16 F. S. Growse— The Prologue of the Bdmdyana of Tulsi Das. [No. 1 



Bhawani was able to join her husband ;* while he, Mahadev, in his delight 

 on beholding her simple faith, assumed the woman, making that ornament 

 of her sex the ornament of his own body. Again, it was by the power of 

 this name that the poison swallowed by Mahadev was converted into 

 ambrosia. 



Doha 23. 

 Devotion to Rama, says Tulsi Das, is like the rich season of the rains • 

 but the two syllables of Kama's name are best of all, like the months of Sawan 

 and Bhadon — 



QhcmpdL 

 Two sweet and gracious syllables, the eyes as it were of the soul, easy 

 to remember, satisfying every wish, a gain in this world, and felicity in the 

 next ; most delightful to utter, to hear, or to remember ; as dear to Tulsi as 

 the inseparable Eama and Lachhman. My love is inflamed as I speak of 

 these mystic syllables, as intimately connected as the universal soul and the 

 soul of man ; twin brothers like Nara and Narayan, preservers of the world 

 redeemers of the elect ; bright jewels in the ears of beauteous Faith ; pure 

 and beneficent as the sun and the moon ; like sweetness and contentment, 

 the inseparable attributes of ambrosia ; like the tortoise and serpent, support- 

 ers of the world ; like the bee and the lotus of a pious soul ; and as sweet to 

 the tongue as Hari and Balarama were sweet to Jasoda. 



Doha 24. 

 Like a royal umbrella or jewelled diadem over all the other letters of 

 the alphabet shine the two consonants in Rama's name. 



Chaupdi. 

 A name may be regarded as equivalent to what is named, the connec- 

 tion being such as subsists between a master and servant. Both name and 

 form are shadows of the Lord, who rightly understood is unspeakable and 

 uncreated. They are sometimes wrongly distinguished as greater and less ; 

 but the wise will understand my explanation of the difference between them. 

 See now, the form is of less importance than the name ; for without the name 

 you cannot come to a knowledge of the form ; if the very form be in your 

 hand, still without knowing the name, it is not recognized ; but meditate on 

 the name without seeing the form, and your soul is filled with devotion. 



* One day when Siva had finished eating, he called to his wife Parvati to come and 

 take her food too before it got cold. She pleaded that she had not yet finished repeat- 

 ing, according to her daily wont, the thousand names of Vishnu ; whereupon her 

 husband instructed her that it would sufl&ce if she said the mere name of < Eama' once, 

 for that had as much virtue as alb the thousand. She at once believed him and com- 

 plied ; and the god was so pleased at her ready faith that in her honour he assumed the 

 Ardha-nari, or half-male, half-female form. 



iA 



