obviously it is disconnected with the main thread of the narrative and appears to have been inserted afterwards. All the same the lines are found in all old manuscripts. The poet was a saint of uncommon spiritual insight. It is, therefore, difficult to say what was his intention in writing these lines. In any case the episode cannot be dismissed as an interpolation. When the ascetic has been spoken of here as unknown even to the poet, no one can say with any amount of certainty who he was. To our mind he is none else than the monkey- god, Ýr¶ HanumŒn, or a mental projection of the poet (Tulas¶dŒsa) himself. kari kehari bana jŒi na jo¶, hama sa ¡ga calahi ò jo Œyasu ho¶. jŒba jahŒ¡ lagi taha¡ pahu¡ cŒ¶, phiraba bahori tumhahi siru nŒ¶.4. Then, with joined palms, S¶tŒ, RŒma and Lakƒma˜a made renewed obeisance to the YamunŒ. Accompanied by S¶tŒ the two brothers gladly proceeded further, extolling the daughter of the sun-god as they went. Many a traveller met them on the way and beholding the two brothers they fondly exclaimed: “Finding all the marks of royalty on your person, we are sore troubled at heart. When you wend your way on foot, the science of astrology (which tells us that men possessing such and such features should always be borne on some vehicle) is misleading to our mind. The road is difficult and lies through big mountains and forests. On top of it you have a delicate girl with you. Infested with elephants and lions the forest is too terrible to look at. We are ready to accompany you if you enjoin us to do so. We will escort you as far as you go and will then return bowing our heads to you.” (1—4)