MEMORY IN , EDUCATION.

member of the family shall have his favourite hero,, who-
will be to him a sort of patron saint, and may appear as
the centre of the story if he is bidden to recount it. Thus,,
when one tells the Ramayana, Havana is the hero ; an-
other makes it Hanunian ; only the books keep it always -
Sita and Eama. And it is well understood that the chosen-
ideal exercises a preponderant influence over one's own,
development. None could love Lakshmana without growing
more full of. gentle courtesy and tender consideration for
the needs of others ; :he who cares for Hanuman cannot •
fail to become more capable of supreme devotion and ready
seinice. And justice itself must reign in the heart that,
adores Yudhishtira.*"

Very great too has been the part which the-
Piiranas have played in moulding Indian character.
I have often thought that not all the efforts of a hundred
Moral Instruction Leagues and Moral Education Leagues
can do for England what the Epics and the Puranas ha.ve>
done for In$ia. The foundation of all true education lies in-
the national heroic literature. Poor, indeed, is the nation-'
lacking such a means of education ; and mistaken an edu-
cator who should dream of deliberately ignoring such a
means of education laid ready to his hand in India.

Not less related to the fundamental realities of life is-
the epic literature of Buddhism, with which the people,,
literate or not, were familiar. For the cycle of Buddhist
literature may fairly be called epic, with Buddha as its hero.
Is not all sacrifice summed , up in his renunciation of the
attainment of Nirvana, when as the Brahman Sumedha
the Bodhisat preferred to pass on through yet more
existences towards the attainment of saving knowledge for-
the sake of creatures ? What can be more beautiful than.
* Sister Nivedita,' The Web of Indian Life.'