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United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law

The United Nations Security Council has increasingly resorted to


sanctions as part of its efforts to prevent and resolve conflict.
United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law traces the evolution of
the Security Council’s sanctions powers and charts the contours
of the UN sanctions system. It also evaluates the extent to which
the Security Council’s increasing commitment to strengthening
the rule of law extends to its sanctions practice. It identifies
shortcomings in respect of key rule of law principles and
advances pragmatic policy-reform proposals designed to ensure
that UN sanctions promote, strengthen and reinforce the rule of
law. In its appendices, United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law
contains summaries of all twenty-five UN sanctions regimes
established to date by the Security Council. It forms an invaluable
source of reference for diplomats, policy-makers, scholars and
advocates.

J E R E M Y M A T A M F A R R A L L is a Research Fellow at the Centre for

International Governance and Justice, in the Regulatory


Institutions Network at the Australian National University. He
worked for the United Nations from 2001 to 2006, serving as a
political officer in the UN Security Council in New York, on the
UN Secretary-General’s Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus and
with the UN Mission in Liberia. He received his Ph.D. in
International Law from the University of Tasmania Faculty of
Law, where he has also worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW

Established in 1946, this series produces high-quality scholarship in the fields


of public and private international law and comparative law. Although these
are distinct legal sub-disciplines, developments since 1946 confirm their
interrelation.
Comparative law is increasingly used as a tool in the making of law at
national, regional and international levels. Private international law is now
often affected by international conventions, and the issues faced by classical
conflicts rules are frequently dealt with by substantive harmonisation of law
under international auspices. Mixed international arbitrations, especially those
involving state economic activity, raise mixed questions of public and private
international law, while in many fields (such as the protection of human rights
and democratic standards, investment guarantees and international criminal
law) international and national systems interact. National constitutional
arrangements relating to ‘foreign affairs’, and to the implementation of
international norms, are a focus of attention.
The Board welcomes works of a theoretical or interdisciplinary character,
and those focusing on the new approaches to international or comparative law
or conflicts of law. Studies of particular institutions or problems are equally
welcome, as are translations of the best work published in other languages.

General Editors James Crawford SC FBA


Whewell Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, and
Director, Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law,
University of Cambridge
John S. Bell FBA
Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge
Editorial Board Professor Hilary Charlesworth Australian National University
Professor Lori Damrosch Columbia University Law School
Professor John Dugard Universiteit Leiden
Professor Mary-Ann Glendon Harvard Law School
Professor Christopher Greenwood London School of Economics
Professor David Johnston University of Edinburgh
Professor Hein Kötz Max-Planck-Institut, Hamburg
Professor Donald McRae University of Ottawa
Professor Onuma Yasuaki University of Tokyo
Professor Reinhard Zimmermann Universität Regensburg
Advisory Committee Professor D. W. Bowett QC
Judge Rosalyn Higgins QC
Professor J. A. Jolowicz QC
Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht CBE QC
Professor Kurt Lipstein
Judge Stephen Schwebel

A list of books in the series can be found at the end of this volume.
United Nations Sanctions
and the Rule of Law

by
Jeremy Matam Farrall
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press


The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521878029

© Jeremy Matam Farrall 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of


relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2007

ISBN-13 978-0-511-37905-5 eBook (NetLibrary)

ISBN-13 978-0-521-87802-9 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents

Preface page xix


Abbreviations xxii

Part I Setting the scene 1


1 Introducing UN sanctions 3
2 Towards a pragmatic rule of law model for UN
sanctions 14

Part II The evolution of the UN sanctions


framework 43
3 From Aegina to Abyssinia: a prehistory of UN
sanctions 45
4 Sanctions under the UN Charter 58

Part III UN sanctions in practice 79


5 Establishing the legal basis for sanctions:
identifying threats and invoking Chapter VII 81
6 Delineating the scope of sanctions and
identifying targets 106
7 Fine-tuning sanctions: setting objectives,
applying time-limits and minimising
negative consequences 133
8 Delegating responsibility for sanctions
administration and monitoring 146

v
vi CONTENTS

Part IV Strengthening the rule of law 183


9 Rule of law weaknesses in the UN sanctions system 185
10 Strengthening the rule of law performance of
the UN sanctions system 230
11 Concluding remarks 241
Appendix 1: Summary of policy recommendations 244
Appendix 2: Summaries of UN sanctions regimes 247
Appendix 3: Tables 464

Bibliography 493
Index 524
Extended table of contents

Preface page xix


Abbreviations xxii

Part I Setting the scene 1


1 Introducing UN sanctions 3
1. Defining UN sanctions 6
2. Central contention and key objectives 10
3. The path ahead 11
2 Towards a pragmatic rule of law model for UN
sanctions 14
1. The relevance of the rule of law to the
UN Security Council’s activities 15
1.1 The Council’s close relationship with and
reliance upon law 16
1.2 The increasing emphasis upon the rule of law
in Security Council practice 18
2. The promise and perils of the rule of law 24
2.1 The scholarly crisis concerning the rule of law 26
2.2 Salvaging the rule of law from scholarly crisis 30
3. Towards a pragmatic rule of law model for UN sanctions 32
3.1 The rule of law through the eyes of the Security
Council 32
3.2 The rule of law through the eyes of the
UN Secretary-General 35
3.3 Scholarly explorations of the relationship between
the Security Council and the rule of law 36
3.4 Constructing a pragmatic rule of law model for
sanctions decision-making 39
i. Transparency 40

vii
viii EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

ii. Consistency 41
iii. Equality 41
iv. Due process 41
v. Proportionality 41
3.5 A framework for subsequent analysis 42

Part II The evolution of the UN sanctions


framework 43
3 From Aegina to Abyssinia: a prehistory of UN sanctions 45
1. Sanctions in ancient and medieval times 45
2. Sanctions under classic international law 47
2.1 Retorsion 48
2.2 Reprisals 49
2.3 Pacific blockade 50
2.4 The possibilities and limitations of
pre-twentieth-century sanctions 51
3. Sanctions under the League of Nations system 52
3.1 The League of Nations sanctions provision 53
3.2 The League of Nations sanctions experiment
against Italy 54
4. Learning from the League’s experience 56
4 Sanctions under the UN Charter 58
1. A fresh approach to collective security 58
1.1 An incentive for the great powers: the veto 59
1.2 Incentives for lesser powers: the UN purposes
and principles 60
1.3 The UN’s principal organs 61
2. The UN Security Council’s sanctions powers 62
2.1 The sanctions trigger: Article 39 63
2.2 The UN Charter’s sanctions provision: Article 41 64
2.3 Other sanctions-related Chapter VII provisions:
Articles 48 and 50 65
2.4 The binding character of Article 41 sanctions 65
3. The question of the limits upon the Security Council’s
sanctions powers 68
3.1 Potential Charter-based limits on the Council’s
sanctions powers 68
3.2 Peremptory norms as a potential limit upon the
Council’s sanctions powers 71
3.3 The possibility of judicial review of Security
Council sanctions 73
3.4 The Security Council’s enduring power 75
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS ix

4. The Charter’s implementation lacuna and the organic


evolution of the UN sanctions system 76

Part III UN sanctions in practice 79


5 Establishing the legal basis for sanctions: identifying
threats and invoking Chapter VII 81
1. Determining the existence of a threat to the peace,
breach of the peace or act of aggression 82
1.1 Must the Security Council make a determination
under Article 39 before applying sanctions? 82
1.2 Threats to the peace 85
i. Threats with a clear international dimension 86
(a) States with an aggressive history and the
potential to possess or produce weapons
of mass destruction 86
(b) International terrorism 87
(c) International conflict 90
(d) Interference 91
ii. Threats arising from internal crisis 92
(a) The denial of the right to self-determination
by a racist minority regime 92
(b) Apartheid 94
(c) General civil war 95
(d) Seizure of power from a democratically
elected government 97
(e) The use or threat of military force by rebel
groups against a government 98
(f) Serious humanitarian crises 100
(g) The violation of a minority’s fundamental
rights 101
1.3 Breaches of the peace 102
1.4 Acts of aggression 103
2. Invoking Article 41 and Chapter VII of the Charter 105
6 Delineating the scope of sanctions and identifying
targets 106
1. The many types of UN sanctions 106
1.1 Economic and financial sanctions 107
i. Comprehensive economic sanctions 107
(a) Humanitarian exemptions from
comprehensive sanctions 108
(b) Other exemptions from comprehensive
sanctions 109
x EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

ii. Particular economic sanctions 110


(a) Arms sanctions 110
(b) Sanctions against weapons of mass destruction 114
(c) Petroleum sanctions 116
(d) Sanctions on asbestos, iron ore, sugar, leather,
chrome, pig-iron, tobacco, copper, meat and
meat products 117
(e) Sanctions against trade in forms of transport:
aircraft, vehicle and watercraft sanctions 117
(f) Diamond sanctions 118
(g) Chemical sanctions 119
(h) Timber sanctions 119
(i) Luxury goods sanctions 119
iii. Financial sanctions 120
1.2 Non-economic sanctions 123
i. Diplomatic and representative sanctions 123
ii. Transportation sanctions 124
iii. Travel sanctions 124
iv. Aviation sanctions 126
v. Sporting, cultural and scientific
sanctions 127
vi. Telecommunications sanctions 128
2. Identifying targets 128
2.1 Single state targets 129
2.2 Multiple state targets 129
2.3 De facto state targets 129
2.4 Failed state targets 130
2.5 Sub-state targets 130
2.6 Extra-state targets 131
2.7 Individuals as targets 131
7 Fine-tuning sanctions: setting objectives, applying
time-limits and minimising negative consequences 133
1. Setting sanctions objectives 133
1.1 Ending a rebellion, invasion or external interference 134
1.2 Restoring a legitimate and/or democratically elected
government to power 135
1.3 Facilitating the exercise or protection of
human rights 135
1.4 Bringing about disarmament or arms control 136
1.5 Facilitating the establishment and consolidation
of peace 136
1.6 Addressing international terrorism 137
1.7 Promoting good governance 138
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

