tested river with waves of blood,
the dire lamentations, the cries for a drop of water, the devouring worm,
all the tortures of the guilty and the somewhat insipid pleasures of the
just, reminds one of the scenes in the under world so vividly described by
Homer, Virgil, and Dante. Yama is defeated (Sect. XXVI.) by the giant, not
so much by his superior power as because at the request of Brahma Yama
refrains from smiting with his deadly weapon the Rakshas enemy to whom
that God had once given the promise that preserved him. In the
twenty-seventh section Ravan goes "under the earth into Patala the
treasure-house of the waters inhabited by swarms of serpents and Daityas,
and well defended by Varun." He subdues Bhogavati the city ruled by Vasuki
and reduces the Nagas or serpents to subjection. He penetrates even to the
imperial seat of Varun. The God himself is absent, but his sons come forth
and do battle with the invader. The giant is victorious and departs
triumphant. The twenty-eighth section gives the details of a terrific
battle between Ravan and Mandhata King of Ayodhya, a distinguished
ancestor of Rama. Supernatural weapons are employed on both sides and the
issue of the conflict is long doubtful. But at last Mandhata prepares to
use the mighty weapon "acquired by severe austerities through the grace
and favour of Rudra." The giant would inevitably have been slain. But two
pre-eminent Munis Pulastya and Galava beheld the fight through the power
given by contemplation, and with words of exhortation they parted King
Mandhata and the sovereign of the Rakshases. Ravan at last (Sect. XXXII.)
returns homeward carrying with him in his car Pushpak the virgin daughters
of kings, of Rishis, of Daityas, and Gandharvas whom he has seized upon
his way. The thirty-sixth section describes a battle with Indra, in which
the victorious Meghanada son of the giant, makes the King of the Gods his
prisoner, binds him with his magic art, and carries him away (Sect.
XXVII.) in triumph to Lanka. Brahma intercedes (Sect. XXXVIII.) and
Indrajit releases his prisoner on obtaining in return the boon that
sacrifice to the Lord of Fire shall always make him invincible in the
coming battle. In sections XXXIX., XL, "we have a legend related to Rama
by the sage Agastya to account for the stupendous strength of the monkey
Hanuman, as it had been described in the _Ramayana_. Rama naturally
wonders (as perhaps many readers of the _Ramayana_ have done sinc