FORMS OF RINGS AND MATERIALS 77
sonalities
characteristic of that troublous period. Many-Washington rings and
Robespierre rings were to be seen, bearing the enamelled portrait of
the respective hero, but the most popular were the Franklin rings, for
Franklin's personal influence, born of his sterling qualities of
insight and common sense, and perhaps strengthened by the contrast of
his cool-headedness with the feverish excitement of the Paris of that
time, was wide and far-reaching.
Hindu
tradition tells of the wearing of rings in India in very ancient times.
The earliest forms used by the Brahmans in their forest life, were
woven of kusa-grass (Saccharum spontaneum), and even in our
time rings of this kind are worn by those assisting at a religious
ceremony, as otherwise the water offered to gods or to the spirits of
ancestors will not be accepted. As to metal rings, Hindu law assigns
those of gold to the index finger and silver rings to the fourth finger.
A story related in the Hindu epic " Mahabharata " alludes to a trick or magic practice with rings, denominated ishika. A
ring was thrown into a deep well and then recovered in some mysterious
way after it had seemed to be irrevocably lost. The " Mahabharata " in
its present form may date from about 500 a.D. The other great Hindu epic, the Ramayana of Valmiki, written perhaps as early as 500 b.c. even
mentions engraved rings. When Sita, wife of Rama, the hero of the
poem, is abducted by Râvana, the ten-headed Cing-halese giant, Rama
sends a monkey called Hanumân to seek for her, giving him a seal ring
as a token. As soon as the monkey succeeds in finding Sita, he
approaches her holding out the ring and saying, " Gracious Lady, I am
the messenger of Rama. Look, here is his ring engraved with his name."