2. Defining the temporal application of sanctions 139


2.1 Time-delays 139
2.2 Time-limits 140
3. Addressing the unintended consequences of sanctions 141
3.1 Security Council action to address the humanitarian
impact of sanctions upon civilian populations 141
i. The exemptions process 141
ii. Smart sanctions 143
iii. Humanitarian impact assessment 143
3.2 Security Council action to address the impact of
sanctions upon third states 144
8 Delegating responsibility for sanctions
administration and monitoring 146
1. Sanctions committees 147
1.1 Composition 147
1.2 Mandates 148
i. Reporting activities 149
ii. The administration of exemptions 150
iii. Considering requests for special assistance
under Article 50 151
iv. Sanctions monitoring 151
v. Improving sanctions implementation 152
vi. Liaising with other subsidiary organs 153
vii. Refining working methods 154
viii. Administering lists for targeted sanctions 155
ix. Considering the humanitarian impact of sanctions 155
1.3 Working methods 156
2. The Security Council Working Group on Sanctions 157
3. Disarmament commissions and commissions of inquiry 157
3.1 The Iraq Commissions: UNCC, UNSCOM, UNMOVIC 158
3.2 The International Commission of Inquiry on Rwanda 160
3.3 The Sudan International Commission of Inquiry 163
3.4 The Hariri International Independent Investigation
Commission 163
4. Bodies of experts: groups, committees, teams and
panels of experts 163
4.1 The Group of Experts on the Iraq sanctions regime 164
4.2 Ad hoc Panels on the Iraq sanctions regime 164
4.3 The Panel of Experts on UNITA sanctions 165
4.4 The Panel of Experts on the Sierra Leone
sanctions regime 166
4.5 The Afghanistan/Taliban/Al Qaida Committee
of Experts 167
xii EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

4.6 The 1343 Liberia Panel of Experts 168


4.7 The Team and Panel of Experts on Somalia 170
4.8 The 1521 Liberia Panel of Experts 171
4.9 The DRC Group of Experts 172
4.10 The Sudan Panel of Experts 173
4.11 The Côte d’Ivoire Group of Experts 173
5. Monitoring bodies 174
5.1 The Iraq Export/Import Monitoring Mechanism 174
5.2 The UNITA Monitoring Mechanism 176
5.3 The Taliban and Al Qaida Monitoring Mechanism 176
5.4 The Taliban and Al Qaida Monitoring Team 177
5.5 The Somalia Monitoring Group 179
6. United Nations peacekeeping operations 180

Part IV Strengthening the rule of law 183


9 Rule of law weaknesses in the UN sanctions system 185
1. Behind closed doors: the problem of transparency 185
1.1 Transparency in the Security Council’s
decision-making process 186
1.2 Transparency in Security Council decisions 189
i. Determination of threats to the peace 190
ii. Invoking the Charter basis for applying sanctions 195
iii. Articulating sanctions objectives 196
(a) Establishing peace and stability 196
(b) Securing the future and ongoing verification
of disarmament 197
(c) Ensuring that a target stops supporting
terrorism 198
1.3 Transparency in sanctions committees 202
2. A less than constant practice: the problem of consistency 205
2.1 Consistency and the objectives of sanctions regimes 206
2.2 Consistency and the scope of sanctions 207
2.3 Consistency and the Security Council’s use of
subsidiary bodies 210
i. The establishment of sanctions committees 210
ii. Commissions of inquiry, bodies of experts
and monitoring mechanisms 211
3. First among equals: the veto and the problem of equality 211
3.1 Equality as equal treatment 212
3.2 Equality as equal representation 213
4. Guilty until proven innocent? The problem of due process 217
4.1 Due process and states targets 217
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii

4.2 Due process and non-state targets 219


4.3 Due process and individuals 219
5. A disproportionate burden: civilian
populations and third states 223
5.1 Proportionality and civilian populations: minimising
the humanitarian impact of sanctions 224
5.2 Proportionality and individual targets 228
5.3 Proportionality and third states 228
10 Strengthening the rule of law performance
of the UN sanctions system 230
1. Increasing transparency 230
2. Improving consistency 232
3. Promoting equality 234
4. Providing due process 236
5. Ensuring proportionality 239
11 Concluding remarks 241

Appendix 1: Summary of policy recommendations 244


1. Increasing transparency 244
2. Improving consistency 245
3. Promoting equality 245
4. Providing due process 245
5. Ensuring proportionality 246

Appendix 2: Summaries of UN sanctions regimes 247


1. The 232 Southern Rhodesia sanctions regime 247
1. Constitutional basis 248
2. Objectives 249
3. Scope 249
4. Administration and monitoring 251
5. Termination 253
6. Conclusions 253
2. The 418 South Africa sanctions regime 255
1. Constitutional basis 255
2. Objectives 257
3. Scope 258
4. Administration and monitoring 259
5. Termination 260
6. Conclusions 261
3. The 661 Iraq sanctions regime 261
1. Constitutional basis 262
2. Objectives 264
3. Scope 265
xiv EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

4. Administration and monitoring 271


5. Conclusions 281
4. The 713 former Yugoslavia sanctions regime 282
1. Constitutional basis 282
2. Objectives 283
3. Scope 283
4. Administration and monitoring 284
5. Termination 286
6. Conclusions 286
5. The 733 Somalia sanctions regime 288
1. Constitutional basis 288
2. Objectives 289
3. Scope 289
4. Administration and monitoring 290
5. Conclusions 297
6. The 748 Libya sanctions regime 297
1. Constitutional basis 298
2. Objectives 298
3. Scope 299
4. Administration and monitoring 301
5. Suspension and termination 303
6. Conclusions 304
7. The 757 sanctions regime against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro) 305
1. Constitutional basis 306
2. Objectives 307
3. Scope 307
4. Administration and monitoring 311
5. Suspension and termination 314
6. Conclusions 315
8. The 788 Liberia sanctions regime 316
1. Constitutional basis 316
2. Objectives 317
3. Scope 317
4. Administration and monitoring 317
5. Termination 319
6. Conclusions 319
9. The 820 Bosnian Serb sanctions regime 320
1. Constitutional basis 320
2. Objectives 321
3. Scope 321
4. Administration and monitoring 323
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS xv

5. Suspension and termination 324


6. Conclusions 325
10. The 841 Haiti sanctions regime 326
1. Constitutional basis 326
2. Objectives 327
3. Scope 329
4. Administration and monitoring 331
5. Termination 333
6. Conclusions 334
11. The 864 UNITA sanctions regime 334
1. Constitutional basis 335
2. Objectives 335
3. Scope 336
4. Administration and monitoring 338
5. Suspension and termination 344
6. Conclusions 344
12. The 918 Rwanda sanctions regime 345
1. Constitutional basis 345
2. Objectives 346
3. Scope 346
4. Administration and monitoring 347
5. Suspension of aspects of the Rwanda sanctions
regime 353
6. Conclusions 353
13. The 1054 sanctions regime against the Sudan 353
1. Constitutional basis 354
2. Objectives 355
3. Scope 355
4. Administration and monitoring 356
5. Termination 357
6. Conclusions 357
14. The 1132 Sierra Leone sanctions regime 357
1. Constitutional basis 358
2. Objectives 359
3. Scope 359
4. Administration and monitoring 361
5. Termination of aspects of the Sierra Leone
sanctions regime 368
6. Conclusions 368
15. The 1160 sanctions regime against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia 369
1. Constitutional basis 369
2. Objectives 370
3. Scope 371
xvi EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

