The Sky Is Separated From
The Waters And On It Appear The Asuras And Gandharvas, The Heavenly
Singers And Musicians.
Then Indra, Yama, Varuna, and Kuvera, the
spirits presiding over the four cardinal points, or the four elements,
water,
Fire, earth, and air, pour forth atoms, whence springs the
serpent "Ananta." The monster swims to the surface of the waves
and, bending its swanlike neck, forms a couch on which Vishnu reclines
with the Goddess of Beauty, his wife Lakshmi, at his feet. "Swatha!
Swatha! Swatha!" cries the choir of heavenly musicians, hailing
the deity. In the Russian church service this is pronounced Swiat!
Swiat! Swiat! and means holy! holy! holy!
In one of his future avatars Vishnu will incarnate in Rama, the
son of a great king, and Lakshmi will become Sita. 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.
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