in with him. This could not be allowed; and Yudhishthira,
after a glimpse of heaven, was thrust down to hell, where he
found many of his old comrades in anguish. He resolved to
share their sufferings rather than to enjoy paradise alone. But,
having triumphed in this crowning trial, the whole scene was
revealed to him to be máyá or illusion, and the reunited band
entered into heaven, where they rest for ever with Indra.
Remainder of the Mahábhárata.—The struggle for the kingdom of Hastinápur forms, however, only a fourth of the Mahabharata. The remainder is made up of other early legends, stories of the gods, and religious discourses, intended to teach the military caste its duties, especially its duty of reverence to the Brahmans. Taken as a whole, the Mahábhárata may be said to form, the cyclopaedia of the Heroic Age in Northern India.
The Rámáyana.—The second great Indian epic, the Rámáyana, recounts the advance of the Aryans into Southern India. It is said to have been composed by the poet Válmíki; and its main story refers to a period loosely estimated at about 1000 B.C. But the Ramayana could not have been put together in its present shape many centuries, if at all, before the Christian era. Parts of it may be earlier than the Mahabharata, but the compilation as a whole apparently belongs to a later date. The Ramayana consists of about 48,000 lines.
Outline of the Ramayana.—As the Mahabharata celebrates the Lunar race of Delhi, so the Rámáyana forms the epic (or poetic history) of the Solar race of Ayodhya, the capital of the modern province of Oudh. The two poems thus preserve the legends of the two most famous Aryan kingdoms at the two opposite, or eastern and western, borders of the old Middle Land of Hindustán (Madhya-desa). The opening books of the Rámáyana recount the wondrous birth and boyhood of Ráma, eldest son of Dasaratha, King of Ayodhya or Oudh; his marriage with the princess Sitá, after he proved himself the victor at her ’own choice' of a husband (swayam-vara), by bending the mighty bow of Siva in the contest of chiefs ; and his selection as heir-apparent to his father's kingdom. A zanána intrigue ends in the youngest wife, of Dasaratha (Rama's father) obtaining the succes-
