of Ayodhya
(Oude), beautifully situated on the banks of a river and ruled by a
childless rajah.

In by-gone ages built and planned
By sainted Manu's princely hand,
Imperial seat! her walls extend
Twelve measured leagues from end to end;
Three in width, from side to side
With square and palace beautified.
Her gates at even distance stand,
Her ample roads are wisely planned.
Right glorious is her royal street,
Where streams allay her dust and heat.
On level ground in even row
Her houses rise in goodly show.
Terrace and palace, arch and gate
The queenly city decorate.
High are her ramparts, strong and vast,
By ways at even distance passed,
With circling moat both deep and wide,
And store of weapons fortified.

This monarch (Dasaratha), a descendant of the moon, was sixty thousand
years old when the story begins. Although his reign had already
extended over a period of nine thousand years,--during which his
people had enjoyed such prosperity that it is known as the Age of
Gold,--the king, still childless in spite of having seven hundred and
fifty concubines, decided to offer a great horse sacrifice
(asvatmedha) in hopes of obtaining a son, to celebrate his funeral
rites and thereby enable him to enter heaven.

In order to perform the ceremony properly, a horse had to be turned
out to wander at will for a year, constantly watched by a band of
priests, who prevented any one laying a hand upon him, for, once
touched, the animal was unfit to be offered up to the gods. This horse
sacrifice having been duly performed, the happy rajah was informed by
the gods that four sons would uphold his line, provided he and three
of his wives quaffed the magic drink they gave him.

Having thus granted the rajah's prayer, the lesser gods implored their
chief Indra to rid them of the demons sent by Ravana, the Satan of the
Hindus. This evil spirit, by standing on his head in the midst of five
fires ten thousand years in succession, had secured from Brahma a
promise that no god, demon, or genius should slay him. By this
extraordinary feat he had also obtained nine extra heads with a full
complement of eyes, ears, and noses, hands and arms. Mindful of his
promise, Brahma was at a loss to grant this request until he
remembered he had never guaranteed Ravana should not be attacked by
man or monkey. He, therefore, decided to beg Vishnu to enter the body
of a man and conquer this terrible foe, while th