And the peasants of Oudh remember to this day "the kingdom of Rama," and pray, with longing in their hearts, for its return.
Rama the Prince was the eldest son of the King Dasaratha and his wife Kausalya. He was highly trained and proficient in all the sports and accomplishments of knighthood; and along with his half-brother Lakshmana he had won his spurs, by making an expedition,—under the guidance of one of the greatest scholars of the age,—in which he had been able to survey the whole of his dominions, and had also rooted out and exterminated in their own strongholds certain notorious demons and outlaws, who had long troubled the peace of cities and ashramas in Kosala. It was at the end of this victorious journey that Rama and Lakshmana had been received with great honour by Janneka, King of Mithila, and given his daughters, Sita and Urmila, in marriage. The princes had been joined at Mithila on this occasion by their father Dasaratha, who was present at their twofold wedding, and took them back with him in his train to Ayodhya.
What a dream of happiness had been the years that followed! Bending their will in all things to that of their father, the princes had discharged with brilliance the duties of their high station. Rama especially, having truth and justice for his
