exhibited in their original gigantic forms. Majesty is often expressed by
enormous stature; power, by multitudinous hands; providence, by countless
eyes; and omnipresence, by innumerable bodies.

In addition to this, Hindu epic poetry departs so far from what may be
called the vernacular idiom of thought and feeling, and refers to a people
whose political and religious institutions, as well as moral habits, are
so much at variance with our own, that no labor or skill could render its
associations familiar.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the most important and sublime
creations of Hindu literature, and the most colossal epic poems to be
found in the literature of the world. They surpass in magnitude the Iliad
and Odyssey, the Jerusalem Delivered and the Lusiad, as the pyramids of
Egypt tower above the temples of Greece.

The Ramayana (_Rama_ and _yana_, expedition) describes the exploits of
Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, and the son of Dasaratha, king of Oude.
Ravana, the prince of demons, bad stolen from the gods the privilege of
being invulnerable, and had thus acquired an equality with them. He could
not be overcome except by a man, and the gods implored Vishnu to become
incarnate in order that Ravana might be conquered. The origin and the
development of this Avatar, the departing of Rama for the battlefield, the
divine signs of his mission, his love and marriage with Sita, the daughter
of the king Janaka, the persecution of his step-mother, by which the hero
is sent into exile, his penance in the desert, the abduction of his bride
by Ravana, the gigantic battles that ensue, the rescue of Sita, and the
triumph of Rama constitute the principal plot of this wonderful poem, full
of incidents and episodes of the most singular and beautiful character.
Among these may be mentioned the descent of the goddess Ganga, which