66697602-The-Ramayana-R-K-Narayan

the Pushpak Vimana to a modern airliner, with the additional
capacities that it could be piloted by mere thought and that
its space could expand to accommodate as many as would
want to get into it. One may remember that Rama invited an
entire army to travel with him when leaving Lanka. On
another occasion the narrator would have referred to the
“Bala” and “Adi-Bala” mantras as a kind of air-conditioning
in those days (p. 11). With such occasional flashes of
modernity he would enliven his narration, but in the main he
would know all the ten-thousand five hundred stanzas of
Kamban by heart and quote them freely in song or verse,
and also make his narrative significant with philosophical
and religious interpretations now and then. His oral narrative
would cover, in the course of forty days, the whole period
from Rama’s birth to his coronation, and would be
addressed to an audience numbering anywhere from a
couple of hundred to thousands, each instalment of narration
occupying not less than three hours. On a special occasion,
such as the episode of Rama’s marriage, of course, he
would slow down and go into details of the wedding, and
would be rewarded by his audience with gifts of clothes and
money, and he himself would distribute sweets to celebrate
the occasion. Again, when Hanuman presented Rama’s ring
to Sita at Asoka Vana, the audience, having subscribed
among themselves, would present him with a gold ring. And
when he brought the story to its pleasant conclusion, the
portrait of Rama enthroned would be carried in a procession