The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-12-17
A FIGHT WITH A GIANT.
An Account of the Ram Lila Festival
in India-The One Great Carni-
yal OF the Hindoos.


val OF the Hindoos.
The following account of the Ram
Ii a FESTIVAL in India, which has this
year been the occasion of serious riot
ing at Delhi and elsewhere, may be of
interest to our readers:
1t was brilliant, blazing day in
October, and was the day of the great
religious festival of the Hindoos, known
as the Ram Lila. We were at Fyzabad
in Oudh, only six miles from one of the
greatest strongholds of Hindooism, the
sacred and ancient city of Ajudhia,
whose antiquity dates from mythology
cal times, some thousands of years be-
fore our Christian era, and whose
sanctity as the birthplace of t he
monkey god Hunuman, and, also, that
of the hero Rama, one of the sacred
line of sun-begotten kings, is not sur
passed by any other of the cities on
earth.
We had been invited by the Mahara-
jah Man Singh to go and witness the
combat between Rama and the demon
giant Ravana, and when halfway to
Adjudhia found one of the maharajah's 8
elephants waiting for us, a splendid
fellow with his face and ears and
trunk painted elaborately in brilliant
colors. He was covered with cloth of
crimson and green and purple velvet
reaching to within a few inches of the
ground, and heavy with gold embroid-
cry. and on thu back was a silver
howdah. Having mounted, we pro-
ceeded in state with native servant
perched up behind us, holding over
our honored head huge red umbrella,
and were shortly met by number OF
native gentlemen on elephants nearly
us to the fete.
The road was thronged with dense
crowds of men, women, and children
in bright, clean holiday clothes, with a
liberal sprinkling of fakirs among
them, always distinguishable by tbeil
absence of clothes and extreme dirti
ness. Ascetics never have held tina
cleanliness was next to godliness. Ont
holy man we passed who had painted
his whole body white,-his coat o.
paint being his only garment, and wh
was apparently hanging from a tree
Another was standing on his head wit
four large fires burning close roun,
him, which seemed supertluous wit
such blazing gun overhead. Bell
We're jangling, cymbals clashing, tom
toms humping, all softened and hal
monized by the all-pervading hum Q
the many-throated crowd. The seen
was one to be remembered--the grea
swuying dark masses of people thei
white turbans standing as thick as ear
of cora in wheat-feld; the elephant
rising above the level of the crowd an
majestically cleaying it asunder as the
strobe silently onward; the counties
domes of mosques and temples stant
ING out sharp and clear in the whit
sunlight against the deep blue sky; th
+ flat roots and the tops of the walls an
. balconies covered with swarmin
crowds of women, brilliant as
kaleidoscope.
And now we were close to the seen
of action, and so tightly wedged wei
the people that the elephants could L
- longer force a passage. Towerin
twenty feet or more above all surrount
ing objects we saw the huge uncout
figure of the giant Ravana, made {
bamboo framework covered with papt
and calico, being drawn to and fro, wit
arms outspread, on little wheele
\ platform, while two boys representa-
. Rama and his brother attacked hi
from an elephant with bows and a
rows, and crowds of boys with monke
masks and tails, representing Hum
mans monkey army, made onslaught
with fierce shouts and blows. Our ell
phant was not very stanch, and whe
t. the shouts of battle rose shrill al
y savage he would turn short roun
on spreading CONSERVATION and nearly d
molishing sweetmeat stall that W
y unwisely near his heels. The intere
of the crowd in the combat was inten
and breathless, and when at last Il
giant was overthrown all struggl
wildly to get blow at him, while
mighty roar of triumph filled the Il
mingled with the firing of guns and t
deep trumpeting of the elephants, W
thoroughly infected with the exciteme
Of the moment. In a miraculous
!, short time the giant was torn to shire
and his mangled remains scattered
and wide with vengeful energy. Hu
IL uman and their beloved Rama had w
the victory.
This is the one great carnival of t
Hindoos, and when, as sometimes ha
pens. it's date comedies with that
the great Mohammedan feast of
Mohurrum, there is always great RI
\ of collision.
y, The Ram Lila has another inter
connected with natural history as bel
the date on which. according to nat
scientific observation. bugs leave
l
weaker for month before the RI
Lila, but after that their mouths {
shut st. Janes's Gazette
The Children at Table.