by Sir William Jones (in his Works,
vol. 13);
Iliad of the East, F. Richardson, 1873 (Popular translations of a set of
legends from the Ramayana);
The Ramayana translated into English Prose, edited and published by
Naumatha Nath Dutt, 7 vols., Calcutta, 1890-1894.
THE STORY OF THE RAMAYANA.
Brahma, creator of the universe, though all powerful, could not revoke a
promise once made. For this reason, Ravana, the demon god of Ceylon, stood
on his head in the midst of five fires for ten thousand years, and at the
end of that time boldly demanded of Brahma as a reward that he should not
be slain by gods, demons, or genii. He also requested the gift of nine
other heads and eighteen additional arms and hands.
These having been granted, he began by the aid of his evil spirits, the
Rakshasas, to lay waste the earth and to do violence to the good,
especially to the priests.
At the time when Ravana's outrages were spreading terror throughout the
land, and Brahma, looking down from his throne, shuddered to see the
monster he had gifted with such fell power, there reigned in Ayodhya, now
the city of Oude, a good and wise raja, Dasaratha, who had reigned over
the splendid city for nine thousand years without once growing weary. He
had but one grief,--that he was childless,--and at the opening of the
story he was preparing to make the great sacrifice, Asva-medha, to
propitiate the gods, that they might give him a son.
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