Page:The Rámáyana of Tulsi Dás.djvu/660

12 कोई मंदिर या मूर्ति ऐसी नहीं जिसका वर्णन इस में न हो—कोई ब्रजबासी चराचर जीव ऐसा नहीं रहा जिसने उक्त पुस्तक में स्थान न पाया हो—ब्रज की प्रीति रीति का पूरा वर्णन इस में मिलता है—बहुत सी ऐसी बातें हमारी दृष्टि पड़ीं कि हमको तो क्या ब्रजबासियों को भी बिदित न होंगी बनयात्रा का प्रसंग भी बड़ी उत्तमता से वर्णन किया गया है—ब्रजमंडल में निवास करने वालों बैष्णव और इतर सम्प्रदायों का सविस्तर वर्णन इस में मिलता है—जल थल बृत्त वल्लो, खग मृग, सब का वर्णन इस में है—ऐसी पुस्तक यात्रियों के लिये बड़ी लाभदायक है अब तक जितनी बनयात्रा बनी हैं उन से बिदेशियों के कुछ लाभ नहीं होता—यदि इस पुस्तक का सार भाग भाषा में हो जाबे तो बहुत बड़ा उपकर हो ग्रंथकर्ता को हम अनेक धन्यवाद देते हैं और आशा रखते हैं कि जिस प्रकार ब्रज की उन्नति में उक्त महाशय अब तक दत्त चित्त रहे हैं उप्री प्रकार दूर या पास होने पर निरंतर कृपा दृष्टि रक्खें॥"—Bharat Bandhu.

"A work which is remarkable, no less as a monument of sound scholarship and patient industry than as giving the fullest information respecting a comparatively unknown portion of our Oriental dependencies, is Mathurá, a District Memoir, by F. S. Growse, B.C.S. (printed at the North-Western Provinces and Oudh Government Press), of which a new and greatly enlarged edition has recently been issued. The volume in question, which is as sumptuous in appearance as it is interesting in respect of its contents, forms one of a uniform series of local histories compiled by order of the Government, and first appeared so long ago as in 1874. As it is now seen, however, it has been so much augmented and subjected to such careful revision as to be practically a new work, and must be recommended to all readers who take an intelligent interest in the history and present status of the North-West Provinces of India.

"Mr. Growse's explanation of the various systems of mythology which have prevailed in the district forms not the least valuable portion of his work to students. One notable feature is the almost entire absence of Muhammadanism among the native population, in spite of the attempts at Moslem rule made in former days; side by side with this may be noted the author's acoount of that strange race the Játs, as well as his history of Rájput caste generally. One section is devoted to an examination into the cultus