8 F. S. G-rowse — The Prologue to the Mamwyana of Tulsi Das. [No, 1 



lord of life ; rich and poor ; the beggar and the king ; Kasi and Magadha ;* 

 the Ganges and the Karmnasa ; the desert of Marwar and the rich plain 

 of Malwa ; the Brahman and the butcher ; heaven and hell ; sensual pas- 

 sion and asceticism ; the Vedas and the Tantras, and every variety of good 

 and evil. 



Doha 7. 

 The creator has made the universe to consist of things animate and 

 inanimate, good and evil : a saint like a swan takes the milk of goodness 

 and rejects the worthless water. f 



Chcmpdi. 

 When the creator gives men this faculty of judgment, they abandon 

 error and become enamoured of the truth ; but conquered by time, tempera- 

 ment, or fate, even the good, as a result of their humanity, may err from 

 virtue ; but Hari takes their body so to speak and corrects it, and removing 

 all sorrow and sin cleanses it and glorifies them. If the bad through inter- 

 course with the good do good, their inherent badness is not effaced. An 

 impostor of fair outward show may be honoured on account of his garb, but 

 in the end he is exposed and does not succeed ; like Kala-nemi, or Eavan, or 

 Eahu.J The good are honoured notwithstanding their mean appearance, 

 like the bear Jamavant or the monkey Hanuman. Bad company is loss and 

 good company is gain*; this is a truth recognized both by the world and the 

 Veda. In company with the wind the dust flies heavenwards ; if it joins 

 water, it becomes mud and sinks. According to the character of the house 

 in which a parrot or maina is trained, it learns either to repeat the name of 

 Kama or to give abuse. With the ignorant, soot is mere refuse ; but it 

 may make good ink and be used even for copying a Purana ; while water, 

 fire, and air combined become an earth-refreshing rain-cloud. 



Doha 8-11. 

 The planets, medicines, water, air, clothes, all are good or bad things 

 according as their accompaniments are good or bad ; and people observe 

 this distinction.^ Both lunar fortnights are equal as regards darkness and 

 light ; but a difference in name has been wisely made, and as the moon 

 waxes or wanes the fortnight is held in high or low esteem. Knowing 



* Magadha (Bihar) is taken as the opposite to Kasi, in consequence of its being 

 the birth-place of Buddhism. 



f To the swan (rdj-hans) is ascribed the fabulous faculty of being able to separate 

 milk from water, after the two have been mixed together. 



J Kala-nemi by assuming the form of an ascetic imposed for a time upon Hanu- 

 man, as Bavan did upon Sita : and even Vishnu, at the churning of the ocean, was at 

 first deceived by Bahu, who appeared like one of the gods. 



