Page:A History of Hindi Literature.djvu/69

 TULSI DAS AND THE RAMA CULT 55 supreme spirit under the veil of delusive phenomena. The happy fish were all in placid repose at the bottom of the deep pool, like the days of the righteous that are passed in peace. Lotuses of many colours displayed their flowers ; there was a buzzing of garrulous bees, both honeymakers and bumble-bees ; while swans and waterfowl were so noisy you would think they had recognised the Lord and were telling his praises. The geese and cranes and other birds were so numerous that only seeing would be believing, no words could describe them. The delightful voice of so many beautiful birds seemed as an invitation to the wayfarers. The saints had built themselves a house near the lake, with magnificent forest-trees all round — the champa, the mdlsari, the kadamh and tanidla, the pdtala, the kathal, the dhdk and the mango. Every tree had put forth its new leaves and flowers and was resonant with swarms of bees. A delightful air, soft, cool and fragrant, was ever in delicious motion, and the cooing of the cuckoos was so pleasant to hear that a saint's meditation would be broken by it. The trees, laden with fruits, bowed low to the ground, like a generous soul whom every increase of fortune renders only more humble than before."* The story is divided into seven chapters, or kdnds, named respectively Bdl, Ayodhyd, Aranya, Kishkindhd^ Su7idar, Lanka, and Uttara. Of these the second, which describes the scenes at Ayodhya that led up to Rama's banishment to the forest, is considered the best. The characters are consistently drawn, and many of the scenes are full of deep pathos. The grief of Dasrath, the filial piety meekness, generosity and nobility of Rama, the wifely devotion of Sita, the courage and enthusiasm of Lakshman, the unselfishness of Bharat, as the genius of Tulsi Das has described them, cannot but awaken a response in the heart of the reader. The object which Tulsi Das had in mind, however, was not merely to tell in beautiful verse a wonderful story, but to use it as a vehicle for preaching the supreme value of the worship of Rama. Though Tulsi Das accepted, like other leaders of the Vaishnava movement, the pantheistic teaching of the Vedanta, it was tempered by belief in a personal God, whom he identified with the incarnation Rama. His poem is a passionate appeal to men to devote themselves to the worship of this God. The theological digressions
 * Translation by Mr. F. S. Growse.