But, Whereas The Descendants
Of Themistocles Gladly Receive, Whether Captive Or Free, All The
Changes And Improvements Considered As Such
By modern taste,
thinking them to be a corrected and enlarged edition of the genius
of Aeschylus; Hindus, happily for
Archaeologists and lovers of
antiquity, have never moved a step since the times of our much
honoured forefather Hanuman.
We awaited the performance of Sita-Rama with the liveliest curiosity.
Except ourselves and the building of the theatre, everything was
strictly indigenous and nothing reminded us of the West. There
was not the trace of an orchestra. Music was only to be heard
from the stage, or from behind it. At last the curtain rose. The
silence, which had been very remarkable before the performance,
considering the huge crowd of spectators of both sexes, now became
absolute. Rama is one of the incarnations of Vishnu and, as most
of the audience were worshippers of Vishnu, for them the spectacle
was not a mere theatrical performance, but a religious mystery,
representing the life and achievements of their favourite and most
venerated gods.
The prologue was laid in the epoch before creation began (it may
safely be said that no dramatist would dare to choose an earlier one)
- or, rather, before the last manifestation of the universe. All
the philosophical sects of India, except Mussulmans, agree that
the universe has always existed. But the Hindus divide the
periodical appearances and vanishings into days and nights of Brahma.
The nights, or withdrawals of the objective universe, are called
Pralayas, and the days, or epochs of new awakening into life and
light, are called Manvantaras, Yugas, or "centuries of the gods."
These periods are also called, respectively, the inbreathings and
outbreathings of Brahma.
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