are
so strongly fixed in this foolish idea that the wisest among the
Brahmans will not listen to any argument against it, and thus it is not
to be wondered at if a people who have such evil guides fall into this
gross and monstrous idolatry. There is a caste so superstitious about
this, that those who belong to it keep these oval stones suspended from
their necks, and press them against their bodies while they pray.
In
this gross and pitiable ignorance the idolaters, like the ancient
pagans, regard their gods as men, and even bestow wives upon them,
thinking that they love the same things as those in which men take
pleasure. Thus they regard their Rama as a great deity on account of
the wonders which they believe he performed during his life. The
following are the fables which they relate regarding him, as I have
learnt from the most accomplished among their Brahmans :—
Rama was the son of a powerful Raja, who called himself Deseret,1
and the most virtuous of many children which he had by two legitimate
wives. He was particularly beloved by his father, who had destined him
to be his successor. The mother of Rama having died, the other wife of
the Raja, who possessed entire control over her husband, induced him to
drive Rama and his brother Lakshman 2 from his house and
territories ; this was done, and by the exclusion of these two
brothers, the son of this other wife was declared to be heir to the
Raja. Rama and his brother having then received an order to depart,
obeyed the command of their father, and as they were about to leave,
Rama went to bid farewell to his wife Sita, whom these idolaters regard
as a goddess. She was unwilling to part from him, and protested that
she would follow him everywhere, and so they all three left the house
of the Raja, to seek their fortunes. They were unlucky
first
class. Vast sums of money are sometimes expended on the festivities
connected with the marriage of the Salagram to the Tulsi plant (Ocymum sanctum). But Tavemier may confuse it with the Lingam worn by the Lingayat sect.
1
Kama, son of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya. What follows is a tolerably
correct version of the Bamayana epic, for a popular abstract of which
see J. C. ©man, The Great Indian Epics, 1899, and for criticism, Hastings, Ency. Religion and Ethics, x. 574 ff.
2 Lokeman in the original.
