Travels in India (Tavernier) 120: CHAPTER V Concerning the belief of the Idolaters with respect to the Deity
Travels in India (Ball) 120
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CHAPTER V Concerning the belief of the Idolaters with respect to the Deity
120.1
The idolaters of India yield to creatures as the cow, the ape, and different monsters, the honours which are only due to the true Deity, although it is certain that they acknowledge one infinite God, all-powerful and all-wise, Creator of the heavens and the earth, who is omnipresent. They call him in some places PERMESSER, in others Peremael, as, for example, towards the coast of Malabar; and Vvistnou in the language of the Brahmins who inhabit the coast of Coromandel. As the idolaters have perhaps heard that the circle is the most perfect of all figures, they have thought to improve upon it by saying God is of an oval figure, and it is for this reason that they generally keep in their pagodas an oval pebble, which they obtain from the Ganges, and adore as god. They are so strongly fixed in this foolish idea that the wisest among the Brahmins will not listen to any argument against it, and thus it is not to be wondered at if a people who have such evil guides fall into this gross and monstrous idolatry. There is a caste so superstitious about this, that those who belong to it keep these oval stones suspended from their necks, and press them against their bodies while they pray.
120.2
In this gross and pitiable ignorance the idolaters, like the ancient pagans, regard their gods as men, and even bestow wives upon them, thinking that they love the same things as those in which men take pleasure. Thus they regard their Rama as a great deity on account of the wonders which they believe that he performed during his life. The following are the fables which they relate regarding him, as I have learnt from the most accomplished among their Brahmins:— Rama was the son of a powerful Raja, who called himself Deseret, and the most virtuous of many children which he had by two legitimate wives. He was particularly beloved by his father, who had destined him to be his successor. The mother of Rama having died, the other wife of the Raja, who possessed entire control over her husband, induced him to drive Rama and his brother Lakshman from his house and territories ; this was done, and by the exclusion of these two brothers, the son of this other wife was declared to be heir to the Raja. Rama and his brother having then received an order to depart, obeyed the command of their father, and as they were about to leave, Rama went to bid farewell to his wife Sita, whom these idolaters regard as a goddess. She was unwilling to part from him, and protested that she would follow him everywhere, and so they all three left the house of the Raja, to seek their fortunes.
120.3
They were unlucky at first, for while passing through a forest, Rama having gone in pursuit of a bird, where he remained a long time, Sita, fearing that some disaster had happened to her husband, by force of her entreaties obliged Lakshman to go in search of him. He strongly objected, Rama having told him not to leave Sita, having foreseen by a spirit of prophecy what would happen if she remained alone. Nevertheless Lakshman, moved by the earnest prayers of his sister-in-law, went to seek for Rama his brother. In the meantime Ravana, another god of the idolaters, appeared to Sita in the garb of a Fakir and asked alms of her. Rama had told Sita not to go outside the place where he had left her, — this being well known to Ravana he refused to receive the alms which Sita offered him unless she moved from her position. Sita, either by mistake or forgetting the command of Rama, passed beyond the limits which he had indicated, and then Rávana seized her and took her into the depths of the forest where his followers awaited him, with whom he departed to his territories. When Rámá returned from the chase, not finding Sítá, he fell senseless from grief, but Lakshmán his brother having brought him round, they went together to search for Sítá, who was tenderly beloved by her husband.
120.4
When the Bráhmins recount this ravishment of their goddess Sítá they do so with tears and demonstrations of excessive grief, and they add to the story a multitude of ridiculous fables, extolling the great bravery of Rámá in the pursuit of the ravisher of Sítá. All the animals were employed in order to discover her, among which the monkey Hanumán, alone had the good fortune to be successful. He crossed the sea with a bound, and arrived in the gardens of Rávana, where he found Sítá in the deepest affliction, and she was much surprised on beholding a monkey, who spoke on behalf of her husband. At first she was not willing to give credence to what was said to her by such an ambassador, but the monkey in order to authenticate his mission handed her a ring which her husband had given her, but which she had left in her baggage. She had much difficulty in believing such a miracle, and that Rámá her husband had been able to make a beast speak to give her news of him, and such certain indications of his love. The monkey Hanumán did wonders at this interview, and having been recognised as a spy by the servants of Rávana, who wished to burn him, he made use of the fire which they had prepared for him to kindle the palace of Rávana, which was consumed almost entirely, by means of the rags which they tied to his tail and body and set on fire. He threw himself immediately among the straw and other combustible matter, which caused a great conflagration in the palace.
120.5
The monkey realising that he would not escape the hands of Ravana if he again fell into them, promptly retook the same road as that by which he had come, and having bathed himself in the sea, which he recrossed at a single bound, he went to give Rama an account of his adventures, and told him of the affliction in which he had found Sita, who was in despair at finding herself so far removed from her husband. Rama, touched by the affection of his wife, resolved to deliver her from the hands of Ravana at whatever cost it might be. This was accomplished, the same monkey serving him as guide, and with the aid of some forces which Rama had collected from different places. With much difficulty he approached the palace of Ravana, which was still smoking, so great had been the fire; and the subjects of this Prince having been dispersed in divers places, it was easy for Rama to again see his beloved Sita, whom Ravana abandoned and fled in fear to the mountains. Rama and Sita experienced infinite joy at seeing one another again, and did much honour to the monkey Hanuman, who had rendered them so great a service.
120.6
As for Ravana, he passed the remainder of his days as a poor Fakir, his country being altogether ruined by the troops of Rama, who avenged the injury he had received, and it is from this Ravana that this incredible number of Fakirs, whom one sees in peregrination throughout India, have taken their origin. These Fakirs lead a life of such austerity that their penances amount to prodigies, and I have had the curiosity to collect several pictures of them, some of which I shall show to the reader in the following chapter.