4. Administration and monitoring 372


5. Termination 374
6. Conclusions 374
16. The 1267 sanctions regime against Afghanistan/the
Taliban/Al Qaida 374
1. Constitutional basis 375
2. Objectives 376
3. Scope 377
4. Administration and monitoring 381
5. Conclusions 393
17. The 1298 Eritrea and Ethiopia sanctions regime 395
1. Constitutional basis 395
2. Objectives 396
3. The scope of the 1298 sanctions regime 397
4. Administration and monitoring 398
5. Termination 399
6. Conclusions 400
18. The 1343 Liberia sanctions regime 400
1. Constitutional basis 400
2. Objectives 401
3. Scope 402
4. Administration and monitoring 404
5. Termination 409
6. Conclusions 410
19. The 1493 DRC sanctions regime 411
1. Constitutional basis 411
2. Objectives 412
3. Scope 412
4. Administration and monitoring 415
5. Conclusions 418
20. The 1521 Liberia sanctions regime 418
1. Constitutional basis 419
2. Objectives 420
3. Scope 421
4. Administration and monitoring 423
5. Termination of timber sanctions 429
6. Conclusions 429
21. The 1556 Sudan sanctions regime 430
1. Constitutional basis 430
2. Objectives 431
3. Scope 431
4. Administration and monitoring 433
5. Conclusions 438
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii

22. The 1572 Côte d’Ivoire sanctions regime 439


1. Constitutional basis 439
2. Objectives 440
3. Scope 441
4. Administration and monitoring 443
5. Conclusions 447
23. The 1636 Hariri sanctions regime 448
1. Constitutional basis 448
2. Objectives 449
3. Scope 449
4. Administration and monitoring 450
5. Conclusions 452
24. The 1718 North Korea sanctions regime 452
1. Constitutional basis 453
2. Objectives 454
3. Scope 455
4. Administration, monitoring and enforcement 456
5. Conclusions 457
25. The 1737 Iran sanctions regime 458
1. Constitutional basis 458
2. Objectives 460
3. Scope 460
4. Administration, monitoring and enforcement 462
5. Conclusions 463
Appendix 3: Tables 464
A UNSCR provisions referring to the rule of law 465
B UNSCR provisions establishing and terminating
UN sanctions regimes 468
C UNSCR provisions citing Chapter VII of the UN Charter
as the basis for sanctions-related action 470
D UNSCR provisions outlining the scope of sanctions 474
E UNSCR provisions outlining Sanctions Committee
mandates 477
F Reports by Sanctions Committees 481
G UNSCR provisions outlining the mandates of
sanctions-related expert and monitoring bodies 487
H Reports by sanctions-related expert and monitoring
bodies 491

Bibliography 493
Index 524
Preface

This book began life as a doctoral thesis. I originally expected the thesis
to focus less on the UN Security Council’s sanctions practice and more
on theoretical questions arising from the Council’s application of sanc-
tions. However, early in my research I discovered that most books on UN
sanctions analysed sanctions from a broad policy perspective and did
not pay too much attention to the finer print of the provisions of
Security Council resolutions that establish and modify each UN sanc-
tions regime. Although there were valuable studies of this type concern-
ing individual sanctions regimes, there was no central source tracing
the evolution of the Security Council’s many sanctions regimes. I thus
began to prepare the summaries of UN sanctions regimes that feature in
Appendix 2. Once I had completed these summaries, I moved on to the
challenging assignment of describing and analysing the contours of the
UN sanctions system.
Just as I did not originally set out to describe the UN sanctions
system, neither did I intend to explore the relationship between
those sanctions and the rule of law. I had planned to analyse the
legitimacy of sanctions, which I still consider to be an extremely
important theme. But on 24 September 2003 I witnessed a Security
Council debate on justice and the rule of law, culminating in the
adoption of a Security Council presidential statement affirming the
vital importance of the rule of law in the Council’s work. I immediately
began to wonder whether the Council’s commitment to the rule of law
might be said to extend to its own sanctions system. How would the
Council’s sanctions practice measure up when viewed through a rule
of law lens? What lessons might be learned from such an analysis and
how might they be used to strengthen the Council’s future sanctions
policy and practice?

xix
xx PREFACE

This book therefore has two basic aims: to describe the evolution of
UN sanctions and to examine the relationship between sanctions and
the rule of law. The book’s practical goal is to advance policy proposals
for improving the rule of law performance of UN sanctions. But my
major hope is modest: I hope that readers find the following pages
interesting and helpful, whether they are seasoned sanctions policy-
makers or students engaging with sanctions for the very first time.
I am indebted to many people, whose support, guidance and inspira-
tion have helped to shape this book. I owe a particular debt to the
University of Tasmania Faculty of Law and my PhD supervisors:
Professor Stuart Kaye, for his exemplary mentorship; Professors
Donald Chalmers and Margaret Otlowski, for their kind and generous
support; and Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz, for his guidance with early
research. I would also like to thank my PhD examiners, Professors Ivan
Shearer and Gerry Simpson, for their helpful suggestions on improving
the manuscript.
My writing and thinking have benefited from the thoughtful and
challenging feedback of colleagues and friends. Warm thanks are due
to Nehal Bhuta, Michael Bliss, Hilary Charlesworth, Gino Dal Pont,
Peter Danchin, Laura Grenfell, John Langmore and Fred Soltau. My
practical understanding of Security Council decision-making was
enriched by working in the UN’s Security Council Affairs Division
from 2001 to 2004. My comprehension of how sanctions apply on the
ground was deepened by working with the UN Mission in Liberia from
2004 to 2006. I learned an enormous amount from UN colleagues,
including Ademola Araoye, Babafemi Badejo, Tatiana Cosio, Comfort
Ero, Susan Hulton, Nicole Lannegrace, Aleksandar Martinovic, Linda
Perkin, Joseph Stephanides, James Sutterlin, Satya Tripathi and
Raisedon Zenenga.
I have enjoyed strong institutional support while preparing this book.
The University of Tasmania Faculty of Law provided me with a generous
postdoctoral research fellowship, in order to begin refining the manu-
script. The writing process has been concluded at the Australian
National University, where I enjoy warm support from colleagues at
the Centre for International Governance and Justice and the Regulatory
Institutions Network. I would also like to thank Finola O’Sullivan,
Brenda Burke and the copy-editing team at Cambridge for their diligent
work on this book.
Most of all, I thank from the bottom of my heart my wonderful
family. To Reia, Nicolas, Eloise and Eleonore Anquet and Kim and Bob
PREFACE xxi

Henderson, thank you for your ever-cheerful encouragement. To


Stephanie and Lyndsay Farrall, thank you for your unstinting support
and for being such amazing role-models. And to my incredible wife Lyn
Nguyen Henderson, thank you for your keen proofreading eye, your
strategic advice and your boundless love and care.
Australian National University, Canberra, January 2007
Abbreviations

AJIL American Journal of International Law


AMIS African Union Observer Mission in Sudan
AU African Union
AYBIL Australian Yearbook of International Law
BYIL British Yearbook of International Law
CPPCG Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide
CSCE Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
CTC UN Counterterrorism Committee
CY Conference on Yugoslavia
DJILP Denver Journal of International Law and Policy
DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo
EC European Community
ECOMOG Monitoring Group of the Economic Community of West
African States
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
EJIL European Journal of International Law
EU European Union
FRY Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
FRYSM Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)
GA General Assembly
GEMAP Governance and Economic Management Assistance
Program
GIA Governor’s Island Agreement
GRL Goods Review List
GYIL German Yearbook of International Law

xxii
ABBREVIATIONS xxiii

HILJ Harvard International Law Journal


IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
IATA International Air Transport Association
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
ICC International Criminal Court
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights
ICFY International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia
ICIR International Commission of Inquiry on Rwanda
ICISS International Commission on Intervention and State
Responsibility
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICLQ International and Comparative Law Quarterly
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia
IFOR Multinational Implementation Force
IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development
ILJ International Law Journal
ILM International Legal Materials
ILR International Law Review
JIL Journal of International Law
KFOR International Security Forces in Kosovo
LAS League of Arab States
LR Law Review
LURD Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
MODEL Movement for Democracy in Liberia
MONUC United Nations Organization Mission in the DRC
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NJIL Nordic Journal of International Law
NPT Treaty on Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
NTGL National Transitional Government of Liberia
NYUJILP New York University Journal of International law
and Politics
OAS Organization of American States
OAU Organization of African Unity
OFFP Oil-for-Food Programme
OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
xxiv ABBREVIATIONS

OIP Office of the Iraq Programme


OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
PCASED Economic Community of West African States
Programme for Coordination and Assistance for
Security and Development
Res. Resolution
RUF Revolutionary United Front
SADC Southern African Develop Community
SAM Sanctions Assistance Mission
SAMCOMM Sanctions Assistance Missions Communications Centre
SC Security Council
SCOR UN Security Council Official Records
SICI Sudan International Commission of Inquiry
SLA Sudan Liberation Army
TLCP Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNAMSIL United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone
UNASOG United Nations Aouzou Strip Observer Group
UNCC United Nations Compensation Commission
UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
UNCIO United Nations Conference on International
Organization
UNGA United Nations General Assembly
UNGAR United Nations General Assembly Resolution
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNIIIC United Nations International Independent Investigation
Commission
UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
UNITAF United Task Force
UNMAS United Nations Mine Action Service
UNMICI United Nations Mission in Côte d’Ivoire
UNMIH United Nations Mission in Haiti
UNMIK United Nations Mission in Kosovo
UNMIL United Nations Mission in Liberia
UNMIS United Nations Mission in Sudan
UNMOVIC United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection
Commission
UNOCI United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire
ABBREVIATIONS xxv

