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applausive roars of victorious combatants—all these never miss» a detailed delineation in the battles of the Great War. The complexity in the development of martial tactics shows a sign* of a later age. ' "^
7. The encyclopaediac variety of the contents of the-Mahabharata together with its vastness of knowledge in every r line of science or art shows a rapid progress from the age of Valmiki. Vyasa notes law and science reduced to a system,, whereas no idea of*codification is discernible in the Rama-
yana. *
8. The character of Sita is advantageously compared with* that of Draupadi. Sita is simpler and more cowardly. She-exhorts the reluctant Rama to permit her company to the- j \ woods. Draupadi musters her strength to argue the justice ^f of Yudhistira's authority to pawn his wife when once he has-enslaved himself. Sita belongs to an age of ignorance and cowardice; Draupadi of wisdom and courage. Draupadi^ religious convictions are looser than the god-fearing instinct
of the daughter of Janaka.
9. The rigour of patriarchal ties and institutions is palpably visible in the history of Rama. The disintegration of the
| presbyterian respect enjoined by Hindu canons of conduct has*
I set in by the time of the Mahabharata. Rama is a model son,,
I . innocently submissive to paternal mandate ; Bharata, the para-
\ gon of a brother ; Sugriva, the standard of a friend. Rama
I says: ^TO^f ^rTcRSKlTcf ^F^T^cT WCclFWrt I A sense of sincere /
1 ' duty animates Valmiki's characters and the pivot of Rama's /"d
I victory is the truthfulness of his adherents. Quite the, ^
I reverse is the case in the Mahabharata. Uhima is ready to a document for antiquity, unrivalled I