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APRIL, 1893.)
NOTES ON TUL'SI DAS.
97
copy in the handwriting of the poet, which was dated by the poet himself, Sambat 1655 Jyaishtha Sudi, 10, Sunday. It is unnecessary to give the calculation. Taking the Chaitrådi expired year, it is equivalent to Sunday, June 4th, 1698 A. D.
(e) Date of the composition of the Kabitta Ramayan This depends on an interpretation of K. R. clxxi. 1. The passage is as follows:
Eka tau karála kali-kala síla milla tá mer!
Kódha men ki kháju sí kanicharí hai mína kill “In the first place, the Kali Yuga, the root of woe, is terrible. And further, in it, like the itch appearing in leprosy, Saturn has appeared in the sign of the Fish."
Here again I have to thank Pandit Sudhakara Dvivêdi for calculating the date and for the following information :- The periodical time of Saturn is about thirty years. He entered Pieces (a token of great calamity) in Tulsi Das's time, on or about the 5th of Chaitra Sudi Sambat 1640, and remained in that sign till Jyaishtha of 1642. He again entered it on about the 2nd of Chaitra Sudi Sambat 1669, and remained in it till Jyaishtha of 1671. These results are those given by the Makaranda based on the Súrya-siddhanta.
The sixty year cycle of Jupiter is divided into three periods of twenty years each, of which the first belongs to Brahma, the second to Vishnu, and the third and last to Mahâdê va or Rudra, In Tulsi Dâs's time, the Rudra-bisí, or twenty years belonging to Rudra commenced in Sambat 165, and from about that time the Musalmans began more especially to profane Benares. The poet frequently refers to this fact, to and no doubt does so in the Kabitta above quoted. Accordingly it was to the second occasion on which Saturn was in Pisces, i. e., between Chaitra Sudi Sambat 1669 and Jyaishtha Sambat 1671, i. e., between 1612 and and 1614 A. D. that the Kabittall above quoted was written.
(f) The deed of arbitration.
This has been published in the Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan. The following is the translation of the portion which immediately concerns us :
" Whereas Anand Râm, son of Tôdar, son of Deo Ray, and Kanhây, son of Râm Bhadra, son of Todar aforesaid appeared before me, &c., &c." " In the Sambat year 1669, on the 13th of the bright half of Kunwar,, on the auspicious (subha) day of the week, was this deed written by Anand Ram and Kauhủy...... The division of the share of Todar Mall, which has been made ....."
Then follow a list of certain villages, which formed Todar Mall's property, viz., Bhadaini, Lahar'tårå, Naipůra, Chhitû pûrâ, Sivpur, and Nadêsar.
On this I remarked as follows:-In connexion with the above, it is interesting to speculate who this Pôdar Mall, the father of Anand Ram, and grandfather of Kanhây was. Can he have been Akbar's great Finance Minister? He died in 1589, and his son might well be alive in 1612. He was born at Lihar par in Oudh, and one of the villages mentioned abave, Lahar'tarà, has a somewhat similar name. In India, contiguous villages have often very similar names.
out it in his bandlo, to recito it somewhere, and, as ill luck would have it, it was, bundle and all, stolen from him
train. It may be mentioned that in Ramakrishna's house there in & jealongly guarded portrait of Tulist Dås, said to have been painted for the Emperor Akbar. It is shown to the public onoe a year on the 7th of the bright half of Srlvana, the anniversary of the poet's death. Pandit SudhAkara Dvivedi maintains that the date 1555 refers to the year in which the copy was made, and not to that of the composition of the original poem. Whenever Tul'st Das wished to show the date of his work, he wrote in the commencement, as he did in the Ramiyana and in the Parbati Mangala. II Chhakkan Lal is to be believed, at any rate the copy was in the poet's handwriting.
10 E.9., Dohabalt 240, K. R., Ut., 170 and ff.
11 But not necessarily the whole work, vide post. The commentator Baijnath fizes the period as between Aambat 1635 and 1637, but he has no authority on such a point, and no caloulation will make im right.
