Mathurá ; a district memoir
Growse, Frederic Salmon, 1836-1893
■$ K ^ * -■■. if' ( ■s> " 'J ■ < NOTICES- Mathura : a District Memoir. Bj F. S. G-rowse. Second Edition. ( Printed at the North-Western Provinces and Oudh Government Press.) It has been our lot not only to see, but also to read through, nearly all the accounts of districts and of provinces which the example of Dr. W. W. Hunter has drawn in recent years from so many Anglo-Indian officials. They contain a magazine of local information which has never been duly appreciated in this country. So far as possible, the cream of the labour of a hundred willing but unknown workers will be given to the English public in the forthcoming Imperial Gazetteer of India. But students will always be anxious to resort to the fountain-head. To such we recommend Mr. Growse’s District Memoir as probably the one among all which is most inspired with the genuine love of India and the Indian people. A photograph of a great native banker (now dead), taken by a native, faces the title-page ; and all through the volume native art, native forms of religion, native manners and customs, are the chief subjects dealt with. Mr. Growse is not only one of the first of Hindi scholars ; he is also a sympathetic imitator of Hindu architecture. To turn to his pages and his numerous photographs, after having dazed our wits in the labyrinthine figures of an administration or settlement report, is like passing from the glare of a tropical sun into the cool of some Hindu shrine or Muhammadan tomb. We feel that we are learning something of the charm which still envelopes the East for all those who have the faculty to perceive Academy. We wish there were more Indian civil servants like Mr. Growse, with eyes open to see and intellects cultivated to appreciate the marvels of which the country where their sphere of duty lies is full. Unhappily, Indian “ civilians are as a class Philistine to their hearts’ core. A competent observer tells us that “ it is a very exceptional thing for them to possess a real knowledge of the colloquial vernacular,” and that “ they know next to nothing really of the habits, standpoints, and modes of thought of the people.” They do not think these things worth knowing. Contempt for the race they are called upon to rule is too often the dominant feeling in the awkward, cold, pig-headed, and narrow-minded young Englishman who goes out to India from an English uni- versity or an English crammer’s establishment. It is a feeling which is absolutely fatal to an intelligent appreciation of Hindu or Muhammadan art or literature. The author of this exceedingly interesting district memoir is an official of a very different type. It may be truly said of him that “ he brought an eye 2 mathurX. for all he saw” when he entered upon the charge of the district which for several years was subject to his sway. He brought, too, no inconsiderable literary faculty to describe what he saw. And this interesting volume is the result. We should add that Mr. Growse’s volume is illustrated by a number of excellent photographs, not the least interesting of which is that representing the pretty Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart at Mathura, an edifice the erection of which is mainly due to the author’s zeal and liberality. — Tablet. The lately published second edition of Mr. Growse’s Mathura Memoir shows that, excellent as the first was, improvement was not impossible. That a trifle gives perfection, though perfection is not a trifle, has been well remem- bered ; and throughout the volume may be noticed slight fresh touches of, polish which greatly enhance its value. More important additions have been made to the chapters which deal with Hinduism, the etymology of place-names, and the development of the local style of architecture. The autotype illustra- tions are from negatives taken by native photographers of Mathura, and, except in one case, are remarkably successful. Amongst the photographs is one of the Catholic Church at Mathura, which, with this book, will be an abiding, proof of how wide a field there is in India for the working of English learning and culture and taste. A labour of love rather than duty, and therefore unlike most similar performances, Mr. Growse’s work amply proves the superiority of the man who has something to say over the man w^ho has to say something. It is a pity, if nothing more, that an officer so intimate with Mathura and its people should have been transferred to less familiar and less congenial fields of administration. With the accession of another king who knew not Joseph, Mr. Growse found himself compelled to bid farewell to his favourite antiqui- ties, to leave his restorations unfinished, and to depart for Bulandshahr. He carried with him, however, the notes which have enabled him to produce this second edition. — Tioneer {tivo notices). Some years ago the Government of the North-Western Provinces resolved to pub- lish a series of local memoirs of the various districts constituting that province. The Memoir under review is one of that series ; and it is unquestionably the fullest and most valuable of all that have been hitherto published. Its value is sufficiently shown by the fact that this is already the second edition after the short interval of six years, the first edition having been published in 1874. Good as the latter was, the value of the second edition has been much increased by the addition of new and important matter. The best of these additions undoubtedly is the last chapter of the first MATHURi^. 