1876.] F. S. Growse— The Prologue to the Bdmdyana of Tulsi Das. 19 



gloriously in the world and the Veda. Rama assembled a host of bears 

 and monkeys and had no little trouble to build his bridge ; his name can dry 

 up the ocean of life ; meditate thereon, ye faithful. Rama killed in 

 battle Ravan and all his family and returned with Sita* to his own city, a 

 king to Avadh his capital, while gods and saints hymned his praises ; but 

 his servants, if only they affectionately meditate on his name, vanquish 

 with ease the whole army of error, and move, absorbed in interior ecstasy, 

 without even a dream of sorrow. 



Doha 29. 

 The Name is greater than either Brahm or Rama, and is the best gift 

 of the best giver ; this Mahadev knew when he selected it from the hundred 

 croresf of verses in the Ramayana. 



Chanjpdi. 

 By the power of this name the blessed god of curst attire, even the 

 great Siva, acquired immortality ; by the power of this name Sukadeva, 

 Sanat-kumara, and all saints, sages and ascetics have enjoyed heavenly 

 raptures ; Narad too acknowledged its power, himself as dear to Hara and 

 Hari as Hari is dear to the world j by repeating this name Prahlad through 

 the Lord's grace became the crown of the faithful. £ Dhruva in his distress 

 repeated the name of Hari, and was rewarded by a fixed and incomparable 

 station in the heavens ;§ by meditating on this holy name Hanuman won 

 and kept the affection of Rama ; by the power of Hari's name Ajamil|| and 



* Sugriva, the monkey chief, assisted Eama in his search for Sita by shewing him 

 the ornaments she had purposely dropped on the way ; and Eama rewarded him by 

 installing him as sovereign of Kishkindya in the place of his brother Bali. Similarly, 

 Vibhishana was made king of Lanka in the room of Eavan. 



f Of these hundred crores it is said that Siva distributed 33 crores t<5 each of the 

 three worlds. The one crore that remained over he similarly divided into three sets of 

 33 lakhs each ; the odd lakh into three sets of 30 thousand each ; the odd thousand again 

 into three sets of three hundred each ; the odd hundred into three sets of thirty-three 

 each and finally the one remaining sloka into three sets of ten letters each. The two 

 letters that remained over, being the two consonants in the name of Eama, he kept for 

 himself as containing the gist of the whole matter. 



X PrahJM, the pious son of the impious Hiranya-Kasipu who was destroyed by 

 Vishnu in the Narsinh avatar, was made equal to Indra for life and finally united with 

 Vishnu. 



§ Dhruva, the son of TJttanapada, being slighted by his step-mother, left his home 

 with the determination of winning himself a name in the world. By the advice of the 

 seven Eishis, he devoted himself to the service of Vishnu, and was finally exalted by the 

 god to the heavens, where he shines as the pole-star. 



II According to the history given in the 6th Skandha of the Sri Bhagavat, Ajamil 

 was a Brahman of Kanauj, of most dissolute and abandoned life. By a happy chance 

 the youngest of the ten sons whom he had by a prostitute was named Narayan ; and 

 the father when at the point of death happened to summon him to his side. But the 



