The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.83.1

v2.c16.83.1

The sequel of the story is doubtful. Immediately after the abduction, it is but natural that the lady should appear in great grief, in a desponding mood, as in the Gaṇeśa tableau, spurning the advances of her ravisher, or in despair turning her attention to the solace of religion, and devoting herself, as befits a Buddhist maiden, to the adoration of the of the *caitya* as in the Queen’s Palace. If a married lady, her constancy and faith are best indicated by the Aśoka tree and the Brāhmaṇī goose, which are most appropriately introduced. But, if so, what is the meaning of the last scene in which a man and a women are engaged in amorous dalliance? Dose it indicate that, according to the Rāṇī Naur version of the story, the Orissan Helen, like her archetype of Greece, took kindly to her abductor and lived happily with him? If so, the emblems of constancy and faith, the Aśoka tree and the Brāhmaṇi goose, would be quite out of place and the morality of the representation would be such as not to render it worthy of record in a Buddhist monastery. This may be explained away by taking the last tableau to be a representation of the restoration of the abducted fair one to her liege lord; and it is a Buddhist version of the heroine of the Rāmāyaṇa, and not of the epœa of Homer, that we have before us. I am not aware of any Buddhist legend to serve as the prototype of this representation. Part of the story may be taken for the abduction of Sītā by the mighty giant of Ceylon and.