Page:Life in Java Volume 2.djvu/198

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

182 LIFE IN JAVA.

is often called by Hindus, Eama Goinda Samy. Three other groups, on a line with this, represent Rama carried in triumph, in a kind of chair on the shoulders of some men ; then the marriage, and the grand procession after the nuptials.

A company of musicians playing before the Princess and her court is sculptured on the same terrace. Amongst the instruments I recognised the Gamalan, the only difference being that the metal gongs had not the knob in the centre like those now in use.

Archers, or bowmen, are displaying their skill before Rama and his wife, who appear seated in pomp on a raised platform or dais. The right leg of the deity is placed crosswise, the other doubled before him. As the men near him are in a similar attitude, this singular posture may have been regard- ed as regal and courtlike ; and as if such were the case, it would have to be kept up during the time an audience lasted, they contrived the simple but inge-

�� �