342 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



accompanied by Jumont (bears), Hanuman, monkey8 

 and other wild beasts constituting his army, came 

 down the Cabul river, across the Indus and Punjaub, 

 established or found already formed the kingdom of 

 Ayodhya, now Oude. He with his brother Krishna 

 vanquish Jara Sandha, king of Bahar. In these wars, 

 the wild beasts, with the bear, evidently represent 

 tribes from the high cold regions, while Hanuman, 

 with his monkey army, are the aboriginal race of the 

 Vindhaya chain and lower districts, probably Bheels ; 

 for Bhil, the god or native prince of this people, slew 

 Krishna with an arrow ; and in another mythus 

 likewise killed Heri, one of the Pandoo brethren. 

 Defeated or expelled his conquest, Bali-Rama is related 

 to have been an exile from Oude, wandering with his 

 wife Sita, who being carried off by the giant Ravan, 

 king of Lanka, originated the war with the Rakh- 

 shasas, cannibal giants, in Ceylon. After great oppo- 

 sition, the insular defence is surmounted by the bridge 

 which Hanuman makes of mountains to unite the 

 island to the continent; and although Rama himself 

 is at one time captured by the Cauravas, the hero 

 divinity and Sita are both released, Ravan slain, and 

 the powers he ruled destroyed. There is in this my- 

 thus a religious war indicated, as well as a war of 

 races ; the victory is evidently indecisive, since the 

 conqueror returns to northern India, and afterwards 



necessarily by the passes of Kohi-baba. Yet the Hindo- 

 Mongoli dialect shows, that at least a conquering people 

 came down Himalaya, by the pass of the Goomty. 