3 part, which treats of the etymology of local names in Northern India as exemplified in the district of Mathura.’^ Mr. Grrowse has certainly succeeded in proving his general position that local names in Upper India are, as a rule, of no very remote antiquity, and are, primd facie, referable to Sanskrit and Hindi rather than to any other language,” though some of his derivations perhaps will not meet with general acceptance. Another valuable new chapter is the fourth, which gives probably the fullest extant description of the Holi festival of the Hindus ; and the eighth, which gives a very detailed account of some of the most important Vaishnava reformers. Of the older portions of the 'Memoir, the most interesting are the two historical and archseological chapters ; one of which narrates the fortunes of Mathura during the period of Muhammadan supremacy, while the other relates what is known of the history of that city and its famous monasteries and stupas in the early centuries of our era, when it was almost wholly given up to Buddhism. The extremely interesting remains of this period, the discovery and preservation of which are mainly due to the indefatigable exertions of the author of the Memoir, are carefully and minutely des- cribed. The whole work is divided into two parts, and the second is wholly devoted to statistical information which, though unreadable to the general public, will, of course, be extremely useful to Government officials. The requirements of the former are liberally consulted by the first and much the larger part, which contains separate chapters on probably everything of interest connected with Mathura. Not the least of the merits of the book consists in the many beautiful photographic and other illustrations of the most notable persons, buildings and antiquities of Mathura. Altogether it is a model of what a district memoir may be made, and the author is to be congratulated on the success which he has achieved. — Indian Antiquary. More fortunate than Lahore is Mathura in yielding treasures of ancient times and in possessing a man who has entered heart and soul into its history, past and present. In 1874 Mr. Grows© published the first edition of his interesting work on. Mathura, which formed one of a uniform series of local histories compiled by order of the Government. To what was a most interesting memoir the author has added in the second edition, recently published, many important chapters, expanded a few remarks on the etymology of local names into a thorough philological discussion, and supplemented topographical notes. The memoir is, moreover, beautifully illustrated with plates produced by the London Autotype Company, so as to give the reader a vivid picture of the subject in hand. Mr. Growse points out with justice the possibility of an Anglo-Indian architecture — but not as carried out by the Public Works Department — being spread throughout India, with as great a success as Indo- Greek art in the days of Asoka, or the Hindu-Saracenic art in the reign of Akbar. The author of Mathura is a man of taste as well as of learning, and has in consequence 110 4 MATHURA', produced a memoir wliicli will not merely serve as a reference with regard to the district it describes, but is of historical, archaeological, ethnological, philological, and artistic information besides. — Lahore Civil and Military Gazette. Mr. F. S. Growse has published a second edition of his Mathura: a District Memoir, the first edition of which we noticed in this paper when the work first appeared in 1874. The author is well known not only as a scholar and archaeologist, but by the great service he has done in rescuing from utter ruin and oblivion many of the interesting remnants of native art and architecture with which the Mathura district — • the classic land of the Hindus — abounds. Of his labours in this direction we have already spoken at some length in Yol. IX. of the Indo-European Correspondence (pp. 130 and 148), in our notice of the first edition of Mr. Growse’s work. Since it first appeared the author has, we regret to say, been transferred from Mathura, where he was Magistrate and Collector, to Bulandshahr. During the three years’ interval between the first appearance of his Memoir and his removal to another station he had added largely to his stock of local information, and being, as he tells us, unwilling that the fruits of his labour should be lost, he asked and obtained the sanction of Government for the issue of a second edition from the Allahabad press. The wmrk now appears much enlarged and enriched — among other things — by upwards of thirty handsome illustrations. One of Mr. Growse’s acts while he was at Mathura was the erection of a Catholic chapel, a work w^hich it can hardly be contested is valuable if only as an experiment of a very sound principle — namely, the utilising of native art to form an appropriate and characteristic style of Christian architecture in India. The Mathura chapel, Mr. Growse says, is intended as “ a protest against the ‘ standard plans and other