Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/22

ii However, the opinion that the more modern poem is but an adaptation, or rifaccimento, of the Sanskrit original is very widely entertained, not only by European scholars but also by Hindús themselves. For among the latter, an orthodox pandit is essentially homo unius libri, to whom the idea of comparative criticism is altogether strange and unintelligible. Whatever is written in the one book, to which he pins his faith, is for him the absolute truth, which he positively declines to weaken or obscure by a reference to any other authority. If he can understand Válmíki's Sanskrit, he despises Tulsi Dás as a vulgarian and would not condescend to read a line of him; if he knows only Hindi, he accepts the modern poem with as implicit faith as if it were an immemorial shástra, and accounts a quotation from his Rámáyana an unanswerable argument on any disputed topic. Thus, in all probability, the only educated Hindús who have any acquaintance with both poems are the professors and students of Government colleges, whose views have been broadened by European influence. It may, therefore, be of interest to show a little more at length how great is the divergence between the two poems.

In both, the first book brings the narrative precily to the same point, viz., the marrige of Ráma and Síta. But with Tulsi Dás it is much the longest book of the seven, and forms all but a third of the complete work, while in the Sanskrit it is the shortest but one. In the latter, the four first cantos, which give a table of contents, and relate how Válmíki learnt the story from Nárad, and taught it to Kusa and Lava, are a late addition, and correspond in no respect with Tulsi Dás's introduction. The actual poem commences at once with a description of Ayodhyá and its King Dasarath and his ministers, and of his longing for an heir and tells how Rishyasring, Vibhandak's son (whose previous adventures are recorded at length) was invited from the palace of his father-in-law, Lomapád, the King of Champá, to direct the ceremonies of a great sacrifice, which the childless Dasarath resolved to celebrate, in the hope of thereby obtaining his desire. The gods, being at that time sorely distressed by Rávan's persecution, had fled to Vishnu for succour; and he in answer to their prayer became incarnate in the four sons that were born to the king, while inferior divinities took birth as bears and monkeys. The four princes are named by Vasishta. They grow up, and the king is thinking where to find suitable brides for them, when Visvamitra comes and after a long colloquy takes away with him Ráma and Lakshman to protect him at the time of sacrifice from the demons that persistently assail him. On the way they pass by the Anga hermitage, where the god of love had been reduced to ashes by Siva—a legend to