UNOL United Nations Office in Liberia


UNOMIL United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia
UNOMSIL United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone
UNOSOM United Nations Operation in Somalia
UNPREDEP United Nations Preventive Deployment Force
UNPROFOR United Nations Protection Force
UNSC United Nations Security Council
UNSCOM United Nations Special Commission
UNSCR United Nations Security Council Resolution
UNSG United Nations Secretary-General
US United States
VJIL Virginia Journal of International Law
WCO World Customs Organization
WEU Western European Union
WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction
PART I *
SETTING THE SCENE

[W]e are ushering in an epoch of law among peoples and of justice among nations.
The UN Security Council’s task is a heavy one, but it will be sustained by our hope,
which is shared by the people, and by our remembrance of the sufferings of all
those who fought and died that the rule of law might prevail.
French Ambassador Vincent Auriol, at the inaugural meeting of the
UN Security Council
17 January 1946

We meet at the hinge of history. We can use the end of the Cold War to get beyond
the whole pattern of settling conflicts by force, or we can slip back into ever more
savage regional conflicts in which might alone makes right. We can take the high
road towards peace and the rule of law, or we can take Saddam Hussein’s path of
brutal aggression and the law of the jungle.
US Secretary of State James Baker, when the Council authorised the
use of force against Iraq
29 November 1990

This Council has a very heavy responsibility to promote justice and the rule of law
in its efforts to maintain international peace and security.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at the Council’s meeting on justice
and the rule of law
24 September 2003
1 Introducing UN sanctions

Looking back from an early twenty-first century vantage-point, it is easy


to forget that there was once a time when the United Nations Security
Council could not easily employ its sanctions tool. From 1946 until the
middle of 1990, Cold War politics prevented the Council from imposing
the coercive sanctions provided for in Article 41 of the United Nations
Charter more than twice. In 1966 the Council imposed sanctions against
Southern Rhodesia and in 1977 it applied them against South Africa.1
By contrast, the post-Cold War period has witnessed a dramatic increase
in UN sanctions. Since August 1990 the Security Council has initiated
no fewer than twenty-three additional UN sanctions regimes.2 UN
sanctions now form a prominent feature of the international relations
landscape.
While the end of Cold War tensions created the preconditions for a
sanctions renaissance, two other factors have contributed to the rise of
sanctions. First, sanctions can often represent the least unpalatable of
the coercive alternatives available to the UN Security Council when
faced with the task of taking action to maintain or restore international
peace and security. From a political perspective, it can be extremely
difficult to garner the support necessary to authorise collective military
action under Article 42 of the UN Charter, as the governments which
would be expected to shoulder the burden of collective forceful action
are reluctant to assume responsibility for the serious financial, political
and humanitarian consequences that are likely to flow from the use of
military sanctions. The imposition of non-military sanctions, by con-
trast, is generally thought to entail fewer costs than the use of force. By
authorising sanctions, the Security Council can be seen to be taking

1 2
See Appendix 3, Table B. Ibid.

3
4 PART I SETTING THE SCENE

strong symbolic action against threats to international peace and secur-


ity, without having to assume the responsibility for, or incur the costs
of, using force. Second, there is the perception that the potential of
sanctions to achieve their policy objectives has increased with advances
in international technology, communications and trade. Globalisation
has fostered a climate of growing interdependence, in which states are
increasingly reliant upon trade and communication links with the
international community. In such an interdependent economic envi-
ronment, a stringent UN sanctions regime has the power to devastate a
target economy and to rein in target political elites.
The Security Council has employed a broad variety of sanctions,
ranging from comprehensive measures which prevent the flow to and
from a target of virtually all products and commodities,3 to simple
measures that target specific items, such as arms,4 timber5 or dia-
monds,6 or particular activities, such as diplomatic relations7 or travel.8
UN sanctions have been applied around the globe, from Southern
Rhodesia to Yugoslavia and from Haiti to North Korea.9 They have
targeted nations, rebel groups and terrorist organisations.10 The
Council has imposed sanctions for a range of objectives, including
compelling an occupying state to withdraw its troops,11 preventing a
state from developing or acquiring weapons of mass destruction,12

3
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 232 Southern Rhodesia, 757 Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro) (FRYSM), 820 Bosnian Serb and 841 Haiti sanctions
regimes.
4
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 418 South Africa, 713 Yugoslavia, 733 Somalia, 788
Liberia, 918 Rwanda, 1160 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and 1298 Eritrea and
Ethiopia sanctions regimes.
5
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 1343 and 1521 Liberia sanctions regimes.
6
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 864 UNITA, 1132 Sierra Leone, 1343 and 1521 Liberia
and 1572 Côte d’Ivoire sanctions regimes.
7
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 748 Libya and 1054 Sudan sanctions regimes.
8
See Appendix 2, summaries of the 232 Southern Rhodesia, 661 Iraq, 748 Libya, 841
Haiti, 864 UNITA, 1054 Sudan, 1132 Sierra Leone, 1267 Taliban and Al Qaida, 1343 and
1521 Liberia, 1493 DRC, 1556 Sudan, 1572 Côte d’Ivoire, 1636 Hariri, 1718 North Korea
and 1737 Iran sanctions regimes.
9
See Appendix 3, Table B.
10
The majority of sanctions regimes have targeted states: see Table B. Rebel groups have
been targeted in the 820 Bosnian Serb, 864 UNITA, 1132 Sierra Leone and 1493 DRC
sanctions regimes. The 1267 Taliban and Al Qaida sanctions regime targets terrorist
organisations. See the summaries of these regimes in Appendix 2.
11
This was the initial objective of the 661 sanctions regime against Iraq: see Appendix 2.
12
Non-proliferation was an objective of the 418 South Africa, 1718 North Korea and 1737
Iran sanctions regimes, as well as the primary reason for maintaining the 661 Iraq
sanctions regime after the conclusion of 1991 Gulf War hostilities. See Appendix 2.
INTRODUCING UN SANCTIONS 5

countering international terrorism,13 stemming human rights viola-


tions14 and promoting the implementation of a peace process.15
The collection of sanctions regimes stacking up in the Security
Council’s trophy-cabinet is impressive. Yet UN sanctions attract many
critics. Some denounce sanctions as ineffective.16 Others warn that
sanctions can be counterproductive, galvanising opposition to UN inter-
vention and strengthening the target government’s position of power.17
At the other end of the spectrum, sanctions are criticised for being too
effective due to the devastating impact they can have on innocent
civilian populations. Sanctions have been described as ‘the UN’s
weapon of mass destruction’,18 as ‘a genocidal tool’19 and as ‘modern
siege warfare’.20
This book adds another voice to the critical chorus. But the criticism
ventured here is designed to be constructive. No matter how ineffective,
counterproductive or indiscriminate they might appear, the Security
Council is not about to remove sanctions from its peace and security
toolkit. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan observed in his 2005 report
In Larger Freedom, sanctions constitute ‘a necessary middle ground
between war and words’.21 Enthusiasm for sanctions may wax and
wane, but the Council will continue to resort to its sanctions tool
when diplomacy is failing and other policy options are unpalatable or

13
Preventing and responding to international terrorism was an objective of the 748 Libya,
1054 Sudan, 1267 Taliban and Al Qaida and 1636 Hariri sanctions regimes. See
Appendix 2.
14
Stemming human rights violations has been an objective of the 232 Southern Rhodesia,
418 South Africa, 841 Haiti, 1160 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and 1556 Sudan
sanctions regimes. See Appendix 2.
15
Promoting the implementation of a peace process was an objective of the 788 and 1521
Liberia, 864 UNITA, 918 Rwanda, 1132 Sierra Leone, 1493 DRC and 1572 Côte d’Ivoire
sanctions regimes. See Appendix 2.
16
See, e.g., Robert A. Pape, ‘Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work’ (1997) 22 International
Security 90–136.
17
Johan Galtung, ‘On the Effects of Economic Sanctions: With Examples from the Case of
Rhodesia’, in Miroslav Nincic and Peter Wallensteen (eds.), Dilemmas of Economic Coercion
(New York: Praeger, 1983), pp. 17–60, 46.
18
Denis Halliday, ‘Iraq and the UN’s Weapon of Mass Destruction’ (1999) 98 Current History
65–68; John Mueller and Karl Mueller, ‘Sanctions of Mass Destruction’ (1999) 78(3)
Foreign Affairs, 43–53.
19
Geoffrey Simons, Imposing Economic Sanctions: Legal Remedy or Genocidal Tool? (London:
Pluto Press, 1999); George E. Bisharat, ‘Sanctions as Genocide’ (2001) 11 TLCP 379–425.
20
Joy Gordon, ‘Sanctions as Siege Warfare’ The Nation, 22 March 1999.
21
A/59/2005 (21 March 2005): In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human
Rights for All.
6 PART I SETTING THE SCENE

impractical. The key is thus to reform the Council’s sanctions practice


so that sanctions are less ineffective, less counterproductive and less
indiscriminate.

