I t i s said that the tale of Rama's adventures i s the first story ever put together. One such man of genius was Valmiki, who wrote the story that I am going to re-tell. These were usually thought brainy but a danger to society and they were customarily driven to live in the wilderness, another sign that this ancient civilisation was not much below our own. Of a Brahmin, because the tricks of the trade took a long time to learn, and a man could not start too early.īesides the Brahmins, there were men of genius. Any man could become a Brahmin provided he set himself up to know better than his fellow men, and was sharp enough to get away with i t. In those far-off days they had not yet become a rigid and hereditary caste. They made the laws, taught the ignorant, dictated morals, controlled the temples, and terrified the king. The courtiers were Brahmins, and the Brahmins were the top dogs. The merchants were robbed by a vast civil service, and the civil servants kissed the big toes of the politicians, who were known as courtiers. There were great cities with immense bazaars in which the shopkeeper cheated his customers and was in turn cheated by the merchants. Twenty-five centuries is a long time ago, but the Indians were in many ways as civilised as we are today. He lived more than two thousand five hundred years ago but everybody will recognise his experiences. In the teeth of the soundest and most reliable guidance from his moral and mental superiors, he finally recovered his country, his throne, and his common sense. As a result he was ruined, exiled, and disinherited : his wife was stolen from him and when he got her back he very nearly had to burn her alive from the highest of motives. He took his morals from the best moralists, and his politics from the most experienced politicians. He reverenced his intellectual betters, who were called Brahmins, and did what they told him to do. This is the story of Rama, a prince of India, who lived his life according to the best advice. SEVEN The Tale of the Studious Locust Continued 145ĮIGHT The Fight in the Glade 151 NINE Sita's Rape 162 TEN The Nocturnal Adventures 54-)Ql9ĬHAPTER ONE The Old Story, Made New, Begins TWO The Ups and Downs of a Concubine THREE A Procession Is Postponed FOUR The Parrot Is Explained FIVE Intrigue and Innocence SIX Sit a SEVEN The Noble Gesture of Prince RanuzĬHAPTER ONE The Hermitage of the Gluttons TWO The Conspiracy Revealed THREE The Tale of the Passionate AsceticĪnd the Hidden Wife FOUR The Tale of the Hidden WifeĬontinued FIVE Discoveries SIX The Tale of the Sage, the Cow, No part of this boolc may be reproduced in any form without the pennission of Charles Scribner's Sonr Copyright, 1954, by AUBREY MENEN A.ll rights reserved.