Portrait rings were very popular at the time of the French Revolution, as they afforded an opportunity for the expression of the ardent devotion to particular personalities characteristic of that troublous period. Many Washington rings and Robespierre rings were to be seen, bearing the enamelled portrait of the respective hero, but the most popular were the Franklin rings, for Franklin’s personal influence, born of his sterling qualities of insight and common sense, and perhaps strengthened by the contrast of his cool-headedness with the feverish excitement of the Paris of that time, was wide and far-reaching. Hindu tradition tells of the wearing of rings in India in very ancient times. The earliest forms used by the Brahmans in their forest life, were woven of _kusa_-grass (_Saccharum spontaneum_), and even in our time rings of this kind are worn by those assisting at a religious ceremony, as otherwise the water offered to gods or to the spirits of ancestors will not be accepted. As to metal rings, Hindu law assigns those of gold to the index finger and silver rings to the fourth finger. A story related in the Hindu epic “Mahabharata” alludes to a trick or magic practice with rings, denominated _ishika_. A ring was thrown into a deep well and then recovered in some mysterious way after it had seemed to be irrevocably lost. The “Mahabharata” in its present form may date from about 500 A.D. The other great Hindu epic, the Ramayana of Valmiki, written perhaps as early as 500 _B.C._ even mentions engraved rings. When Sita, wife of Rama, the hero of the poem, is abducted by Rávana, the ten-headed Cinghalese giant, Rama sends a monkey called Hanumán to seek for her, giving him a seal ring as a token. As soon as the monkey succeeds in finding Sita, he approaches her holding out the ring and saying, “Gracious Lady, I am the messenger of Rama. Look, here is his ring engraved with his name.” In Sanskrit books the following types and kinds of rings are mentioned:[129] _Dwi-hirak_ (double diamond).--Rings with a diamond on either side and a sapphire in the centre. _Vajra_ (diamond, thunderbolt).--A triangular finger ornament, with a diamond in the centre and other stones on the sides. _Ravimandal._--A ring with diamonds on the sides and other stones in the middle. _Nandyávarrta._--A four-sided finger ornament studded with precious stones. _Nava-ratna_ or _Navagraha_.--A ring on which the nine most precious stones have been set. The nine precious stones in Sanskrit are called: _Hirak_, _Nánikya_, _Baiduryya_, _Muktá_, _Gomed_, _Bidrum_ or _Prabál_, _Marakata_, _Pushpa-rág_, and _Indranil_; or the Diamond, Ruby, Cat’s-eye, Pearl, Zircon, Coral, Emerald, Topaz, and Sapphire. _Bajra-beshtak._--Ring of which the upper circumference is set with diamonds. _Trihirak_ (triple diamond).--Ring with two small diamonds on the sides and a big one in the centre.