1. Defining UN sanctions
The term ‘sanctions’ can have many meanings. In the national sphere,
sanctions generally represent a range of action that can be taken against
a person who has transgressed a legal norm.22 Thus, a person who has
committed the crime of manslaughter might receive the sanction of a
term in prison. The nature, scope and length of potential national
sanctions are generally determined by legislatures. The sanctions are
then applied to concrete cases by judiciaries or juries, and they are then
enforced by police forces and penal systems. National sanctions may
serve a number of purposes, including defining the limits of permissible
behaviour, punishing wrongdoers and deterring potential future
wrongdoers.23 But whatever specific purpose a particular sanction
may serve, the essence of national sanctions lies in their nexus with
legal norms. This nexus separates sanctions from simple acts of coer-
cion. In the national context, sanctions are imposed in order to enforce
the law and they therefore aim to reinforce the rule of law.
In the international sphere, however, the term ‘sanctions’ is com-
monly used to describe actions that often bear only a slight resemblance
to their domestic relative. Media commentators, diplomats and scholars
employ the term to refer to a wide array of actions, taken for a variety of
purposes, by a range of actors against a variety of targets.24 The spec-
trum of action commonly described as ‘sanctions’ includes military and
non-military action. The term ‘sanctions’ can be used to describe action
which aims to place physical restrictions upon the ability of a target
to engage in the use of force itself, or to depict action which seeks to
restrict the target’s freedom in other respects, such as in relations of an
economic, financial, diplomatic or representative, sporting or cultural
nature.

22
Hans Kelsen, The Law of the United Nations: A Critical Analysis of its Fundamental Problems
(London: Steven & Sons, 1951), p. 706.
23
Margaret P. Doxey, International Sanctions in Contemporary Perspective, 2nd edn (New York:
St Martin’s Press, 1996), p. 7.
24
Galtung and Doxey both provide useful summaries of the different types of interna-
tional ‘sanctions’: Galtung, ‘On the Effects of Economic Sanctions’, 21; Doxey,
International Sanctions, p. 15.
INTRODUCING UN SANCTIONS 7

The fundamental difference between the meaning of sanctions in the


national context and the popular understanding of sanctions in the
international context is that the action commonly referred to as sanc-
tions in the international sphere does not necessarily serve the purpose
of enforcing a legal norm.25 The term ‘sanctions’ is widely used to refer
to action which seeks either to coerce the target into behaving in a
particular manner, or to punish it for behaviour considered unaccept-
able by the sender. The motive for imposing sanctions may be to
respond to a breach of a norm or to prevent such a breach, but it may
also be to pursue a foreign policy agenda or to gain some advantage over
the target.26 Some commentators have even employed the term ‘pos-
itive sanctions’ to refer to acts of a non-coercive nature which seek to
induce a particular type of behaviour.27
The range of actors who impose sanctions on an international basis
includes individual states, groups of states, the international commun-
ity as a whole, and non-state actors. When one state initiates coercive
action, its actions are commonly referred to as ‘unilateral sanctions’. A
prominent example of unilateral sanctions is the regime which has
been maintained against Cuba by the United States since the Cuban
missile crisis.28 When action is initiated by a group of states, the action
becomes ‘multilateral’ or ‘regional’ sanctions. Examples of multilateral/
regional sanctions regimes include those imposed against Haiti by the
Organization of American States29 and against the former Yugoslavia by

