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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[DECEMBER, 1912,
kept this source at hand and referred to it whenever his memory was failing him. Any diligent reader, who is patient enough to compare stanza for stanza the two poems, will easily be able to trace back the whole path trodden by Tulasi Dasa through the forest of Valmiki's Ramaya ça and to get a clear idea of his way of proceeding. To prove my assertion let me quote the three following passages of the Ramacharitamánasa, in which Tulasi Dasa, for accuracy's sake, retains some particulars found in Vâlmiki's poem, which, though they have their sufficient reason in the Sanskrit original, are not justifiable in the Hindi version, and look strange, or at least superfluous:
1. In Book II, 10, Tulasi Dasa, after having told us that Vasishtha, in obedience to Daçaratha's orders, went to Râma's house, in order to make him devote himself to the holy practices preliminary to consecration, adds that, having given his instructions to Rama, Vasishtha returned to the king (guru sikha dei raya pahim gayaú, II, 10, 4a). This particular, whilst corresponding exactly with Vâlmiki's narrative (C', II, 5,21 and following), looks quite superfluous in our poem, and is not in accordance with Tulasi Disa's continuous effort towards being as concise as possible.
2. In Book IV, 27, Tulasi Dâsa relates that the monkeys, having failed to get tidings of Sitâ, do not dare to return to Sugriva, but sit down on beds of kuça spread on the shore of the Ocean (baithe kapi saba darbha dasdi II, IV, 27, 106 ). It is obvious that Tulasi Dâsa has here in mind the prayopaveçana described by Vâlmiki in the 55th sarga (C and B') of the 4th Book, and, as he cannot afford himself to relate it fully and does not wish to omit it altogether, he contents himself with so imperfect an account, that is quite incomprehensible without a direct reference to his source.
3. In Book VII, 15, after having described Râma's consecration, Tulasi Dâsa introduces even the phalastuti, which in Valmiki comes immediately after it (C, VI, 128, 105 and following B, VI, 112, 12 and following), without perceiving that such a phalastuti, whilst being in its place in the Ramayana, which originally ended with the Yuddhakanda, is quite out of place in his poem, which is to end only with the Uttarakanda.
Many other examples in corroboration of the above assertion, could be drawn from all those passages, where Tulasi Dâsa indicates by a most cursory allusion a Vâlmikinn episode deliberately omitted. Such allusions are often so incomplete and obscure that they seem to bear no meaning to any one who has not in mind the corresponding passages in the Ramayana, and we cannot understand why Tulasi Dâsa should have thrust them into his poem, unless we attribute to him the scrupulosity of a diligent historian, who feels himself bound to represent the facts in their full completeness and entireness. Here also I shall confine myself to only three examples:
1. The Vicvamitra episode is wholly omitted by Tulasi Dâsa and the following allusion is substituted for the story: muni-mana-agama Gádhisuta-karani mudita Basistha bipula-bidhi barani. I, 359, 6, which we find repeated after a few stanzas: Bamadeva Raghukula-guru jnání | bahuri Gádhisuta-katha bakhani | I, 861, 1;
Sir G. Grierson, in his notice of the Italian edition of the present article (J. R. A. S., 1912, pages 794-798), finds my assumption, that Tulasf Dasa had a manuscript of the Ramayana by him and that he consulted it as he went along, not altogether justifiable. For, he observes, it cannot be thought that an Indian poet would labour on such lines. I feel I must heartily agree with him. My assumption was simply founded on the fact that I was unable to conceive Tulas! Disa's exactness in reproducing step by step and in its right arrangement the entire succession of incidents in Valmiki's poem as a mere case of memory.
Following Jacobi's example (Das Ramayana, Gesch. u. Inhalt, eto., Bonn, 1893), I represent by C the northern (or commented) recension, by B the Bengalee, and by 4 the western one.
