EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY THE GREAT EPICS OF ANCIENT INDIA CONDENSED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY ROMESH C. DUTT THIS IS SO. 408 OF 6tzE_Y,._I,./I,TVQS LIB_dq_Y. THE PUBLISHERS WILL BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED AND PROJECTED VOLUMES ARRANGED UNDER THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS: TRAVEL _ SCIENCE _ FICTION THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY HISTORY _ CLASSICAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ESSAYS _ ORATORY POETRY & DRAMA BIOGRAPHY REFERENCE ROMANCE IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING: CLOTH, FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP; LEATHER, ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN LONDON: J. M. DENT & SONS, LTD. NEw YoR_: E. P. DUTTON & CO. THE RAMA ,-YANA AND THE MAHA -B HA RATA Condensed into En_ lis[[Verse_v ROMESH-C- DUTT.@ .@ -® @ LONDON &TORONTO PUBLISHED BYJ-M-DENT &SONS _ &IN NEWYORK BY EPDUTTON & CO FIRST _SITE OF THIS _DITION 1910 RE_'RI::':rnn I91I, 1915, I917 A l! r, ghts reserved TO q'HE RIGHT HON. PROFE880R F. MAX M_?LLER WHO HAS DEVOTED HIS LIFETIME TO THF ELUCIDATION OF THE LEARNING_ LITEKATUR_g_ AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT INDIA AND HAS RECOGNISED AND VINDICATED WHAT |S TRUF AND GREAT AND ENNOBLING IN MODERN INDIA THIS TRANSLATION OF THE RAMAYANA 1S DEDICATED AS A SlNCERF TOKEN OF THF ESTEEM AND REGARD OF MY COUNTRYMEN A NOTE ON THE LATE ROMESH C. DUTT ROMESH CHUNDER DUTT, to whom English readersare indebted for the condensed metricalversions of the ancient Indian epics given in thisvolume, was one of the most distmguished sons of modern India. He came of a Hindu familystandinghigh among the Kayasths, second of the great castes in Bengal, was born in I848, and grew to manhood amid influences of deep spirxtual disturbance. In those days an Indian youth who had felt the call of the West encountered the sternest opposition, from both his own family and the community, if he avowed his ambition of making the voyage to Europe. Romesh Dutt, having passed through the Presidency College, Calcutta, took his fate into his own hands. Accompanied by two friends, both of whom after- wards rose to eminence in Bengal, he secretly took ship, came to London, entered for the Indian Civil Service, and took third place in the open examination of 1869. He was the first of his race to attain the rank of divisional commissioner, and long before his retirement in I897, at the end of twenty-five years' service, had made a high reputation as an administrator. He sat for a time in the Bengal Legislative Council, and, in recognition of his official work, received the Companionship of the Indian Empire. He died on November 3o, I9o9, at Baroda, the capital of the important Native State which he had served with brilliant success as revenue minister and dewan. The influences which determined his literary activity were ix x A NOTE ON THE LATE ROMESH C. DUTT primarily European. As a student in Calcutta he had made acquaintance with the English classics, and later, while at University College, had read the poets insatiably. Nevertheless his first successes were achieved in his mother tongue. He wrote in Bengali poems and plays, historical and social novels, and aroused a storm of protest within the orthodox community of his province by publishing a Bengali translation of the Rig Veda. In English, of which he had complete mastery, his first con- siderable essay was a history of Civilisation in Ancient India, which, though not a work of original research, fulfilled a useful purpose in its day. When freedom from Government service gave him the opportunity he set himself to writing the Economic iUistor 3, of India and India in the Victorian Age, the two together forming his chief contribution to the subject which he, more than any other Indian of his time, had made his own. In these books, as in others of kindred theme and purpose, there is much criticism of British administration, strongly felt if temperately expressed. Apart from this, its more controversial side, the work of Romesh Dutt is valuable mainly in that it has helped to reveal, to his own people no less than to ours, the spiritual riches of ancient India. S. K. RATCLIFFE. BIBLIOGRAPHY The following is a list of the various editions of "The Ramayana" : "The Ramayana," edited by S. Goressio (with Italian trans- lation). Io vols. 1843-58, 1859-6o (Calcutta), I888 (Bombay). English translations: by Kirtee Bass. 5 vols. Serampore, 18o'z. "The Ramayuna of Valmeeki, in the original Sungscrit, with a Prose Translation and Explanatory Notes." W. Carey and J. Marshman. 18o6-Io. An English translation for "Nirvachanothara Ramayanum _' (i.e. the "Uttara Ramayana" attributed to V_lmiki, with Com- mentary). Madras, ]88o. Free English translation by R. T. H. Griffith. 