रामचरितम् /26
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the poem, and to glorify the hero to a far greater extent than was anticipated
by Valmiki himself. Some examples will fully bear out the above statement.
In the Ramacarita Sugriva himself comes to help Rama with his army
after a great deal of delay so as to tax Râma's patience to the utmost limit.
Lakṣmaṇa is not sent out to Kiskindha to fetch him as is the case in the
Ramayana. In both the stories we find Surgiva fully devoted to Râma who
respects him both as a friend and a king and is very kind to him. But in
the Ramacarita Râma refuses to have his help in finding out the whereabouts
of Sità in case he is not willing to serve him, and asks him to return to
Kiskindha with his army.
In the Ramayana Ráma's position is so precarious that it cannot be by
any means saved except through the help of Sugriva, though in the Ramacarita
Ráma treats him more or less as & servant. In the Râmacarita while
sending Hanuman to Lańka, Rāma sends with him as tokens a ring, the
Nupura and the Stanottarîya and asks him to remember his pedigree
beginning from Dilipa to Dasaratha as described by Kálidása in his Raghu-
vamsa in order to communicate it to Sitá. But Ramayana states only the ring
as the token and not the others.
In the Râmacarita the party that goes in search of Sita to the South
recognises Ràma as the incarnation of Visņu himself and, accordingly, recite a
panegyric in his honour. This is not found in the Ramayana. In the Râma-
carita Angada etc., the chiefs of the army first send other members of the
army in search of Sitâ and when they return without success they themselves
go out in search. While searching in the forests of the Vindhya mountain,
they feel thirsty and they are surprised to find a demon sleeping in the
entrance of a cave where they wanted to enter to quench their thirst. In the
original Ramayana this portion of the story is entirely different.
When, however, they enter the cave Hanumân is taken by surprise
by a female monkey-prostitute making indecent proposals to him which
he scornfully refused. Thereupon, she appears again, this time in the form of
a beautiful lady and entreats him again, but Hanuman remains adamant.
Meanwhile Svayamprabhâ the mistress of the cave appears before him and
the other lady disappears. This episode is an entirely new introduction in
the Ramacarita.
The reason given by Svayamprabhâ for her permanent residence in the
cave is also different from what appears in the Ramayana. She states here
that Maya the owner of the cave brought Hema her friend to this cave and
lived together as husband and wife. Later on, it so happened that Hemû
was obliged to go up to heaven to visit her father there; Indra the lord of
heaven finding this opportunity caught hold of her and did not allow her to go
the poem, and to glorify the hero to a far greater extent than was anticipated
by Valmiki himself. Some examples will fully bear out the above statement.
In the Ramacarita Sugriva himself comes to help Rama with his army
after a great deal of delay so as to tax Râma's patience to the utmost limit.
Lakṣmaṇa is not sent out to Kiskindha to fetch him as is the case in the
Ramayana. In both the stories we find Surgiva fully devoted to Râma who
respects him both as a friend and a king and is very kind to him. But in
the Ramacarita Râma refuses to have his help in finding out the whereabouts
of Sità in case he is not willing to serve him, and asks him to return to
Kiskindha with his army.
In the Ramayana Ráma's position is so precarious that it cannot be by
any means saved except through the help of Sugriva, though in the Ramacarita
Ráma treats him more or less as & servant. In the Râmacarita while
sending Hanuman to Lańka, Rāma sends with him as tokens a ring, the
Nupura and the Stanottarîya and asks him to remember his pedigree
beginning from Dilipa to Dasaratha as described by Kálidása in his Raghu-
vamsa in order to communicate it to Sitá. But Ramayana states only the ring
as the token and not the others.
In the Râmacarita the party that goes in search of Sita to the South
recognises Ràma as the incarnation of Visņu himself and, accordingly, recite a
panegyric in his honour. This is not found in the Ramayana. In the Râma-
carita Angada etc., the chiefs of the army first send other members of the
army in search of Sitâ and when they return without success they themselves
go out in search. While searching in the forests of the Vindhya mountain,
they feel thirsty and they are surprised to find a demon sleeping in the
entrance of a cave where they wanted to enter to quench their thirst. In the
original Ramayana this portion of the story is entirely different.
When, however, they enter the cave Hanumân is taken by surprise
by a female monkey-prostitute making indecent proposals to him which
he scornfully refused. Thereupon, she appears again, this time in the form of
a beautiful lady and entreats him again, but Hanuman remains adamant.
Meanwhile Svayamprabhâ the mistress of the cave appears before him and
the other lady disappears. This episode is an entirely new introduction in
the Ramacarita.
The reason given by Svayamprabhâ for her permanent residence in the
cave is also different from what appears in the Ramayana. She states here
that Maya the owner of the cave brought Hema her friend to this cave and
lived together as husband and wife. Later on, it so happened that Hemû
was obliged to go up to heaven to visit her father there; Indra the lord of
heaven finding this opportunity caught hold of her and did not allow her to go