The Motive Of
The Whole Poem Of Ramayana Is Sung In A Few Words By The Celestial
Musicians.
Kama, the God of Love, shelters the divine couple and,
that very moment, a flame is lit in their hearts and the whole world
is created.
Later there are performed the fourteen acts of the drama, which
is well known to everybody, and in which several hundred personages
take part. At the end of the prologue the whole assembly of gods
come forward, one after another, and acquaint the audience with
the contents and the epilogue of their performance, asking the
public not to be too exacting. It is as though all these familiar
deities, made of painted granite and marble, left the temples and
came down to remind mortals of events long past and forgotten.
The hall was full of natives. We four alone were representatives
of Europe. Like a huge flower bed, the women displayed the bright
colors of their garments. Here and there, among handsome, bronze-
like heads, were the pretty, dull white faces of Parsee women,
whose beauty reminded me of the Georgians. The front rows were
occupied by women only. In India it is quite easy to learn a person's
religion, sect, and caste, and even whether a woman is married or
single, from the marks painted in bright colors on everyone's forehead.
Since the time when Alexander the Great destroyed the sacred books
of the Gebars, they have constantly been oppressed by the idol
worshippers. King Ardeshir-Babechan restored fire worship in the
years 229-243 A.C. Since then they have again been persecuted
during the reign of one of the Shakpurs, either II., IX., or XI.,
of the Sassanids, but which of them is not known. It is, however,
reported that one of them was a great protector of the Zartushta
doctrines. After the fall of Yesdejird, the fire-worshippers
emigrated to the island of Ormasd, and, some time later, having
found a book of Zoroastrian prophecies, in obedience to one of
them they set out for Hindustan. After many wanderings,
they appeared, about 1,000 or 1,200 years ago, in the territory
of Maharana-Jayadeva, a vassal of the Rajput King Champanir, who
allowed them to colonize his land, but only on condition that
they laid down their weapons, that they abandoned the Persian
language for Hindi, and that their women put off their national
dress and clothed themselves after the manner of Hindu women. He,
however, allowed them to wear shoes, since this is strictly prescribed
by Zoroaster. Since then very few changes have been made. It
follows that the Parsee women could only be distinguished from
their Hindu sisters by very slight differences. The almost white
faces of the former were separated by a strip of smooth black hair
from a sort of white cap, and the whole was covered with a bright
veil. The latter wore no covering on their rich, shining hair,
twisted into a kind of Greek chignon. Their foreheads were brightly
painted, and their nostrils adorned with golden rings. Both are
fond of bright, but uniform, colors, both cover their arms up to
the elbow with bangles, and both wear saris.
Behind the women a whole sea of most wonderful turbans was waving
in the pit. There were long-haired Rajputs with regular Grecian
features and long beards parted in the middle, their heads covered
with "pagris" consisting of, at least, twenty yards of finest white
muslin, and their persons adorned with earrings and necklaces;
there were Mahrata Brahmans, who shave their heads, leaving only
one long central lock, and wear turbans of blinding red, decorated
in front with a sort of golden horn of plenty; Bangas, wearing
three-cornered helmets with a kind of cockscomb on the top; Kachhis,
with Roman helmets; Bhillis, from the borders of Rajastan, whose
chins are wrapped three times in the ends of their pyramidal turbans,
so that the innocent tourist never fails to think that they constantly
suffer from toothache; Bengalis and Calcutta Babus, bare-headed
all the year round, their hair cut after an Athenian fashion, and
their bodies clothed in the proud folds of a white toga-virilis,
in no way different from those once worn by Roman senators; Parsees,
in their black, oilcloth mitres; Sikhs, the followers of Nanaka,
strictly monotheist and mystic, whose turbans are very like the
Bhillis', but who wear long hair down to their waists; and hundreds
of other tribes.
Proposing to count how many different headgears are to be seen in
Bombay alone, we had to abandon the task as impracticable after a
fortnight. Every caste, every trade, guild, and sect, every one
of the thousand sub-divisions of the social hierarchy, has its own
bright turban, often sparkling with gold lace and precious stones,
which is laid aside only in case of mourning. But, as if to
compensate for this luxury, even the mem-bers of the municipality,
rich merchants, and Rai-Bahadurs, who have been created baronets
by the Government, never wear any stockings, and leave their legs
bare up to the knees. As for their dress, it chiefly consists of
a kind of shapeless white shirt.
In Baroda some Gaikwars (a title of all the Baroda princes) still
keep in their stables elephants and the less common giraffes,
though the former are strictly forbidden in the streets of Bombay.
We had an opportunity of seeing ministers, and even Rajas, mounted
on these noble animals, their mouths full of pansupari (betel leaves),
their heads drooping under the weight of the precious stones on
their turbans, and each of their fingers and toes adorned with rich
golden rings. While the evening I am describing lasted, however,
we saw no elephants, no giraffes, though we enjoyed the company of
Rajas and ministers. We had in our box the hand-some ambassador
and late tutor of the Mahararana of Oodeypore. Our companion was
a Raja and a pandit. His name was a Mohunlal-Vishnulal-Pandia.
He wore a small pink turban sparkling with diamonds, a pair of
pink barege trousers, and a white gauze coat.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 12 of 95
Words from 11121 to 12143
of 96531