stereotyped conventionalities,’” of the Public Works Department; but it seems to us to be, at all events, implicitly a protest as well against the unfortunate tendency there is among Europeans in India to Europeanize whatever falls under the influence of Christianity. We call this tendency unfortunate because it not only unnecessarily widens the already wide chasm between Christianity and paganism ; not only because it practically ignores the existence of native art as if it were an essentially unholy barbarism, but because the tendency aims at what is really impracticable. Mr. Growse’s lines had fallen on a nursery of Hindu art which survives in Mathura to the present day. That art, though pagan, contains much that is really great and noble in conception and in workmanship, and he has essayed to show how it may be made the handmaid of Christian gothic art in the construction of the Mathura chapel. The photograph of the interior, though it represents the building as much more sombre than it probably is in reality, justifies the architect’s saying that it is both religious and picturesque in effect. The view is a diagonal one, and shows mathurX. 5 us part of the nave and a small section of the chancel arch — the one, we presume, which offended the splenetic engineer. The roof of the nave is vaulted, and the clerestory is lighted by circular windows. It is the pillars, however, which arrest one’s attention, the capitals and shafts being of purely oriental design. The effect is, to our mind, most graceful. The south aisle is lighted by pointed windows, and on the panels between are the Stations of the Cross, surrounded again by oriental tracery. Through a gothic archway in the south-east corner we catch a glimpse of the Lady Chapel and its altar. The exterior of the chapel, though complete in essentials, is architecturally unfinished. We regret that it is likely to remain so, because this incompleteness detracts considerably from the general effect. In spite, however, of drawbacks the exterior of the Mathura chapel is singularly pleasing. We fear we speak somewhat vaguely when we say that there is a peculiar mellowness about it — an effect which we doubt not is the result of good proportions and an absence of mere meretricious ornament. — Indo-European Correspondence. We do not hesitate to affirm that Mr. Growse’s work is decidedly the best and most interesting of the local histories yet published. He is an accomplished scholar and a well-known archaeologist and antiquarian ; his long residence at Mathura gave him ample opportunities for collecting valuable materials. After the publication of the first edition of his Memoir Mr. Growse remained at Mathura for nearly three years longer, during which time he added largely to his stock of local information. This information he has utilized by bringing out a revised and enlarged edition of his work. This edition is adorned with beautiful illustrations, the cost of which, Mr. Growse tells us in his preface, has been defrayed by the millionaire and public-spirited Seths of Mathura. — Hindu Fatriot. These two historical and archaeological chapters are unquestionably among the best and most interesting of the Memoir ; though, indeed, it is difficult to single out any particular chapters for special praise, as the subject of almost every chapter has its own interest, and every one is treated by the author with a fulness and thorough- ness which seemingly leaves nothing to be desired. One chapter, however, must not be passed over without special mention. It is the twelfth or last of the first part, and treats of “the etymology of local names in Northern India, as exemplified in the district of Mathura.” The subject is not altogether new ; on the contrary it has given rise to a vast number of speculations, but most of those hitherto put forth have been of the most haphazard description. The present is the first attempt, on a larger scale, to attack the problem in a scientific spirit and on consistent and well- founded historical and grammatical principles. The general position that the au- thor maintains is that “ local names in Upper India are, as a rule, of no very remote 6 mathurX. antiquity, and 2i.vG, primd facie, referable to Sanskrit and Hindi rather than to any other language” Mr. Growse very clearly proves this ; and there can be no doubt; that his view is perfectly correct. One thing impresses itself very clearly upon the mind in reading this chapter — that no one is competent to pronounce an opinion on the subject unless he possesses an intimate and minute knowledge of the history of the locality, added to a thorough acquaintance with the phonetic laws that regulate the development of the modern Indian languages from the Prakrit and Sanskrit. Mr. Growse is one of the few that possess both these qualifications. It would be impossible within the space of a short review to do justice to the great mass of information distributed in the various chapters. The M.emoir is a large quarto volume of upwards of 500 pages, and its external “get up” is creditable to the Government Press of Allahabad, where it has been printed. Altogether the work is a model of what a district memoir ought to be, and Mr. Growse is to be congratulated on the success which he has achieved. — Calcutta Bevieiv. Mr. Growse modestly informs us, in the preface to the first edition, that this is one of the uniform series of local histories compiled by the order of the Government. It would, however, be a very fortunate Government that could obtain a series of district memoirs all prepared with the same accuracy and fulness of detail and in the same scientific spirit as this one. Mr. Growse has brought to his task an amount of general and special scholarship and of enthusiasm which few district officers possess, and he has produced a work which, take it altogether, stands without rival among local Indian histories. — Calcutta Review. Ttfjrio: (Mathura Memoir) qiTf IjHtV 1 5^ 1 f H ^ % UcFT UiffT wiHi ^ Iff mg ^ VO ^ IT^ VrlT r.Hrll ^T— ^ 37T1TIT f rTT^r! ^ ri %T mcFrii i %T ^ qs% % titji trm I— MATHURiL. 