Chap. II.] HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 29
had been consumed. His father, first oppressed, had at last been murdered by a.d. —
avatar.
Deeraj ; and his mother, refusing to sm-vive him, had immolated herself by suttee. Paris Ram instantly vowed the destruction, not only of Deeraj, but of his whole sixthr class. To any mere mortal, or even to an inferior deity, the accomplishment of the vow would have been impossible, for Deeraj was 'in himself a mighty host, being possessed of a thousand arms, each wielding a destructive implement of war ; but nothing could withstand an incarnate Vishnu, and Deeraj soon paid the penalty of his misdeeds.
The object of the seventh avatar is, like that of the sixth, to avenge oppres- seventh sion; but the means employed are different, and branch out into numerous details, often not devoid of interest, though we can hardly afford to glance at them. Here Vishnu appears as Rama Chandra, the warlike and virtuous son of. a powerful Indian prince, whose capital was Ayodha or Oude. A monstrous giant of the name of Ravana, who reigned over Lanka, or the island of Ceylon, having partly by sorcery, and partly by an aff'ectation of piety, extended his dominion over the whole world, threw off" the mask, and openly avowed himself the enemy of the gods. Vishnu, as Rama Chandra, undertook to destroy him. This exploit forms the subject of the celebrated epic poem, Raiiw/yana, and therefore properly belongs to the chapter in which the literature of the Hindoos will be considered. At present a short explanation may suffice. A prince of the name of Janaka bad a beautiful daughter Sita, and a bow which a thousand of his stoutest archers could not raise. Many sought Sita in mar- riage, but Janaka declared that only he who could wield the bow should be her husband. Ravana tried and failed. Rama succeeded and carried off" the prize by a double merit, for besides performing the task assigned by the father, he had previously gained the affections of the daughter. Ravana was enraged, but having full knowledge of Rama's strength and prowess, determined to pursue his object by stratagem, and not by open force. Circumstances favoured him. Somehow Rama, though the heir to his father's throne, had been excluded from it, and retired with his beloved Sita into a forest, to lead a life of seclusion and austerity. Ravana followed them, and by devices, of which various accounts are given, succeeded at last in seizing Sita, and carrying her off" through the air in triumph. Rama, inconsolable for his loss, and determined to avenge it, set out on an expedition to Lanka. He obtamed a powerful auxiliary in a sove- reign of the name of Sugriva, who furnished him with an army of monkeys, headed by a renowned monkey general, called Hanuman. Some difficulty was experienced in bridging over the strait between India and Ceylon, but the skill and courage of Hanuman and his monkeys surmounted aU obstacles, and a battle ensued, in which Ravana, though he had a charmed Kfe, was slain. Rama returned along with Sita to Oude, where he reigned prosperously some ten thousand years, and then ascended to Vishnu's heaven. The services rendered by Hanuman have never been forgotten; and not only to him and the monkeys
