NOTES. 193 
since happened on several occasions ; under the English Government 
it has been deepened. The friable calcareous sandstone of the bar 
breaks up into great rectangular blocks, and this no doubt gave 
rise to the belief that it is a colossal causeway of artificial construc- 
tion. From Rameswaram the mound curves round to the south-east ; 
at first it is a sandy spit sixteen kilometers in length, very flat, and 
at the time of the south-east (? south-west) monsoon partly sub- 
merged. Then a gap begins and continues for 30 kilometers, but 
troubled by many banks of shifting sand ; on this follows a broader 
bend which almost reaches the island of Ceylon. Everywhere it 
presents the same friable calcareous sandstone. This bar is the 
scene of one of the most beautiful episodes in the great epic of 
Ramayana. 
The hero Rama, accompanied by his true-hearted spouse Sita, 
endures many years of exile in the woods and deserts of Southern 
India. Then Sita is carried off by Ravana, the King of Lanka 
(Ceylon). Rama goes forth to wage war against Lanka and to recover 
his faithful wife ; he will throw a bridge across the sea. The “ people 
of the forest, who have the form of apes and fight with trunks of 
trees and pieces of rock,’ are his numerous and mighty allies. 
The host encamps on the strand. Lost in contemplation Rama with 
his army gazes on the vast ocean ; disturbed, and as though kindled 
by the wind, the world of waters resembles a sea of air, and the 
air the ocean ; far away on the horizon heaven and sea merge into 
one another, the one adorned with stars the other with pearls. For 
three nights the never-yet-conquered Rama lingers in deep medita- 
tion on the strand, waiting until the god of the sea shall appear 
tohim. Impatient, he seizes at last his bow, and shaking the earth, 
as it were, looses flaming arrows like living fire into the abysses 
of the sea; so does Indra hurl his lightning. The waves rise like 
the mountains of Vindhya and the monsters of the deep fly terri- 
fied to the sea-god. The god appears ; his colour is like the dark 
lazure stone, sparkling with gold. He speaks to Rama and says: 
“Tt was thine ancestor Sagara who hollowed out for me my bed ; 
therefore [am called Sagaride, the Lord of the streams. I cannot 
suffer a bridge across my waters, lest others should see that I may be 
overcome. But if thou willest to throw up a dam, the ape Nala 
may construct it; neither the creatures of the deep nor storms 
shall hinder thee, and I will hold back the waves for thy sake and 
Nala’s.”’ * 
The command is given and hundreds and thousands of strong 
apes begin the work. They tear up trees by their roots and throw 
them, covered with blossom, into the sea, and upon them bushes 

* Foote, on the Geology of South Travancore, Rec. Geol. Surv., India, 1883, 
XX., p. 74; Ramayana, Poma sanscritto di Valmici, tradutto per G. Gorresio. 
8vo. Paris, 1856, IX., lib. v., Sunderacanda, pp. 132, 141, 185-192; for the 
distinction between causeway and bridge, p. 362, note 91...... 
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