's banishment and return, their death and ascent to heaven. (i) and (vii) contextualize the narrative by glorifying R
ma as an avat
ra of Vi
u. To read the epic is to be associated with R
ma. The same is effected by repeating R
ma's name in the ear of a dying person. R
m as a
mantra
is held, especially by
Vai
avites
, to contain the universe, and from that mantra all languages have emerged.
Ramabai, Pandita
(1858–1922).
Indian Christian reformer. Born into a
brahman
family, she lost both her parents during a pilgrimage in 1874. Because her parents had encouraged her in a classical education, she was able to support herself and her brother by becoming a wandering reciter of Hindu scriptures. She so impressed
pandits
in Calcutta that she was given the title ‘pandita’. She met Christians in Bengal, and was helped by the Wantage Sisters (an Anglican religious order) to go to England for further education. There she and her young daughter were baptized. She went to America and secured financial support for her work, then returned to India, where she established a school especially for child widows.
Rama
n
.