A broken-hearted man, he then returns to his palace with his two sons, the first to sing this poem, whose verses are so sacred that those who listen to a few of them are forgiven many sins, while those who hear the whole epic are sure to achieve Paradise.
He shall be From every sin and blemish free: Whoever reads the saving strain, With all his kin the heavens shall gain.
Because the poem is so sacred, its author enjoined upon the youths to recite it often, a task they faithfully performed as long as they lived, and which other bards have continued until to-day in all parts of India.
Recite ye this heroic song In tranquil shades where sages throng; Recite it where the good resort, In lowly home and royal court.
We are told besides that-- As long as mountain ranges stand And rivers flow upon the earth, So long will this Ramayana Survive upon the lips of men.
Rama is finally visited by the God of Time, who offers him the choice of remaining on earth or returning to heaven.

When he wisely choses the latter alternative, Rama is bidden bathe in sacred waters, and thence is translated to the better world.
From this poem Tulsi Das has composed a play known as the "Ram Charit Manas," which serves as Bible to a hundred million worshippers in northern India, and is always played at the yearly festivals in the presence of countless admirers.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 41: The quotations in this chapter are taken from Griffeth's translation and from Romesh Dutt's.] THE MAHABHARATA The longest poem in existence is composed in Sanscrit, and, although begun before the Ramayana, it was completed only about one hundred years after.

It consists of some two hundred and twenty thousand lines, divided into eighteen sections (parvans), each of which forms a large volume.

Although the whole work has never been translated into English verse, many portions of it have been reproduced both in verse and prose.
The Hindus consider this one of their most sacred books, attribute its authorship to Vyasa, and claim that the reading of a small portion of it will obliterate sin, while the perusal of the whole will insure heavenly bliss.

Its name signifies "the great war," and its historical kernel,--including one-fifth of the whole work,--consists of an account of an eighteen days' battle (in the thirteenth or fourteenth century B.C.) between rival tribes.