Hanuman and his task was to guard the three individuals sit ting on the dais. At the other end of the sports’ ground was a paper giant twenty feet tall. This was Ravana. The story is that many years ago, Ravana, who was king of Ceylon, came to India and stole Sita, the wife of Ram. Then Ram, togeth er with his friend Laxma and Hanuman, the monkey creature, had gone to Ceylon to rescue Sita. They succeeded in this, killing and burning Ravana for his evil deed. The Asians have made this his toric event into a morality play, portraying the eventual suprem acy o f good over evil. Each year this incident is played out before a great crowd o f people. It has become more than an act. The three rescuers are now considered gods and are worshipped. The (Continued on p. 31)
Hanuman and the god, Laxma.
THE BURNING OF HAVANA by E. H. Arensen
T h e e v e n in g air was charged with a strange expectancy, ac centuated by the minor-keyed melodies of the Asian singers. The great crowd that filled the sports’ ground and spilled over on to the nearby roads was motley and col orful. Tall, turbanned Sikhs, slight, sharp-eyed Hindus and dark-haired women in flowing saris, trailing chains o f children, pushed forward in an effort to see the yearly spectacle. This was a great night for Nairobi’s Asian community. Tonight Ravana was to be burned and right would tri umph over wrong for another year. At one end of the field was a raised dais on which sat three strangely-costumed figures. Two of them, painted and bedecked Ram, the holy
with jewelry, held bows and ar rows in their hands. Their names were Ram and Laxma and they were the heroes of the play about to be enacted. Between them sat a man with long hair and a flow ing beard called “ the holy man.” Directly in front of the dais, a strange creature with a long tail and an ugly monkey face pa raded up and down. He carried an outsized club with which he kept charging the people who pressed in on the three figures seated on the throne. The good- natured crowd fell back before him although his club was made of paper and they knew it. Yet his hideous face and menacing weapon caused some o f the young er children to cry out in fear. This monkey creature was named man, Laxma.
Laxma shoots the arrow that explodes the effigy. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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