TUl/si DA8. 
43 
§ 128 .] 
the Bible of a hundred millions of people, and is looked upon by 
them as as much inspired as the Bible is considered inspired by 
the English clergyman. Pandits may talk of the Vedas and of the 
Upanisads, and a few may even study them; others may say they 
pin their faith on the Puranas : but to the vast majority of the people 
of Hindustan, learned and unlearned alike, their sole norm of conduct 
is the so-called Tul’si-krit Ram ay an. It is indeed fortunate for 
Hindustan that this is so, for it has saved the country from the 
tantric obscenities of Shaivism. Ram an and was the original saviour 
of Upper India from the fate which has befallen Bengal, but Tul’si 
Das was the great apostle who carried his doctrine east and west and 
made it an abiding faith. 
The religion he preached was a simple and sublime one,—a perfect 
faith in the name of God. But what is most remarkable in it, in an 
age of immorality, when the bonds of Hindu society were loosened 
and the Mughal empire being consolidated, was its stern morality in 
every sense of the word. Tubs! was the great preacher of one’s duty 
towards one’s neighbour. Valmiki praised Bharat’s sense of duty, 
Lachhman’s brotherly affection, and Sita’s wifely devotion, but Tul’si 
taught them as an example. 
So, too, in an age of license no book can be purer in tone than 
his RamcUjan. He himself justly exclaims,—“Here are no prurient 
and seductive stories, like snails, frogs, and scum on the pure water of 
Ram’s legend, and therefore the lustful crow and the greedy crane, if 
they do come, are disappointed.” Other Vaishnava writers, who 
inculcated the worship of Krish’n, too often debased their muse to 
harlotry to attract their hearers; but Tul’si Das had a nobler trust in 
his countrymen, and that trust has been amply rewarded. 
Tul’si Das was a Sar’bariya Brahman. He was born early in 
the sixteenth century and died at a good old age in 1624 A.D. As 
the old rhyme says:— 
Sambata soraha sat asi , Asi Gayga Ice tira , 
Sawana sukala sattami , Tulasi tajeu sarira : 
—on the 7th of the light half of Oravana, in Sambat 1680, Tul’si left 
his body at Asi, on the bank of the Ganges. 
According to the Bhakt Sindhu and the Brihad Ramayan Mahat- 
mya his father’s name was Atm a Ram, his mother’s name was Hu Iasi, 
and he was born at Hastinapur ; but according to other authorities he 
was born at Hajipur, near Ghitrakut. The usual tradition is, however, 
that Raj’pur, in the district of Bada , on the banks of the Jarnund, has 
