at
first, for while passing through a forest, Rama went in pursuit of a
bird, and remained a long time absent, when -Sita, fearing that some
disaster had happened to her husband, by force of her entreaties
obliged Lakshman to go in search of him. He strongly objected, because
Rama told him not to leave Sita, having foreseen by a spirit of
prophecy what would happen if she remained alone. Nevertheless
Lakshman, moved by the earnest prayers of his sister-in-law, went to
seek his brother Rama. In the meantime Ravana,1 another god
of the idolaters, appeared to Sita in the garb of a Fakir and asked
alms of her. Rama had told Sita not to go beyond the spot where he had
left her; this being well known to Ravana he refused to receive the
alms which Sita offered him unless she Jeft the place. Sita either by mistake
or forgetting the command of Rama, passed beyond the limits which he
had prescribed, and then Ravana seized her and took her into the depths
of the forest where his followers awaited him, with whom he departed to
his territories. When Rama returned from the chase, and missed Sita, he
fell senseless from grief, but Lakshman his brother brought him to his
senses, and they went together to search for Sita, who was tenderly
beloved by her husband.
When the Brahmans recount this ravishment of their goddess Sita they do so with tears and demonstrations of excessive grief,2
and they add to the story a multitude of ridiculous fables, extolling
the great bravery of Rama in the pursuit of the ravisher of Sita. All
the animals were employed in order to discover her, among which the
monkey Hanuman 3 alone had the good fortune to be
successful. He crossed the sea with a bound, and arrived in the gardens
of Ravana, where he found Sita in the deepest affliction, and she was
much surprised on beholding a monkey, who spoke on behalf of her
husband. At first she was not willing to give credence to such an
ambassador, but the monkey, to authenticate
1 Rhevan in the original. Havana was the demon king of Lanka or Ceylon.
2
This is done at the Ramlila or mystery play, describing the adventures
of Rama and Sita, who are impersonated by boys, performed in Northern
India in September-October. See Oman, The Great Indian Epics, 75 S. 3 Harman in the original.
