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HINDOSTANI

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 370 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HINDOSTANI LITERATURE).See also:

death, and carefully corrected, it is alleged by Tulsi Das himself, is at See also:Ajodhya. Another autograph is reported to be preserved at Malihabad in the See also:Lucknow See also:district, but has not, so far as known, been seen by a See also:European. Other See also:ancient See also:MSS. are to be found at See also:Benares, and the materials for a correct See also:text of the Ramayan are thus available. See also:Good See also:editions have been published by the Khadga Bilas See also:press at See also:Bankipur (with a valuable See also:life of the poet by Baijnath Das), and by the Nagari Pracharini Sabha at See also:Allahabad (1903). The See also:ordinary bazar copies of the poem, repeatedly reproduced by See also:lithography, teem with interpolations and See also:variations from the poet's See also:language. An excellent See also:translation of the whole into See also:English was made by the See also:late Mr F. S. Growse, of the See also:Indian See also:Civil Service (5th edition, See also:Cawnpore, 1891). Besides the " See also:Lake of Rama's deeds," Tulsi Das was the author of five longer and six shorter See also:works, most of them dealing with the theme of Rama, his doings, and devotion to him. The former are (i) the Dohabali, consisting of 573 See also:miscellaneous dohs and sorafha verses; of this there is a duplicate in the See also:Ram-satsai, an arrangement of seven centuries of verses, the See also:great See also:majority of which occur also in the Dohabali and in other works of Tulsi; (2) the Kabitta Ramayan or Kabiildbali, which is a See also:history of Rama in the kabitla, ghanakshari, chhappai and sawaiya metres; like the Ram-See also:chant manas, it is divided into seven lands or cantos, and is devoted to setting forth the majestic See also:side of Rama's See also:character; (3) the Gil-Ramayan, or Gltabali, also in seven kands, aiming at the See also:illustration of the See also:tender aspect of the See also:Lord's life; the metres are adapted for singing; (4) the Krishnawali or See also:Krishna gitabali, a collection of 61. songs in See also:honour of Krishna, in the Kanauji See also:dialect: the authenticity of this is doubtful; and (5) the Binay Pattrika, or " See also:Book of petitions, a See also:series of See also:hymns and prayers of which the first 43 are addressed to the See also:lower gods, forming Rama's See also:court and attendants, and the See also:remainder, Nos. 44 to 279, to Rama himself. Of the smaller compositions the most interesting is the Vairagya Sandipani, or " See also:Kind-See also:ling of continence," a poem describing the nature and greatness of a See also:holy See also:man, and the true See also:peace to which he attains.

This See also:

work has been translated by Dr Grierson in the Indian See also:Antiquary, xxii. 198-201. Tulsi's See also:doctrine is derived from Ramanuja through Ramanand. Like the former, he believes in a supreme See also:personal See also:God, possessing all gracious qualities (saguna), not in the quality-less (nirguna) neuter impersonal See also:Brahman of Sankaracharya; this Lord Himself once took the human See also:form, and became incarnate, for the blessing of mankind, as Rama. The See also:body is therefore to be honoured, not despised. The Lord is to be approached by faith (bhakti)--disinterested devotion and surrender of self in perfect love, and all actions are to be purified of self-See also:interest in contemplation of Him. " Show love to all creatures, and See also:thou wilt be happy; for when thou lovest all things, thou lovest the Lord, for He is all in all." The soul is from the Lord, and is submitted in this life to the bondage of works (See also:karma) ; " Mankind, in their obstinacy, keep binding them, selves in the See also:net of actions, and though they know and hear of the See also:bliss of those who have faith in the Lord, they See also:attempt not the only: means of See also:release. Works are a spider's See also:thread, up and down which she continually travels, and which is never broken; so works See also:lead a soul downwards to the See also:Earth, and upwards to the Lord." The bliss to which the soul attains, by the extinction of See also:desire, in the supreme See also:home, is not absorption in the Lord, but See also:union with Him in abiding individuality. This is emancipation (mukii) from the burthen of See also:birth and rebirth, and the highest happiness.' Tulsi, as a Smarta Vaishnava and a Brahman, venerates the whole See also:Hindu See also:pantheon, and is especially careful to give See also:Siva or Mahadeva, the See also:special deity of the Brahmans, his due, and to point out that there is no inconsistency between devotion to Rama and See also:attachment to Siva (Ramayan, Lankakand, Doha 3). But the See also:practical end of all his writings is to inculcate bhakti addressed to Rama as the great means of salvation—emancipation from the See also:chain of births and deaths—a salvation which is as See also:free and open to men of the lowest See also:caste as to Brahmans. The best See also:account of Tulsi Das and his works is contained in the papers contributed by Dr Grierson to vol. xxii. of the Indian Antiquary (1843). In Mr Growse's translation of the Ram-charit-Manas will be found the text and translation of the passages in the Bhaktamala of Nabhaji and its commentary, which are the See also:main See also:original authority for the traditions See also:relating to the poet.

Nabhaji had himself met Tulsi Das; but the See also:

stanza in praise of the poet gives no facts relating to his life.; these are stated in the lika or See also:gloss of Priya Das,. who wrote in A.D. 1712, and much of the material is legendary and untrustworthy. Unfortunately, the See also:biography of the poet, called Gosain-charitra, by Benimadhab Das, who was a personal follower and See also:constant See also:companion of the See also:Master, and died in 1642, has disappeared, and no copy of it is known to exist. In the introduction to the edition of the Ramayan by the Nagari Prachartini Sabha all the known facts of Tulsi's life are brought together and critically discussed. For an exposition of his religious position, 3 The See also:summary given above is condensed from the translation by Dr Grierson, at pp. 229-236 of the Indian Antiquary, vol. xxii., of the fifth sarga of the Satsai, in which work Tulsi unfolds his See also:system of doctrine. and this See also:place in the popular See also:religion of See also:northern See also:India, see Dr Grier-son's See also:paper in the See also:Journal of the Royal See also:Asiatic Society, See also:July 1903, pp. 447-466. (C. J.

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