25
This can also be the case with UN sanctions, as it is not a requirement that they be
applied in response to a violation of Charter obligations. Thus they can be interpreted
as ‘political measures’ which the Security Council has the ‘discretion’ to apply in order
to maintain or restore international peace and security. See Kelsen, The Law of the United
Nations, p. 733.
26
The US sanctions regime against Cuba is one example of a ‘sanctions’ regime imposed
in pursuit of a foreign policy agenda. Since it first adopted a resolution on the subject in
1992, the UN’s General Assembly has condemned on an annual basis the continued
application of US ‘sanctions’ against Cuba. For the initial resolution, see A/RES/47/19 (24
November 1992). For the most recent resolution, see A/RES/58/7 (18 November 2003).
For the annual resolutions in between, see A/RES/58/7 (18 November 2003), preambular
para. 6.
27
Peter A. G. Van Bergeijk, Economic Diplomacy, Trade and Commercial Policy: Positive and
Negative Sanctions in a New World Order (Brookfield: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1994).
28
For a comprehensive list of instances of unilateral sanctions, see Gary Clyde Hufbauer,
Jeffrey J. Schott and Kimberly Ann Elliott, Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, 2nd edn
(Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1990).
29
For a detailed account of the Haiti sanctions, see Elisabeth D. Gibbons, Sanctions in Haiti:
Human Rights and Democracy Under Assault (Westport: Praeger, 1999), especially ch. 3.
Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
In all her glorious garments dressed.
There slept another whose small hand
Had loosened every tie and band.
In careless grace another lay,
With gems and jewels cast away,
Like a young creeper when the tread
Of the wild elephant had spread
Confusion and destruction round,
And cast it flowerless to the ground.
Here lay a slumberer still as death,
Save only that her balmy breath
Raised ever and anon the lace
That floated o’er her sleeping face.
There, sunk in sleep, an amorous maid
Her sweet head on a mirror laid,
Like a fair lily bending till
Her petals rest upon the rill.
Another black-eyed damsel pressed
Her lute upon her heaving breast,
As though her loving arms were twined
Round him for whom her bosom pined.
Another pretty sleeper round
A silver vase her arms had wound,
That seemed, so fresh and fair and young,
A wreath of flowers that o’er it hung.
In sweet disorder lay a throng
Weary of dance and play and song,
Where heedless girls had sunk to rest,
One pillowed on another’s breast,
Her tender cheek half seen beneath
Red roses of the falling wreath,
The while her long soft hair concealed
The beauties that her friend revealed.
With limbs at random interlaced
Round arm and leg and throat and waist,
That wreath of women lay asleep
Like blossoms in a careless heap.”[36]
—Griffith (bk. v., canto ix.).
Still in eager quest of Sita the Vanar roamed stealthily from place to
place within the spacious bounds of the royal palace, and, as day
was breaking, entered the enchanting ashoka grove, a sort of ideal
retreat in fairyland. Here Rama’s messenger discovered the
weeping, but still peerless, captive, guarded by fierce she-demons of
monstrous shapes—a weird, frightful troupe—some earless, some
with ears hanging down to their feet, some one-eyed, some long-
necked and covered with hair, some huge, some dwarfish, some with
faces of buffaloes, others with the heads of dogs and swine. Perched
upon a bough, and concealed by its foliage, Hanuman watched his
opportunity to open communication with the object of his search.
Presently Ravana, in great state, heralded by music and attended by
a crowd of ravishing beauties, with tinkling zones, entered the grove.
Sita, in utter despair, fell upon the ground
“Like Hope when all her dreams are o’er.”
Approaching her kindly, the King of Lanka, who was passionately
enamoured of her beauty, endeavoured to reassure her, and wooed
her softly with all the arts of flattery, with offers of boundless wealth,
and with protestations of deep affection.
“Methinks when thy sweet form was made
His hand the wise Creator stayed;
For never more could he design
A beauty meet to rival thine.
Come let us love while yet we may,
For youth will fly and charms decay.”
—Griffith.
Sita, ever faithful to her lord, treated his suit with scorn; whereupon
the demon king, waxing wrath, threatened to have her killed and
served up at his table if she persisted in rejecting his advances.
Turning to leave the palace in high dudgeon, he directed the demon
guards to bend the fair captive to his will by threats and
blandishments of every kind. Their persuasions being unsuccessful,
these horrid monsters assailed the unfortunate princess with
threatening weapons; but even in this critical moment the pure,
chaste wife of Rama preferred death to dishonour.[37]
Amidst the persecutions of the luckless Sita an old Rakshasa
matron, named Trajata, raised a warning voice; for she had dreamed
a dream which foreboded the destruction of Lanka by Rama, and
she counselled the demons to deal kindly by Sita, if they hoped for
mercy from the conquerors.
It seems necessary to explain now that it was not a sense of honour
or a feeling of chivalry that had restrained the unscrupulous King of
Lanka from the gratification of his passion. It was fear only that kept
him back; for, as he confidentially explained to his assembled lords,
having once, under the influence of ungovernable desire,
dishonoured one of the nymphs of Indra’s heaven, fair
Punjikashthala, Brahma had decreed that if Ravana committed the
same offence again his head should be rent in pieces. Of course this
fact and the protection thus enjoyed by Sita, through dread of
Brahma’s decree, were quite unknown to Rama, whose knowledge
was merely human.
At length the Vanar found the long wished-for opportunity of
communicating with Sita and of consoling her with the hope of an
early rescue. He even offered to carry her off, there and then, on his
shoulders, but her modesty shrank from the mere thought of
voluntarily touching the body of any male person beside Rama. The
monkey-god then set about committing as much destruction as he
could in the city of Lanka, which, built by Visvakarma, the architect of
the gods, is described as surpassingly beautiful and encircled by a
golden wall. After a succession of fierce and successful battles with
the giants—thousands at the time with their most famous captains—
Hanuman, covered from head to foot with wounds, was noosed by
means of a magic shaft from the bow of Ravana’s son, Indrajit,
overpowered and taken prisoner. Exceedingly incensed, Ravana
ordered the destructive and formidable Vanar to be put to death at
once. One of his counsellors, however, suggesting that Hanuman
might be regarded in the light of an envoy from Rama, it was decided
to spare his life, but, at the same time, to treat him with the greatest
indignity before releasing him. In pursuance of this determination his
tail was wrapped round with cloth dipped in oil, which was then set
on fire; but at the prayer of Sita, who came to know what was going
on in the city, the flames abstained from harming her friend. By
contracting his dimensions, Hanuman easily freed himself from his
bonds, and now, by means of his blazing tail, carried fire and
destruction through the beautiful city; after which he once more
performed his perilous journey through the air, back to the mainland
of India, bearing tidings of his doings to his master and Rama.
When the place of Sita’s captivity became known, the Vanar armies
were rapidly advanced southward, and encamped on the border of
the strait which separates Lanka from the mainland of India. Here
they were joined by Vibhishana, Ravana’s brother, who, with four
attendants, had fled through the air from Lanka, in dread of the
consequences of the offence he had given his king, by counselling
conciliatory proceedings towards Rama, of whose formidable
prowess he seems to have formed a just estimate.
Vibhishana, on account of his local knowledge and great wisdom,
was of much service to the Vanar host.
The sea, although it could be crossed by the Rakshasas and by the
wind-god’s son, Hanuman, was a serious impediment to Rama and
his Vanar allies. Standing on the margin of the trackless ocean which
barred his march, the chief vented his impatience in a shower of his
wonderful arrows, which he angrily shot into the wide bosom of the
deep. His attack stirred the waters to their very depths and terrified
its strange denizens out of their wits. As the hero laid against his
bow a more formidable arrow than the rest (a fiery dart of mystic
power), by means of which he threatened to dry up the waters of the
sea and pass his legions over on dry land, all Nature was horrified,
darkness fell upon land and sea, bright meteors flashed across the
murky sky, red lightning struck the trembling earth, and the firm
mountains began to break and crumble away. At this critical moment
of universal terror the grand form of the king of the ocean, attended
by glittering sea-serpents, rose majestically above the seething
billows of his watery realm.[38] Addressing Rama with great
reverence, the ocean-king protested that it was impossible to make a
dry pathway through the sea.
“Air, ether, fire, earth, water, true
To Nature’s will, their course pursue;
And I, as ancient laws ordain,
Unfordable must still remain.”
—Griffith.
But he advised that Nala, a Vanar chief, who was the son of the
architect of the gods (Visvakarma) should be requested to bridge the
strait that intervened between Rama and the object of his expedition.
Nala undertook the work, and, under his direction, the bridge was
successfully completed. The construction of the bridge was not
opposed, nor the passage disputed, so the countless hosts[39] of
Vanars passed over to the island, with Rama mounted on
Hanuman’s back, Lakshmana on Angad’s back, and camped[40] near
Ravana’s capital. Even at this stage of events Ravana, still under the
spell of his passion for the lovely Sita, resorted to a stratagem to
obtain her consent to his wishes. He got a magician of his court to
prepare a head exactly resembling Rama’s, and also a bow and
arrows such as the hero usually carried, and had them brought into
Sita’s presence, with the tale that her lord had been killed while
asleep in his camp. Sita, completely deceived by the wizard’s art,
was lamenting her bitter loss, when a messenger hurriedly
summoned Ravana away to see to the defence of his capital, and a
female attendant took advantage of the moment to relieve the fair
captive’s mind, by explaining the deception that had been practised
upon her.
The attack that shortly followed and the defence made by the giants
are described by Valmiki in considerable detail, and with much
monotonous repetition. The Vanars had, for arms, uprooted trees,
rocks, and mountain peaks; while the Rakshasas fought with bows
and arrows, swords and spears. Many single combats are described.
Indrajit, the redoubtable son of Ravana, in a desperate encounter,
concealed himself in a magic mist. Under this protection he fired
some wondrous serpent-arrows at Rama and Lakshmana, which
bound the royal brothers in a noose. He then, with a storm of
missiles, laid them prostrate and apparently dying. But it was not
thus that the contest was to end. From their helpless condition Rama
and Lakshmana were freed by Garuda, who, as the king of birds,
possessed a special power over the serpent-arrows.
On another occasion Rama with his brother Lakshmana, both sorely
wounded, and ever so many of their Vanar allies, were restored to
life and vigour, by the scent of some healing herbs brought by the
swift-footed Hanuman from the distant Himalayas. In the combats
around the walls of Lanka, as in other contests narrated in the
“Ramayana,” the poet describes the power of the various archers to
interrupt with their arrows the shafts of their adversaries, or even the
most ponderous missiles hurled at them, such as trees and rocks.
With varying success the fierce contest raged round the walls of
Lanka, when at length the giants, sorely pressed, called upon
Kumbhakarna to assist them. This dreadful monster was Ravana’s
brother and a terror to men and gods. At his birth, or shortly after it,
he devoured a thousand men. Indra interposed to save the human
race from his ravages, but only to be himself discomfited and driven
to seek the protection of Brahma, who decreed that Kumbhakarna
should sleep for six months at a time, and then only wake for a
single day. The mere appearance of the monstrous giant caused a
panic in the Vanar army. Multitudes perished under Kumbhakarna’s
arm and were devoured by him; but such was his voracity that he
captured and flung thousands of living Vanars into his mouth, out of
which some fortunate ones managed to escape, through his nostrils
and ears. But formidable as he was, Kumbhakarna at length fell by a
crescent-headed arrow from Rama’s bow.
“Through skin and flesh and bone it smote,
And rent asunder head and throat.
Down, with the sound of thunder, rolled
The head adorned with rings of gold,
And crushed to pieces in its fall
A gate, a tower, a massive wall.
Hurled to the sea the body fell,
Terrific was the ocean’s swell,
Nor could swift fin and nimble leap
Save the crushed creatures of the deep.”
—Griffith (bk. vi., canto lxvii.).
One memorable episode in this siege of Lanka was a night attack,
planned and successfully carried out by Sugriva. Overpowering the
guards, the Vanars entered the city, and, amidst the most terrible
carnage, gave beautiful and stately Lanka over to the flames:
“As earth with fervent head will glow
When comes her final overthrow;
From gate to gate, from court to spire,
Proud Lanka was one blaze of fire,
And every headland, rock and bay
Shone bright a hundred leagues away!”
—Griffith.
Succeeding this night attack came the final struggle. Ravana sallied
forth from Lanka with a marvellous array of chariots,[41] elephants,
horses, and men. He himself was the most formidable adversary yet
encountered by Rama, having in his time subjugated the Nagas,
defeated the gods of heaven, and even successfully invaded the
land of departed spirits, ruled over by the dreaded Yama. During the
battle that ensued, Indra, anxious, no doubt, to pay off old scores,
sent his own chariot to Rama, who, mounted on it, encountered
Ravana in single combat, and after a long contest killed his
adversary with an arrow which had been made by Brahma himself.
As the giant fell, celestial music filled the air, perfumed breezes
wandered pleasantly over the field, and heavenly blossoms were
rained down upon the conquering hero, the champion of the gods.
With the death of Ravana the war was at an end, and Vibhishana
was installed king in his place. Sita, so long and so ardently sought,
was now brought forth in state from Lanka, borne in a screened litter
on the shoulders of sturdy Rakshasas, to meet her victorious lord.
The inquisitive Vanars pressed round to see Vaidehi, on whose
account they had so often risked their lives; but the attendants rudely
drove them back. Rama, however, interposing, commanded that the
lady should descend from the litter and proceed on foot, unveiled, so
that his Vanar friends might have a good look at her; for, as he said:
“At holy rites, in war and woe
Her face unveiled a dame may show;
When at the maiden’s choice they meet,
When marriage troops parade the street.
And she, my queen, who long has lain
In prison, racked with care and pain,
May cease awhile her face to hide,
For is not Rama by her side?”
The meeting between Rama and his long-lost queen is a highly
dramatic and unexpected scene. Instead of Rama folding his darling
in his arms, as one might have expected he would have done, after
all his piteous laments about her loss and his often expressed desire
to possess his peerless wife once more, we find him coldly repulsing
her, on the ground of her long captivity in Ravana’s power. More than
that, he cruelly tells her that it was not love for her, but a desire to
vindicate his outraged honour, that had brought him to Lanka. Quite
unprepared for this undeserved and heartless reception, poor
Vaidehi asks her husband most touchingly if the past is all forgotten,
if her love and unfaltering devotion have quite faded from his
memory? And, waxing sadly indignant, she requests Lakshmana, in
a voice broken with sobs, to prepare a funeral pile for her, the only
refuge she had left to her in her dark despair. With Rama’s tacit
consent the pyre was erected and ignited. Boldly did the virtuous
queen enter the flames, and as she fell overpowered by them a cry
of grief rose from the bystanders. At this important moment a band of
celestial beings, headed by Brahma himself, appeared before the
assembled multitude and revealed to Rama his true nature, that he
was Vishnu and no mortal man, while the god of fire raised Sita out
of the flames, and, publicly attesting her purity, restored her to
Rama, who now joyfully received her back to his heart and home.
Before the gods departed to their celestial abodes, Indra, at Rama’s
considerate request, restored to life all the Vanars who had fallen in
his cause. Thus was the great war brought to a conclusion.
Rama now proceeded to Ayodhya, carried aloft through the clouds,
over sea and land, in the famous magic car Pushpak, already
referred to. With the returning hero went Sita and Lakshmana, the
Vanar chiefs and Vibhishana too. After a meeting with his brother
Bharata, who came forth with joy to welcome him back, Rama
assumed the government of Dasahratha’s kingdom, and reigned
over it for ten thousand years.[42]
But his life and Sita’s had still more trouble in them. The people of
Ayodhya mocked at Rama for taking back his wife, after she had
been so long in the giant’s power. They even attributed a famine
which desolated the land to the anger of the gods on account of
Rama’s conduct. About to become a mother, Sita expressed a great
desire to visit the forest hermitages of the saints. Her husband
accorded his consent to her wishes, and directed Lakshmana to
conduct her thither. Unable to endure the jibes of his people, Rama
resolved to abandon his innocent, unsuspecting wife, alone and
unprotected, in the immense forests of Dandhaka, near the sources
of the Godavari. The bitter duty was intrusted to Lakshmana, who,
ever obedient, carried it out to the letter. Alas! poor Vaidehi, such
was the reward of her pure, unselfish love and devotion through
many trying years of hardship and sorrow! Cast adrift, alone in the
pathless wilderness, Sita was found by the saint Valmiki himself, and
tenderly entertained by the holy women of the hermitage. Shortly
after this she gave birth to twin sons, who were named Kusa and
Lava. In his forest-home, Valmiki, under divine inspiration, composed
the “Ramayana,” and taught the sons of Sita to recite the immortal
epic. On the occasion of a grand ceremony at Ayodhya, Kusa and
Lava had the honour of reciting the great poem in the presence of
their father, who, after inquiry, acknowledged them as his sons, and
invited Sita to come forward and assert her innocence publicly.

