Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/30

x hearkened to his word, and he restored the man to the delights of life. They all became saints, when he had taken away their sinful frowardness: none can see heaven in whom passion still lives.

The Emperor of Delhi sent an officer to fetch him, explaining "It is he, you must know, who brought the Bráhman to life again." "He is anxious to see you," they said,—"so come; all wiil be well." They spoke so courteously that he agreed and went. They arrived before the king, who received him with honour, gave him an exalted seat, and said in gracious tones:— Let me see a miracle; it is noised throughout the world that you are master of everything." He said:—"It is false; know that Ráma is all in all." "How is Ráma to be seen?" he said and threw him into prison. He prayed within himself: "O gracious Hanumún, have pity upon me." That very moment thousands upon thousands of sturdy monkeys spread all over the place, clawing bodies, tearing elothes, and great was the alarm. They broke open the fort, wounding the men, destroying everything; where could one fly for safety? it seemed as though the end of the world had come. Then his eyes were opened by this taste of a sea of calamities, and he cried,—"Now I wager all my treasure it is he only who can save me." He came and clasped his feet: "If you give me life, I live; pray speak to them." "Better watch the miracle a little." The king was overwhelmed with confusion. Then he stopt it all and said:—"Quickly abandon this spot, for it is the abode of Ráma." At the word he quitted the place and went and built a new fort, and to this day any one who abides there falls ill and dies.

After returning to Kási he came to Brindá-ban and met Nábhá Jí, and heard his poetry, and his whole soul was filled with delight. On visiting the shrine of Madan Gopál he said—"Of a truth Ráma is my special patron; I would fain see him." Then appeared the god to him in that very form; and he was glad on beholding his incomparable beauty. It was said to him "The Krishna Avatár is of greatest renoun; Ráma was only a partial incarnation." On hearing this he said:—"My soul was full of love for him when I took him only for the son of Dasarath and admired his incomparable beauty; now that you tell me of his divinity, my love is increased twenty-fold."

Professor Wilson, in his most valuable and interesting "Essay on the Religious Sects of the Hindus," gives the following notice of Tulsi Dás, and adds that he had derived it from the Bhakt-Málá:-"Having been incited to the peculiar adoration of Ráma by the remonstrances of his wife, to whom he was passionately attached, he adopted a vagrant life, visited Benares, and afterwards went to Chitrakút, where he had a personal interview with Hanumán, from whom he received his poetical inspiration and the power of working miracles. His fame reached Delhi, where Shahjahán was emperor. The monarch sent for him to produce the person of Ráma, which Tulsi Dás refusing to do, the king threw him into confinement. The people of the vicinity, however, speedily petitioned for his liberation, as they were alarmed for their own security: myriads of monkeys having collected about the prison and begun to demolish it and the adjacent buildings. Shaljahán set the poet at liberty and desired him to solicit some favour as a reparation for the indignity he had suffered. Tulsi Dás accordingly requested him to quit ancient Delhi, which was the abode of Ráma; and in compliance with this request the emperor left it and founded the new city, thence named Sháhjahánabád. After this Tulsi Dás went to Brindá