The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c22.38

v1.c22.38

There is, under another form, the violation of the rite of hospitality and virtual abduction of Kṛishṇā, the same nucleus of tragedy here which makes the simple Rāmāyaṇa appear like an echo of the Iliad. In the Rāmāyaṇa, the heroine is carried off by a treacherous fiend, whom Rāma pursues and slays after a long interval. But the Rāmāyaṇa differs essentially from the Mahābhārata not only in its style but in its spirit. Its most spirited scenes occur before the epic plot begins. After the introduction, in the history of Sītā, Rāma, and Rāvaṇa, turgidity replaces tragedy, and descriptions of scenery and sentimentality take the place of genuine passion. The didactic overload is indeed lacking, and the Rāmāyaṇa gains thereby; but in this epic the note of savage lust and passion which is the charm of the Mahābhārata, as it reveals genuine feeling of real men, is replaced by the childish laments and pious reflections of Rāma, whose foes are demoniac spirits, while his allies and confidants are apes. It is a polished fantasia, the first example of the Kāvya or 'artificial' poetry, which appeals to the Hindu taste much more than does the rough genuineness of the Great Epic. The Rāmāyaṇa is in truth artificial in both senses, for one cannot possibly believe the tale; whereas the Mahābhārata makes its tale real and one believes it as one believes that the Achaeans overthrew Troy, however embellished the account may be. The fact is that the Great Epic is the one human document after the appeal of religious sincerity in the primitive hymns of the Veda.