5 vols. I87o-75. Translation into English Prose. Edited by Manmatha Nath Dutt. I889, 1892-94. Condensed into English Verse by Romesh Dutt. I899 (Temple Classics), 19oo. Works on : Sir M. Williams, " Indian Epic Poetry, with full Anatysis of the Ramayana and Mahabharata." I863. J..T. Wheeler, " History of India." 1867, &c. J. C. Oman, "Struggles of the Dawn, the Stories of the Great Indian Epics, Ramayana," &c. I893. "The Great Indian Epics, _ &c. I894 , i899 (Bohn). The following is a list of the various editions of "The Maha- Bharata" : Complete edition, Calcutta, i834-39 , 4 vols. ; Bombay, i863 ; re-edited, with commentary by Nit_akantha Govinda, i89o. x! xii BIBLIOGRAPHY Translations into English Prose, by Protap Chandra Roy, 1883 ; (Sanscrit text of Maharshi Vyas, with complete English and Hindi translations, 19o2, &c.). "Virtue's Triumph ; or, The Mah_.-Bh&rata." By Rai Bahadur, P. Anunda Charlu. i894. Prose literal translation, by Manmatha Nath Dutt. 1895. Condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (Temple Clas- sics). I898. The same, with Introduction by W. Max-M_ller. 1899. (Many English translations of portions of the whole epic have been published.) Works on : H. H. Wilson, "Essays on the Religion of the Hindoos." I862. Sir M. Williams, " Indian Epic Poetry," &c. I863. Wheeler, "The Vedic Period and the Mahabharata." x867. Buehler and Kirste, "Indian Studies, Contributions to the History of the Mahahharata." I892. J. C. Oman (see above). V. Fausboll, "Indian Mythology, according to the Mahabharata in Outline" (Oriental Religions Series, Luzac, vol. i.). 19o3 . "R_g_.nRma Ramkrishna Bh_tguvata," an attempt to analyse the Mahabharata from the higher Brahminical standpoint. I9o 5. ChintRmani Vin_.yaka Vaidya, "The Mahabharata; a Criti- cism." I9o5. "Epic India ; or, India as described in the Maha- bharata and Ramayana." I9o7. CONTENTS _At MAt l \ 4 N A .Book Pa_ i. Sita-S_aayamvare (The -Bridal of &ta) I ix. Irana-Gamana-.ddesa (The .Banishment) 17 m. .Dasarat/m-I_yoga (The Death of t/Jc Aing) 38 iv. Rama-BDarata-Sambada (The)VIeeting of the Princes) 6 3 v. PancDavati (On lbe -Banks of the Godavarl) 77 Vh Sita-Harana ( Sita Lost) . 88 vix. Kishkindha (In the Nilgiri J]lountains) IO 4 vm. Sita-Sandesa ( &ta Discovered) I 18 IX. Ravana-Sabha ( The Council of lt:ar) I 2 7 x. Yuddha ( The 14:ar in Ceylon) 13 7 xu 2_aj3'a-wtbDis]oe_a ( Rama's Return and Consecration ) 16 I xn. .,4s_tm- ]l'.[ed/m (Sacrifice 4 the Horse) 1 7 I Conclusion 17 9 Translator's .Epilogue 18 I xlil xiv CONTENTS _qlAH.,4- B H.,4R A T.,¢ .Book Paxe x. _lstra Darsana (T]:e Tournament) . 197 n. Swayamvara (T]:e ]3r_de's Choice) 2IO m. Rajasuya ( The Imperial Sacrifice) 224 iv. Dyuta ( The Fatal Dice) . z 3,S v. J°ativrata-A_ra/oalmya ( H/oman's Love) z 5 I vx. Go-Harana ( Cattle-Lifting 269 Vll. Udyoga (TL, e Council of lVar) . zSz vm. J_l)ishma-Bad/m ( Fall of Bhisl:ma ) 2 96 Ix. Drona-t_adha ( Fall of .Drona) 315 x. Karna-Bad_a (Fall of Karna) 332 xx. Sraddha (Funeral Rites) . 347 xn. Atseva-Medha (Sacrifice of the Horse) . 357 Conclusion 367 Translator's _ahilogue • • 370 Glossary 382 RAMAYANA EPIC OF RAMA, PRINCE OF INDIA THE EPIC OF RAMA_ PRINCE OF INDIA BOOK I SITA-SWAYAMVARA (The Bridal of Sits) THE Epic relates to the ancient traditions of two powerful races: • the Kosalas and the Videhas, who lived in Iqol_ern India between the twelfth and tenth centuries before Christ. The names Kosala and Videha in the singular number indicate the king- doms,--Oudh and North Behar,--and in the plural number they mean the ancient races which inhabited those two countries. According to the Epic, Dasa-ratha king of the Kosalas had four sons, the eldest of whom was Rama the hero of the poem. And Janak king of the Videhas had a daughter named Sita, who was miraculously born of a field furrow, and who is the heroine of the Epic. Janak ordained a severe teat for the hand of his daughter, and many a prince and warrior came and went away disappointed. Rama succeeded, and won Sita. The story of Rama's winning his bride, and of the marriage of his three brother8 with the sister and cousins of Sits, forms the subject of this Book. The portions translated in this Book form Section vi., Sections Ixvii. to lxix., Section lxxiii., and Section lxxvii, of Book i. of the original text ._ ! I J THE EPIC OF RAMA, PRINCE OF INDI_, I Ayod1_.ya_the Righteous City Rich in royal worth and valour, rich in holy Vedic lore_ Dasa-ratha ruled his empire in the happy days of yore, Loved of men in fair Ayodhya, sprung of ancient Solar Race, Royal rishi in his duty, _ntly ri_hl in his grace, Great as INDRa in his prowess, bounteous as KuvsRA kind, Dauntless deeds subdued his foemen, lofty faith subdued his mind! Like the ancient monarch Mann, father of the human race, Dasa-ratha ruled his people with a father's loving grace, Truth and Justice swayed each action