HANUMAN AND THE VANARS REJOICING AT THE


RESTORATION OF SITA.
(Reduced from Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon.”)

“But Sita’s heart was too full, this second ordeal was
beyond even her power to submit to, and the poet rose
above the ordinary Hindu level of women when he
ventured to paint her conscious purity as rebelling.
Beholding all the spectators, and clothed in red garments,
Sita, clasping her hands, and bending low her face, spoke
thus in a voice choked with tears: ‘As I, even in mind, have
never thought of any other person than Rama, so may
Madhavi, the goddess of earth, grant me a hiding-place.’
As Sita made the oath, lo! a marvel appeared. Suddenly
cleaving the earth, a divine throne of marvellous beauty
rose up, borne by resplendent dragons on their heads,
and seated on it the goddess of earth, raising Sita with her
arm, said to her, ‘Welcome to thee,’ and placed her by her
side. And as the queen, seated on the throne, slowly
descended to Hades, a continuous shower of flowers fell
down from Heaven on her head.”[43]
Thus in sadness, and with the sting of injustice rankling in her heart,
does the gentle Sita disappear for ever.
In bidding farewell to Vaidehi we would notice that throughout this
epic all the female characters are much more human than those of
the opposite sex, and, in their genuine womanhood, they naturally
interest us in a far greater degree than the heroes of the story, be
they lofty demigods, cruel Rakshasas, volatile Vanars, or Rishis
endowed with superhuman powers.
We have yet to trace the further fortunes of the sons of Dasahratha.
When Rama had reigned for a long period at Ayodhya, Time, as an
ascetic, sought an interview with him, at which no one might intrude
on pain of certain death. As messenger from Brahma, Time
explained to Rama his real nature and position, leaving it to him to
continue longer on earth or to return to heaven. During the interview
an impatient Rishi desired immediate audience of Rama.
Lakshmana, who knew the penalty of intruding upon him at this
moment, raised some difficulties; but the irate saint threatened to
launch a curse against Rama and all his kinsfolk if he were not
admitted to his presence forthwith. Lakshmana, dreading, for Rama’s
sake, the Rishi’s curse, interrupted his interview with Time and
thereby incurred the penalty of death. Lakshmana accordingly went
to the river Surayu and was thence conveyed bodily to heaven.
Rama, accompanied by his brothers Bharata and Satrughna, and
attended by the goddess of earth, also by all his weapons in human
shapes, the Vedas in the form of Brahmans, and his women and
servants, proceeded to the Surayu and entered its waters. As he did
so the voice of Brahma was heard from the sky, saying: “Approach,
Vishnu, Raghav, thou hast happily arrived with thy godlike brothers.
Enter thine own body as Vishnu or the eternal ether.” He and his
followers were then all of them translated to heaven.[44]
Such is the famous story of Rama and Sita. Ordinary men and
women are of little account and scarcely figure at all amongst the
poet’s creations. Nearly everything in the “Ramayana” is
superhuman. The dire conflicts which occupy so large a part of the
epic are waged between demigods and fiends, or giants. The
weapons employed are celestial, or perhaps only charmed. Mystic
spells are of the greatest efficacy, and the results are proportionally
great.
In the war that raged around the walls of Ilium the gods did, certainly,
interfere in the combats, and sometimes unfairly too; they even
attacked each other occasionally; but, notwithstanding the
supernatural element, the Trojan war was still a war of men and
heroes. Not so that which ensanguined the hills and plains of Lanka.
The India of the “Ramayana” was covered with forests, and it is
noteworthy that Rama’s progress is traced rather from forest to
forest than from city to city, which last were very few and far
between.
The hero of the tale is a very different one from those who figure in
the Homeric poems. As a son he is most dutiful, pushing the idea of
filial respect and obedience to the extreme, bearing no enmity even
towards his designing stepmother. As a layman he is religious and
unfeignedly respectful to Brahmans and saints. As a prince he is
patriotic and benign; as a warrior, skilful and fearless in the fight. As
an elder brother, however, he is often somewhat exacting and
inconsiderate, and as a husband his behaviour is, to say the least,
disappointing. On the whole the prominent characteristic of this hero,
limned by Brahman artists, is a spirit of mild self-sacrifice, as
distinguished from bold self-assertion.
The reader who has glanced through even the brief epitome of
Valmiki’s poem now presented will not have omitted to note the
wealth of imagination displayed by the author or authors, nor will he
have failed to be charmed by many a beautiful picture and many an
interesting situation.
CHAPTER III
THE RAM LILA OR PLAY OF RAMA
Let us now see how the stirring events of this Indian epic are brought
dramatically before nineteenth century spectators.
Days before the time fixed for the Dasahra festival, men, done up
like monkeys and attended by drummers, may be seen in the
bazaars collecting money for the fair, at which the more striking
leading incidents of the epic are annually performed, part by part, in
a rude pantomimic fashion. Sometimes the opening scene is a great
marriage procession. One such, on an unusually large scale, was
got up in Lahore in 1884, at the expense of certain rich bankers. This
motley and gigantic procession was made up of very heterogeneous
elements. Several camels led the way; some bulky elephants put in
an appearance, and a great number of mounted men, on good
cavalry horses, gave dignity to the procession. Three or four well-
filled carriages, gaily decorated with tinsel, flowers and coloured
cloths, had the honour of accommodating the friends of Rama. A few
huge litters, each borne aloft on the shoulders of sixteen or twenty
bearers, were conspicuous objects in the throng. On some of these
sat men personating the gods and goddesses of India in all their
grotesqueness; on others squatted favourite female singers with
their attendant minstrels, who delighted the audience with their grace
and vocal performances. Imitation artillery armed with explosive
bombs, dancers, mountebanks, musicians, and an innumerable
crowd of ordinary citizens on foot, raised noise and dust enough to
gratify the most pleasure-seeking Indian mob. The hero, Rama, and
his inseparable brother, were dragged along on wooden horses,
placed on a wheeled platform. There they sat, side by side, holding
tiny bows and arrows in their hands, in a most ridiculous way, while
the less important mythological personages, divine or other, came
along in carriages or litters. There was a painful want of organization
about the procession, and the usual mixture of the sumptuous and
tawdry, the rich and squalid, to which one is accustomed in India.
A feature of the Dasahra festival is the number of men, disfigured
with paint and ashes, who go about with iron skewers or pieces of
cane passed through the skin of their arms, legs, sides, and throat,
or even through the tongue. I once called up a party of these men
and examined them. In answer to my remark, thrown out as a feeler,
that the skewers had been passed through old perforations, the
leader of the party indignantly pulled a young man before me,
pinched up a good bit of the skin of his forearm, and there and then
passed a blunt iron needle through it, which could not have been
much thinner than an ordinary lead pencil. No blood flowed, and
certainly the man operated upon did not wince in the slightest
degree. After this the leader of the party, having satisfied me that the
skin of his own neck below the chin was perfectly sound, passed a
skewer through it with his own hand. In both cases a tolerable
amount of force was necessary to pass the iron through the skin, but
no blood flowed. These men, who are looked upon with a sort of awe
by the vulgar, assured me that they were protected from pain or
injury by a secret mantra of Guru Gorucknath’s known only to
themselves.
They have probably learned, by the experience of many generations,
safe places for the insertion of their skewers; but I was told by a
native medical man that serious consequences sometimes follow
their senseless ill-treatment of their own persons. The present of a
rupee sent these absurd fellows away apparently well satisfied.

