1876,] F. S. Growse— The Prologue to the Mmayana of Tulsi Ms. 27 



people are like its owners. Sensual wretches are like the cranes and crows 

 that have no part in this pond nor ever come near it ; for here are no pru- 

 rient and seductive stories like the snails, frogs, and scum on the water, and 

 therefore the lustful crow and greedy crane, if they do come, are disappoint- 

 ed. There is much difficulty in getting to this lake, and it is only by the 

 favour of Eama that any one reaches it. For there are difficulties of evil 

 society ; rocks of heresy ; wicked words like tigers, lions, and serpents ; the 

 various intanglements of domestic affairs, like vast insurmountable moun- 

 tains ; sensual desires like a dense forest full of wild delusions ; and un- 

 sound reasoning like a raging flood. 



Doha 47. 

 For those who have not the support of faith nor the company of the 

 saints, nor fervent love for Eaghunath ; for them this lake is very hard of 



access. 



Chaup&L 

 Again, if any one laboriously makes his way to it, but becomes over- 

 powered by sleep and feverishness, a strange torpor and numbness settle on 

 his soul, and though he is on the spot the luckless wretch makes no ablu- 

 tion. Having neither bathed in the lake nor drunk of it, he goes away in 

 his pride, and when some one comes to enquire of him he abuses it. But 

 those who by the blessing of Eama gaze upon it, and deterred by no diffi- 

 culties, reverently bathe, are relieved from the fierce flames of sin, sorrow and 

 pain, and being sincerely devoted to Eama will never abandon it. If, my 

 friend, you would bathe in this lake, be diligent to keep company with 

 the good. As for myself, having thus with the mind's eye contemplat- 

 ed it, my poetical faculty has become clear and profound, my heart swells 

 with joy and rapture and overflows in a torrent of ecstatic devotion. 

 My song pours on like a river flooded with Kama's bright renown ; like 

 the river Sarju, fountain of bliss, with religion and theology for its two fair 

 banks ; a holy stream rejoicing the pious soul (or born of the Manas lake) 

 sweeping away all worldly impurities like the trees and roots on its bank. 



Doha 48. 

 The three kinds of hearers in the assembly are like the towns, villages 

 and hamlets on the river side, while the saints are like the incomparable 

 city of Avadh, full of all that is auspicious. 



Chattpdi. 



The beautiful Sarju, as it were the glory of Eama, has united with the 



Ganges of devotion, and the magnificent river Son, like the warlike power 



of Eama and his brother, has joined them as a third. Between the two, the 



Ganges stream of devotion shines clear in its wisdom and self-control, while 



