Ramana tells her that he is searching for Sita. She proposes a pact of mutual assistance and asks him to kill the enemy of her son.
After five or six days they arrive at the other side of the ocean by means of many bridges which they lay one after the other. The army of demons awaits them. At this point in the story there is a long description of the fortifications of the city of the demons, and of the palace of Dasagriya which is made of crystal, rubies and other precious stones. The gates of the palace are guarded by terrible