EPICS AND PURANAS 476 5. There is no certain testimony for an epic Mahabha- yata before the 4th century B. C. 6. Between the 4th century B. C. and the 4th century A. D. the transformation of the epic Mahabharata into our present compilation took place, probably gradually. 7. In the 4th century A. D. the work already had, on the whole, its present extent, contents and character. 8. Small alterations and additions still continued to be made, however, even in later centuries. 9. One date of the Mahabharata does not exist at all, but the date of every part must be determined on its own account, Tue RAMAYANA, BoTH A PopuLar Epic anD AN Oxnate Poem. (‘The Ramayana differs essentially from the Mahabharata in more respects than one.) (Above all it is much shorter and of much greater uniformity) (While the Mahabhirata in its present form can scarcely be called an actual epic, the Raimiyana, even in the form in which we have it to-day, is still a fairly unified heroic poem.) Moreover, while( indi- genous tradition) names Vyasa, an entirely mythical seer of ancient times, who was supposed to be at the same time the compiler of the Vedas and of the Puranas, as the author or editor of the Mahabharata, itfattributes the authorship of the Ramiyana to a poet named Valmiki, and we have no reason to doubt that a poet of this name really lived and first shaped the ballads, which were scattered in the mouths of the bards, into the form of a unified poem. The Indians call this Valmiki “ the first Kavi or author of ornate poetry ” (adikavi) and like to call the Ramayana “ the first ornate poem” (adikavya), The beginnings of ornate epic poetry do indeed lead back to the Ramiyana, and Valmiki has always remained the pattern to which all later Indian poets admiringly476 INDIAN LITERATURE aspired.) The essential factor of Indian ornate poetry, of the so-called “ kavya,” is that greater importance is attached to the form than to the matter and contents of the poem, and that so-called alamkaras, i.e. “ embellishments,” such as similes, poetic figures, puns, and so on, are used largely, even toexcess, Similes are heaped on similes, and descriptions, especially of nature, are spun out interminably with ever new metaphors and comparisons. (We find the first begin- nings of these and other peculiarities of the classical ornate poetry in the Rimayana. While we found in the Maha- bharata a mixture of popular epic and theological didactic poetry (purina), the Ramiyana appears to us as a work that is popular epic and ornate poctry at the same time.) (It is a true popular epic, just like the Mahabharata, because, like the latter, it has become the property of the whole Indian people and, as scarcely any other poem in the entire literature of the world, has influenced the thought and poetry of the nation for centuries.) In the introduction to the epic (a later addition) it is related that god Brahman him- self invited the poet Valmiki to glorify the deeds of Rama in verse ;/ and the god is said to have promised him : “As long as in this firm-set land The streams shall flow, the mountains stand, So long throughout the world, be sure, ‘The great Ramayan shall endure.” 1) ‘This dictum has proved itself truly prophetic to the present day. (Since more than two thousand years the poem of Rama has kept alive in India, and it continues to live in all grades and classes of the people. High and low, prince and peasant, nobleman, merchant and artisan, princesses and shepherdesses, all are quite familiar with the characters and +) 1,2,86f, ‘Translated by RT, H, Grigteh,FPICS AND PURANAS 477 stories of the great epic. The men are elevated by the glorious deeds of Rama and are edified by his wise speeches, the women love and praise Siti as the ideal of conjugal fidelity, the highest virtue of woman. Old and young enjoy the wonderful feats of the true-hearted monkey Hanumat, and they enjoy no less the gruesome tales of the man-eating giants and the demons endowed with magic power. Popular sayings and proverbs bear witness to the familiarity of the people with the stories of the Ramayana. But also the teachers and masters of the various rcligious sects refer to the Ramayana and draw upon it, when they wish to propagate religious and moral doctrines among the people; and the poets of’ all later times, from Kalidasa down to Bhavabhiti and their epigones, have ever again drawn their materials from the Ramayana and worked them up anew.” When we come to the modern Indian literature of the vernaculars, we find a Tamil translation of the Sanskrit epic as carly as in the 11th century, and soon there follow imitations and tran- slations in the vernaculars from the North to the South of India. The religious-philosophical Hindi poem Ram-carit- manas, based on the ancient epic, and composed about 1574 A.D. by the celebrated Tulsi Das, has become almost a gospel for millions of Indians. Generations of Hindus in all parts of India have made the acquaintance of the old legend of Rama in such modern translations. In the houses of the wealthy, recitations of the poem are arranged even in our own day. Dramatic versions, too, of the story of Rama, as mentioned already in the Harivamsa (see above p. 451 Note), may still be seen performed at religious festivals in villages and towns in India at the present day. Thus, in Northern India, e.g. in Lahore, the Dassara feast is celebrated annually by the “ Rama-play” (Ram Lila), at which the most *) A. Baumgartner, Das Ramayana und dio Ramaliteratur dor Inder, Freiburg + B, 1894, haw givena eurvey of the whole Réma literature.