Many people were returning
from the ceremonies of the marriage of 'salagram' with 'Tulasi'; who
told me that the concourse had been immense--at least one hundred and
fifty thousand; and that the Raja had feasted them all for four days
during the progress of the ceremonies, but that they were obliged to
defray their expenses going and coming, except when they came by
special invitation to do honour to the occasion, as in the case of my
little friend the Sagar high priest, Janki Sewak. They told me that
they called this festival the 'Dhanuk jag';[5] and that Janakraj, the
father of Sita, had in his possession the 'dhanuk', or immortal bow
of Parasram, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, with which he
exterminated all the Kshatriyas, or original military class of India,
and which required no less than four thousand men to raise it on one
end.[6] The prince offered his daughter in marriage to any man who
should bend this bow. Hundreds of heroes and demigods aspired to the
hand of the fair Sita, and essayed to bend the bow; but all in vain,
till young Ram, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu,[7] then a lad of
only ten years of age, came; and at the touch of his great toe the
bow flew into a thousand pieces, which are supposed to have been all
taken up into heaven.
Pages:
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411