MEN WITH KNIVES AND SKEWERS PASSED THROUGH THEIR


FLESH.
(From a photograph by W. C. Oman.)

Near the temple of Vishnu, by Rattan Singh’s Serai, arrangements


had been made for a dramatic representation of Rama’s famous
history. When I first came upon the spot there were five or six
hundred people assembled. The women and children, arrayed in
their holiday best, crowded the roofs of the surrounding buildings to
witness the performance and, with the gay red and yellow of their
dresses and their tinkling anklets, gave colour and animation to the
scene. Men and boys were below. Three merry-go-rounds of the kind
patronized by the people, were in full operation, creaking hideously.
Of the Ram Lila itself the only signs were two wooden horses, like
those to be seen in European nurseries, only nearly life-size,
standing, side by side, on a single wooden platform placed on
wheels: They were painted white, with gaudy patches of red all over
them. A few boys with monkey-masks on, capered about with
switches in their hands. The crowd gradually increased, and the
arrival of the performers was eagerly expected. But even yet some
money-making bunniahs, surrounded by their pots and pans, their
jars and other vessels, were busily plying their trade in oil, right in the
midst of the assembling crowd; while on one side several women
kept diligently separating the chaff from the wheat and sending
clouds of dust amongst the spectators. At length a great shout
announced the arrival of Rama and Lakshmana, who were carried in
a gaudy litter on the shoulders of a number of men. This was the
signal for the commencement of business. The crowd began to settle
down. The central space was cleared. Rama and Lakshmana walked
bare-footed round the arena, showing themselves to the spectators.
They were attired in yellow garments adorned with tinsel, and had on
their heads high and much decorated hats, which, I happened to
learn subsequently, cost just three rupees each. Garlands of flowers
encircled their necks, and their hats were literally covered with floral
wreaths. Their faces were thickly painted with what looked like
yellow tumeric, daubed over with some red powder, these pigments
being, no doubt, considered most suitable for imparting beauty to an
Indian complexion. The brothers carried small bows, like those
usually placed in the hands of Cupids, and were attended by a man
who vigorously waved a chowree over their heads. After this
preliminary exhibition, during which several masked figures began to
appear on the scene, a white-headed Brahman, book in hand (it was
the Hindi version of Tulsi Das[45]) began to instruct the performers in
their several parts. Seated all together—demigods, monkeys, and
Brahman—in the open space, before all the spectators, they learned
the first act of the day’s performance. In deference to their position,
and probably also out of consideration for their fine clothes, Rama
and his brother were made to sit on a white sheet, whilst the others
squatted comfortably in the dust. When the actors had received their
instructions, they proceeded to carry them out in a style which
rendered it very difficult to comprehend what they actually meant to
represent; but the Hindu spectators, familiar with the old tale and its
usual dramatic rendering, seemed to recognize at least the leading
events which it was intended to bring before them. At the conclusion
of the act, or scene, Rama and his brother, with the rest, came
together again to receive their instructions from the old Brahman
stage-manager, and, when duly instructed, again dispersed to
perform their several parts in a more or less imperfect manner. One
portion of the performance consisted in dragging the brothers round
the arena on their wooden horses. The acting or pantomime was
very rude, and the whole seemed childish in the extreme. But the old
story, thus brought before them, was evidently as much appreciated
by the spectators as it had been by their ancestors for fifty
generations. And rude and childish though the performance might
be, it was probably not more so than the Miracle Plays which
delighted our forefathers in the Middle Ages.
The dramatic representation extended over several days, the most
popular scenes being the amputation of Surpanakha’s nose and the
abduction of Sita. The former, a mere rough and tumble
performance, without anything striking or dramatic about it, was
greeted with uproarious mirth by the spectators, and may, possibly,
be the original suggestion and sanction of much of the female nose-
cutting so commonly practised in India by jealous husbands. In the
other scene Ravana appeared as a hermit. The supernatural doe
was dragged about the arena. Rama and his brother were, of
course, lured into pursuit of the deceiver and Sita, left alone, was
carried off by Ravana. Jatayus, the vulture king,—represented by a
huge paper bird carried about by a man hither and thither in a wild
sort of way,—rushed to the rescue of the fair dame; but after a brief,
though fierce, struggle was hacked to pieces by the demon. After
this lamentable encounter, Sita, to the great grief of the onlookers,
was carried away to Lanka.
The downfall of Lanka and final triumph of Rama are scenes of too
great importance to be dealt with like the rest. For these, special
preparations and as large a theatre as possible—some wide open
plain for example—are requisite, as thousands gather to see Lanka
and the demons given over to the flames.
I select for description a favourable instance of the siege and
destruction of Lanka which I witnessed at the military station of
Meean Meer a few years ago. It was got up by the sepoys of some
of the native regiments stationed there.
Upon an open maidan or plain was assembled an eager crowd of
spectators. A large space for the performance of the Ram Lila was
kept clear by sepoys, placed as sentries at short intervals. About the
centre of this space towered two huge effigies, without legs, probably
forty feet high, representing Ravana and Kumbhakarna. Each figure
stood with its arms extended right and left, level with the shoulders,
in the most absurd of attitudes, resembling the pictures of men which
young children are so fond of drawing. Ravana had ten faces,[46]
and two arms with twenty hands,[47] while Kumbhakarna had two
hands only. There they stood, the terrible demon king of Lanka, and
his no less formidable brother, grotesqueness itself. At one side,
opposite to and facing the figures, was a painted wooden car—lent
by the king of the celestials to Rama on this memorable occasion—
standing on small wheels, like a child’s toy, with two wooden horses
attached to it. On the car were seated two handsome, bare-legged
and bare-footed boys, dressed in yellow satin robes, with bows in
their hands. Their hats somewhat resembled a bishop’s mitre in
shape, and were made of red and silver materials. These boys, the
reader does not need to be told, represented Rama and his brother
Lakshmana. In attendance upon them were about thirty men,
dressed in dusky red clothes, and with marks on their faces, who
personated the army of monkeys that assisted the heroes. To the
right of the two huge figures was an inclosed space which stood for
the city or citadel of Lanka. Various mythological figures were also to
be seen moving about the plain, in a more or less objectless manner.
Two tall men, got up as women, went springing about, brandishing
naked swords. They represented female Rakshasas. A man dressed
up to look very corpulent, clothed in yellow, with long flowing hair and
having serpents coiled round his throat, was dragged about upon a
wooden bull over the field. This corpulent personage was no other
than Mahadeva (Siva) on his bull (Nandi). Thus far the show was, at
least, mythological and Hindu. But, by a curious anachronism, the
features of a modern fair mixed themselves up with the old-world
representation. Perhaps Indian taste in this nineteenth century
demanded something more than the undiluted ancient epic.
Whatever may have been the cause, I observed, with surprise, that
within the inclosure several natives with painted faces personated
Europeans of both sexes, to the great amusement of the onlookers.
A man in shaggy furs, holding a torn umbrella over his head, and
attended by a fellow disguised as a European policeman, was
announced to the spectators as the “Nawab of Cabul.” There were
also imitation bears with their leaders and such like grotesque shows
for the amusement of the populace. Although the vast majority of the
spectators were natives, many Europeans were present, some in
their carriages, some on elephants, and one or two on camels. The
scene, which was certainly strange and picturesque, became
especially lively when, towards the close of the proceedings, the
explosion of bombs and the discharge of rockets alarmed the horses
and elephants. One huge beast, carrying a European gentleman and
three ladies in a big howdah, was an object of interest and a cause
of some anxiety to me, for his restive and erratic movements
seemed to threaten destruction to me or to my carriage, at the least.

“THE TERRIBLE DEMON KING OF LANKA AND HIS NO LESS


FORMIDABLE BROTHER.”
(From a photograph by W. C. Oman.)

The proceedings commenced by Ravana’s car, wooden horses and


all, being dragged by men round the inclosure attended by the
monkeys. This was apparently a challenge to the enemy; for during
the second circumambulation a party of men, dressed in dark blue or
black, who had hitherto been kept out of sight, sprang forward to
oppose Rama’s progress. These sable warriors were terrible
Rakshasas, before whom Rama and his allies had to beat a retreat,
pursued by the victors. Before long, however, the tide of battle
seemed to turn. Victory changed sides! The Rakshasas retreated,
followed by Rama and his people. This alternate success of one
party or the other was repeated several times, apparently to prolong
the proceedings, and was a most uninteresting and childish
exhibition. Whenever Rama was advancing he was carried along
discharging feeble arrows that rarely fell beyond the line of men
yoked to his car. But when the hero was retreating before the enemy
he was generally on foot, probably to obviate the necessity of his

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