2023-02-19 12:13:41 by ambuda-bot
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FOREWORD
What is the Ramayana, ask some, without
its charming descriptions, its edifying
dialogues, its luminous excursuses ? No
scholar will deny the value of these. But
the bare narrative has its own appeal. The
pathos and the human interest dwell at the
very heart of the story. The events are the
interactions of the simple tendencies and
passions of our nature, obscured but little,
if at all, by the splendours of the palace or
the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious
war. In the few pages of this little book the
philosopher will see impressive illustrations
of cause being followed inevitably by effect,
of the strange beliefs passing under the
names of Karma, rebirth and destiny, of
the curious blending of piety and superstition.
morality and custom, this world and the next,
and of the generalisations of experience in
private and public affairs enshrined in
proverbs, apophthegms and rules of chivalry
and statecraft, which indicate millennia of
What is the Ramayana, ask some, without
its charming descriptions, its edifying
dialogues, its luminous excursuses ? No
scholar will deny the value of these. But
the bare narrative has its own appeal. The
pathos and the human interest dwell at the
very heart of the story. The events are the
interactions of the simple tendencies and
passions of our nature, obscured but little,
if at all, by the splendours of the palace or
the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious
war. In the few pages of this little book the
philosopher will see impressive illustrations
of cause being followed inevitably by effect,
of the strange beliefs passing under the
names of Karma, rebirth and destiny, of
the curious blending of piety and superstition.
morality and custom, this world and the next,
and of the generalisations of experience in
private and public affairs enshrined in
proverbs, apophthegms and rules of chivalry
and statecraft, which indicate millennia of