The poem consists of twenty-four thousand
verses, and the story of it--now overlaid as it is with extravagant and
fabulous accretions--is evidently founded on fact. The scene of the poem
is laid in the city of Ayodhya, the modern Oudh, which is described in
glowing colors as a place of health, beauty, and prosperity--
"In by-gone ages built and planned
By sainted Manu's princely hand."
In the splendid palace of the Rajah, at Oudh, lives Dasaratha, mourning
in childlessness. He is one of the princes descended from the sun, and
his line now threatens to become extinct. He determines to appeal to the
Gods by the Asva-medha, the great sacrifice in which a horse is the
victim. The rites accordingly are performed with unparalleled
magnificence, and, at the close of the ceremony, the high priest
declares to the king--
"Four sons, O Monarch, shall be thine,
Upholders of the royal line."
Among the offspring duly granted to Dasaratha is Rama, who is a typical
Hindoo of the heroic type. His fair wife, Sita, is carried off by the
demon Ravana, who had assumed the form of a humble priest, or ascetic,
in order to gain access to her.
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