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United Nations Sanctions and the Rule of Law
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 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
v
vi CONTENTS
Bibliography 493
Index 524
Extended table of contents
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
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
xxii
ABBREVIATIONS xxiii
[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
1 2
See Appendix 3, Table B. Ibid.
3
4 PART I SETTING THE SCENE
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
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
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
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
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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.
“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.