7 5IT TTm TiiT^^T f HT| ^ tl— ^l| Cs ^TT'gT 5^1 ^iT ?:wT ^Tfi 3^^ Ti ^ %t— ^51 gfi inm fifri^T i^riw^ifiT 1— ^fri O w JTTfl ^Tg Xl^i f% WH%I Hr cjzTT HHHTTg^T ^T mTl[H H tint ^qXTTHT Vff ^rlTTHI f^iTlT Hai Ti THoIT^ efi^:% ^THT ^T'^: '?rl^ ^J?I5T^i ^T cH&^T Ti IIIHHT W— HH JsUI ^n, ^T Tl 1— •tlfH^ XtTTHZIT ^ St^ HI¥J5T^'^ § liHfl^ SJ^XTIHI O • ^ H ®T «ii^ HT« HIT ITHT— fH tTH=T^ 5RT 'O ^itt: vTin vTTxiT h wt hi h^h I ^>t5rtt: ti %i wh 5H w ^h: 1 T% THH ji^rtt: sh ^Hfn H 3f5 HWraJl H^ 3H THtT W 3HT mK ^X. 3II IT^ ^ig il — Bharat Bandhu, A work wkicli is remarkable, no less as a monument of sound scholarship and patient industry than as giving the fullest information respecting a comparatively unknown portion of our Oriental dependencies, is “ Mathura, a district memoir,” by F. S. Growse, B.C.S. (printed at the North-Western Provinces and Oudh Govern- ment Press), of which a new and greatly enlarged edition has recently been issued. The volume in question, which is as sumptuous in appearance as it is interesting in respect of its contents, forms one of a uniform series of local histories compiled by order of the Government, and first appeared so long ago as in 1874<. As it is now seen, however, it has been so much augmented and subjected to such careful revi- sion as to be practically a new work, and must be recommended to all readers who take an intelligent interest in the history and present status of the North-West Provinces of India. Mr. Growse’s explanation of the various systems of mythology which have prevailed in the district forms not the least valuable portion of his work to students. One notable feature is the almost entire absence of Muhammadanism among the native population in spite of the attempts at Moslem rule made in former days ; side 111 8 mathukX. by side with this may be noted the author’s account of that strange race the Jats,. as well as his history of Eajput caste generally. One section is devoted to an exami- nation into the cultus of the deified here Krishna, and a curious inquiry into the resemblance which has so often been noticed between the myths attaching thereto and some of the great truths of Christianity ; Mr. Grows©, than whom few can be better qualified to judge, is disposed to look on this as merely fortuitous. Equally worthy of note are his accounts of the annual miracle play, the great pilgrimage of which it forms a prominent feature, and the peculiar Holi festival, in connection with which may be studied the history of the intrusion of Buddhism into the pro- vince, the reform under the Vaishnava sectaries, and the modern introduction of Catholicism, in which Mr. Growse has taken no small part. All artists must approve of his plea for the adaptation of native architectural forms to the requirements of Christian worship, instead of the obtrusion of unsuitable alien styles, and the photo- graph of the church at Mathura is enough to show how successfully this may be- done by a competent architect. The antiquarian portion of the volume is not the least important, dealing with the discoveries, by the author and others, of sculpture inscriptions, and so forth, invaluable alike to artist and historian. The temples at Brinda-ban and elsewhere are described in a manner which throws almost a new light on the subject of Indian art, and the several photographs are most beautiful. Before closing a necessarily brief notice of this important work, we must draw attention to Mr. Growse’s protest against the too common neglect by etymologists of the Sanskrit element in the various native dialects, and to what he says about the revolting practices taught and carried out by the more advanced Buddhists • these latter may astonish some of those “ new light” apostles who are so fond of eulogising the followers of Gautama and their principles at the expense of Christi- anity. Altogether the volume is in itself unique and must prove of the greatest service to the Oriental student. — Whitehall Review. \^By the same writer J\ The RAMIYANA of TULSI DAS: TEANSLATED EEOM THE OEIGINAL HINDI. “This is undoubtedly a valuable addition to Anglo-Indian literature. It opens a new mine of riches to European scholars. The translation is very faithful, literal, and animated. Mr. Growse, unlike other other translators, has to a great extent preserved the spirit of the original. His prose sometimes reads like poetry. His command of the English language is so great that he expresses in simple language all shades of Indian thought, paying particular attention at the same time to