146
TIIE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[May 3, 1872.
midst of noxious animals and “raw-flesh eating”
for it is impossible to read the description without
cannibals, when she was about to become a mother. By the interference of supernatural agencies, Sí tá was both preserved and also safely delivered of twin sons, who were entrusted to the fostering
the most affecting emotions.
care of Vál m i ki, the author of the Rāmāyana. Meanwhile an incident occurred, itself an index of social manners of the age, which led Rām a to a second visit of the forests of D and a ka, the scene
of his previous exile. An infant son of a Brahman expired by an untimely, and therefore an unac countable, death. His body, together with the guilt of his death, was laid at Rá m a 's door. It
And here we must notice our author's incidental
representation of an ancient Hindu custom which may surprise some of our readers. The learned Brahmans knew how to relish beef long before the English came into the country. In the Vishkambhaka (or prelude) of the 4th Act, two Brahman pupils of V a l in i ki are intro duced—one of whom was an attentive student, the
off in its very bloom, without some national sin pressing on the empire through the king's misrule. Nor could R ſim a himself disown a responsibility, which the sense of the age attached to the royal
other, fonder of jests and witticisms than of les sons, and unable even to speak Sanskrit. The boys had got a holiday in consequence of the arrival of Vasishtha on the very day which was to terminate with the happy re-union of Rāma and Sitā. The jester asks his more learned companion the name of “the guest that came to-day at the head of this great troop of reverend seniors.” He was told it
office.
was Vasishtha.
could not be believed that such a life would be cut
But then where was the misrule 2
What
official neglect could be attributed to a monarch who had gone the length of sacrificing the wife of his bosom
for the
sake of the commonwealth 2
While he was thus musing in his mind, an “aerial voice” declared that a Sudra of the name of Sam -
b k a was practising religious austerities on the earth. “His head must be struck off by thee O Rāma' by slaying him, raise thou the Brahman to life.” R 4 m a now discovered the cause of the Brahman
boy's untimely death.
A Sudra, who should have
devoted his whole time to the service of the twice
“Saudhataki—Ah, Wasishtha is his name.
13hāndāyana. Certainly. S. I was thinking he must be a tiger or a wolf. B. What do you mean * S. Why, the moment he arrived he gobbled up that poor little calf that was only a month old. B. Householders reverencing the holy text— “An offering of curds and honey must be accom panied with flesh”—when a sage, learned in the Vedas, arrives, slay in his honour a calf, a bull, or a goat, for that is what the writer on ceremonial law ordains.
born orders, had undertaken religious exercises
S.
Ha! you are caught out.
which were forbidden to his class.
B.
How do you mean 2
Even a 13rah
man was subject to ex-communication if he per formed any spiritual services for the benefit of a Sudra. This invasion of the privileges of twice born men by Sam b fi ka, was a sin which infect ed the whole community, and threw the kingdom under the ban of the divine displeasure.
R film a
set out, sword in hand, in search of the audacious Sudra who was aspiring after heavenly felicity. This brings the king a second time to the D a n d a k a forest, where he found Sam b fi ka in the act of spiritual devotion, and, having thus caught him in the fact, struck off his head without a ques tion.
By an extraordinary combination of circum stances, brought about through supernatural agency, and after many painful and tantalizing adventures, R fi ma at last discovers his much injured wife and recognizes his princely sons. The drama concludes with their happy reunion. The most touching descriptions in this tragi comic drama are those pourtrayed in the scenes where the banished S i t à meets, and, herself being invisible, recognizes R a ma, who hears her voice and recognizes her touch, but (the supernatural powers having so managed it) without optical per ception of her form. His distractions on the oc casion are vividly—perhaps too vividly described—
S. Why, when V as i s h ta and his companions came, the calf was slaughtered, whereas this very day when the royal sage J an a ka arrived, an offer ing consisting of curds and honey only was pre sented to him by the Reverend V film i ki himself and the calf was let go unharmed. B. The ceremony first mentioned is appointed by sages for those who do not abstain from flesh, but the revered J an a ka is under a vow of abstinence.”
Abbe du Bois despaired of the extension of Christianity in India, simply because he thought the parable of the prodigal son, exhibiting the kill ing of the “fatted calf” on the return of the penitent, would itself disgust the Brahmans, and close their ears against the preaching of Christianity. But the Abbe did not know of the ancient Hindu custom of entertaining reverend sages in the identical way. The slaughter of a calf or bull on the arrival of a distinguished guest was as generally practised in India, as the slaughter of a horse among the Arabians for the purposes of hospitality. The custom was indeed so widely prevalent that go g h na or “cow-killer” passed as a recognized term for “guest.” Pānini the gram marian had to give the etymology of “cow-killer" in the sense of a guest. He did so in the Sutra (III. 4, 73) Dása-goghnan sampradāne, which is
