Ramayana, Epic of Rama, Prince of India

163
Epilogue by the Translator
Ancient India, like ancient Greece, boasts of two great Epics. The Mahabharata,
based on the legends and traditions of a great historical war, is the Iliad
of India. The Ramayana, describing the wanderings and adventures of a prince
banished from his country, has so far something in common with the Odyssey.
Having placed before English readers a condensed translation of the Indian
Iliad, I have thought it necessary to prepare the present condensed translation of
the Indian Odyssey to complete the work. The two together comprise the whole
of the Epic literature of the ancient Hindus: and the two together present us with
the most graphic and life-like picture that exists of the civilisation and culture,
the political and social life, the religion and thought of ancient India.
The Ramayana, like the Maha-bharata, is a growth of centuries, but the main
story is more distinctly the creation of one mind. Among the many cultured
races that flourished in Northern India about a thousand years before Christ, the
Kosalas of Oudh and the Videhas of North Behar were perhaps the most
cultured. Their monarchs were famed for their learning as well as for their
prowess. Their priests distinguished themselves by founding schools of learning
which were known all over India. Their sacrifices and gifts to the learned drew
together the most renowned men of the age from distant regions. Their
celebrated Universities (Parishads) were frequented by students from
surrounding countries. Their compilations of the old Vedic Hymns were used in
various parts of India. Their elaborate Brahmanas or Commentaries on the
Vedas were handed down from generation to generation by priestly families.
Their researches into the mysteries of the Soul, [182] and into the nature of the
One Universal Soul which pervade the creation, are still preserved in the ancient
Upanishads, and are among the most valuable heritages which have been left to
us by the ancients. And their researches and discoveries in science and
philosophy gave them the foremost place among the gifted races of ancient
India.
It would appear that the flourishing period of the Kosalas and the Videhas had
already passed away, and the traditions of their prowess and learning had
become a revered memory in India, when the poet composed the great Epic
which perpetuates their fame. Distance of time lent a higher lustre to the
achievements of these gifted races, and the age in which they flourished
appeared to their descendants as the Golden Age of India. To the imagination of
the poet, the age of the Kosalas and Videhas was associated with all that is great
and glorious, all that is righteous and true. His description of Ayodhya, the
capital town of the Kosalas, is a description of an ideal seat of righteousness,
Dasa-ratha the king of the Kosalas is an ideal king, labouring for the good of a
loyal people. Rama, the eldest son of Dasa-ratha and the hero of the Epic, is an
ideal prince, brave and accomplished, devoted to his duty, unfaltering in his
truth. The king of the Videhas, Janak (or rather Janaka, but I have omitted the
final a of some names in this translation), is a monarch and a saint. Sita, the