English idiom. We would strongly recommend the replacement of some of the books now fixed for the high proficiency examination in Hindi by the Mdmdyana of Tulsi Dds. Mr. Growse has thoroughly entered into the spirit of Tulsi Das, and has very agreeably succeeded in painting him in a foreign language to the best advantage that we could have wished. He has very rarely left out phrases or introduced others of his own. We have carefully gone through the first half of Book I, the most difiBcult part of the translation, and, with the exception of a few solitary passages, we have not met but faithful translation If space allowed, we could give extracts to show the scholar- like manner in which Mr. Growse has rendered some of the most abstruse religious thoughts of the Hindus into idiomatic and simple English.’’ — Indian Tribune, 1877. “ Me. Geowse has done a good service to letters in seeking to atone for the slight hitherto put by English translators upon a poet of no mean merit, Tulsi Das, the bard of Rajapur. Translation may not be the grandest of fields, but it is no faint praise to occupy it with taste, judgment, and discernment. We are wont to hear Hindi spoken of as a language which will hardly repay the effort of mastering, and, with the exception of the Trem Sdgar, we doubt whether there is any other passage of Hindi poetry with which a hundred Englishmen are fairly conversant. The loss is, however, their own. Even the lead given by Mr. Growse, when he made his first venture, has failed to encourage others to follow in his footsteps. We have read with redoubled interest this second instalment of the Eamayana, and there is nothing in it which grieves us so much as the announcement that Mr. Growse has perforce to postpone sine die the completion of his work. The power that removed 10 THE RAMXyAKA of TULSI DXS. Mr. Growse from a sphere so peculiarly his own as was that of Mathura to regions like those of Bulandshahr, where Sanskrit is unknown and unappreciated, tempts ns with the men and women who gazed after Rama and Sita on their way to Chitrakut to say — “ God’s doings are all perverse.” So much care has been taken to re- produce in their exact form the similes with which every page of the original abounds that the book may safely be commended to all who want to make some acquaint- ance with the inner life and mode of thought of our countrymen. It is only in poetry so eminently faithful as that of Tulsi Has that this advantage can be obtained. Officers may mingle for years with the thousands who cross their official path and be unable to get as clear an insight into real native life as they would by quietly studying and thinking out this translation in their study chairs Even though Mr. Growse refuses to give us any promise for the future of this work, we have a hope that the subject will prove too strong for him, and that a transfer to happier climes may recall his old love for Tulsi D4s and bis Ramayana. So few try a venture into Indian song land that we cannot afford to let Mr. Growse remain ignorant of our earnest hope to see him again occupy ground so rich in interest, and to occupy which so few have the requisite qualities of which Mr. Growse has given such abun- dant proof.” — Indian Tribune, 1878. “We heartily welcome this translation. So far as we have been able to com- pare passages of it with the original, we have found them to be very faithful and accurate renderings. Though the style adopted by the translator is prose, which affords facility for a closer adherence to the original than verse would have done, yet it has a graceful rhythmical flow. Its idiom, moreover, is pure English. It seems impossible for the reader to help feeling himself transported into the fairy land of oriental poetry. The chief value of the work, however, is that it will assist English- men to become acquainted with the popular epic of the vast mass of Hindus, and thus enter into their loftiest feelings. Mr. Growse has in a well-written introduc- tion enhanced the value of the translation by tracing the history of the poem and of its author. We trust the public will show such an appreciation of this first instalment of the epic in an English dress as to encourage Mr. Growse in the task of completing the remainder.” — The Aryan. “We gladly welcome this first instalment of an excellent version of the most popular of Hindi poems .... Of Tulsi Das himself little is known, but what information is available has been collected by Mr. Growse in his introduction The transla- tion appears to be executed in a scholarly style, and is carefully edited throughout with footnotes explanatory of the mythological allusions. While thanking the THE eXmXyana gf tulsi dXs. 11 translator for this instalment of so important a work, we trust he will be encouraged to hasten the completion of it.” — Indian Antiquary, ‘‘ That the poem itself has been well and worthily translated is sufiBciently vouched for by Mr. G-rowse’s high reputation as a Sanskrit and Hindi scholar ; while his devout enthusiasm as an antiquarian makes him enter into his work with a zest which redeems it from much of the dryness which one ordinarily finds in philological labours. We cannot understand how any man can live in this country and not be touched by what he sees among the natives, especially the