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Tus great story of Ramayana treats of those victorious kings commencing with Prajapati, and having Ikshwaku for their founder, who ruled the entire earth as no other kings had done so before them, and in whose line Sagara was born—Sagara who dug the ocean, and whom, while out - in progress, his sixty-thousand sons followed. We shall now chaunt the entire history of that dynasty from the beginning. Do ye, with minds free from ill will, listen to that story conferring merit, profit and pleasure. There is on the banks of the Sarayu a great and flourishing country called Kosala abounding in corn and wealth, in which the inhabitants passed their days pleasantly. And 3

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the capital of that country was Ayodhy4’ famed among md: which was founded by Manu himself—that foremost }¢ men. And that beautiful and mighty city was twelve yojaru in length and ten in breadth; and was intersected outsi& with spacious roads laid out orderly. And scattered with blown blossoms, and regularly sprinkled with water, the wellarranged broad high-ways looked beautiful. And that one bringing prosperity unto mighty kingdoms, King Dagaratha, lived in that city, like unto the lord of the deities inhabiting the celestial regions. And the city was furnished with doors and gates, and well-arranged rows of shops. And it contained all kinds of instruments and arms, and was inhabited by all classes of artizans. And that graceful and matchlessly | brilliant city abounded in eulogists and genealogists. And it was crowned with stately edifices with flags, and guarded by hundreds of *Sataghnis. And the mighty city contained | theatres for females, aud gardens, and mango-groves; and © was enclosed by a wall. And encircled by a deep moat, the city was accessible neither to friend nor foe. And it abounded with elephants and horses, and kine and camels and asses. And it was thronged with neighbouring kings | come to pay tribute, and inhabited by merchants from various countries, and adorned with mountain-like palaces glittering with gems, and filled with sporting-places for females, and like unto Indra’s Amaravati. And the city was wonderful to behold, gleaming with gold-burnished ornaments, and inhabited by troops of courtezans, and abounding in all kinds of gems, and graced with royal places. And it abounded in paddy and rice, and its water was sweet as the juice of the sugar-cane. And it resounded with the sounds of Dundubhis and Mirdangas and Vinds and Panavas. And that foremost spot of all the earth was like unto an aerial car obtained in heaven by the Syddhas, through force of ascetic * A weapon commonly described as a stone set round with iron spikes.—T.

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austerities, and thronged with the best specimens of humanity. And that city was filled by king Dacaratha with thousands of such Mahirathas* light-handed and accomplished in fight, as could by force of arms or sharpened shafts slaughter infuriated lions and tigers aud boars roaming in the forest ; yet as would not pierce with arrows persons lorn or abandoned or hiding or fugitive. And it abounded mostly in excellent Brahmanas, lighting the sacrificial fire, and crowned with qualities, and versed in the Vedas and the Vedangas, and giving away thousands, and ever abiding by truth, and high-souled, and resembling mighty ascetic.