Hindus. To single out whatever seems to us grotesque and unreasonable in their religious system, and to ignore the deep religious feeling that underlies these flaws, is surely ungenerous and prejudiced. The Hindu desire of eternal life, the acknowledgment of man’s sinfulness, the efficacy of atonement for sin, their inveterate idea of a divine incarnation and the merits of sacrifice, should not be ignored, while all that is ludicrous and hideous in the religion of the Hindu people is put forward as its un- redeeming feature.” — Indo-European Correspondence, 1877. ‘‘ Me. F. S. Geowse, C.S., continues his translation of Tulsi Das’s version of the Udmdyana, and has just published the Second Book (Ayodhya) of that popular poem We frankly own to prejudice when we say that in spite of the lofty thoughts and principles which are embodied throughout the poem, and in spite of Mr. Growse’s wonderful combination of a pure English style and idiom with fidelity to the text of the original, we seem, as we read through the long string of dolias and chaupais, to hear the nasal drone of the Hindu minstrel and the wearisome beat of the tom-tom. It is prejudice, too, we fear, that throws a colouring of exaggeration over the expression of feelings on the part of the men, and somewhat of a whining querulous tone over those of the women. Mr. Growse, however, disarms, or at all events deprecates, this kind of prejudice. ‘The constant repetition,’ he says, ‘ of a few stereotyped phrases, such as ‘ lotus feet,’ ‘ streaming eyes,’ and ‘ quivering frame’ (a phrase which, he says, was rendered by a Calcutta Munshi, horripilation, which word he greatly admired on account of its six syllables), though they find a parallel in the stock epithets of the Homeric poems, are irritating to modern Euro- pean taste.’ We think the learned translator would be justified in saying ‘ pre- judice’ (taste and prejudice are much akin), for there are phrases in the Bible — in the Song of Solomon for instance — which would strike us as irritating as the Hindu poet’s, had we not been accustomed to the former from our childhood. “ Prejudice and taste apart, the great value of Mr. Growse’s translation to English readers lies in the insight it gives us into the feelings of this mysterious 112 12 THE eXMAYANA of TULSI dXS. Hindu people, among whom so many of us live for years without fatheming the depths of the national mind and heart. Of the pathetic parts of Tulsi Das’s poem — precisely those which an English reader would feel inclined to skip — Mr. Growse says that when publicly recited ‘ there is scarcely one of the audience who will not be moved to tears.’ It certainly is great service to put before us in good English the sterling equivalent of what touches the hearts of men who seem to us to have no hearts at all. We often hear it said of the people of this country that when they congregate, their talk is mostly about hlmt and paisa — rice and pence. The most popular of Hindu ballads has been composed — so says Tulsi Das in his epi- logue— ‘ for the bestowal of pure wisdom and continence and it would be sheer pre- judice to deny that the tale w^hich it tells of noble and heroic qualities has not justi- fied the epilogue. Yet this is the poem which has the strongest hold on the people of Upper India ! “ Mr. Growse’s removal from Mathura, where he has done so much to unearth and restore some of the most interesting remains of Hindu antiquity, has apparently forced him to postpone ^ indefinitely’ the completion of the Rdmdyana. In his present station, Bulandshahr, he is evidently away from the appliances necessary for the con- tinuation of this useful work. If our conjecture be right, we cannot but regret that he was removed from a place where his labours were so useful.” — Indo-European Correspondence^ 1878. “ Mr. Blocemann said he was much struck with a passage in Mr. Growse’s translation ; it was an additional proof that religious thought repeats itself, and that it was not difficult to cull passages from Hindu works that bear the most striking similarity to passages of the New Testament, thouo;h the authors could not be sup- posed to have been acquainted with Jewish or Christian writings. He hoped that Mr. Growse would have leisure and strength to complete the great — he might say national — work which he had commenced. Mr. Growse was well known both for the extent of his researches in Hindi folklore and philology and for the classical taste that pervades his translations, and there was no one better qualified to bring out a faithful and truly readable version of Txdsi Dds's Bdmdyana.^^ — Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. “T HAVE read the book with very great interest. The language of Tulsi Das is so difficult that even most of the Pandits in Hindustan can understand little of many passages in his books, especially in the lidmdyana, almost all sentences of which,, besides allegory or other figure, have a number of colloquial Hindi words. Such beint^ the case, an English translation must have been wanted by English readers - but now THE RXmATANA op TULSI DXS. 13 the author has done it beyond expectation. The version is quite literal and in easj style; and nothing difl5ciilb or figurative in the original text is omitted. So, after comparing the version with the original, I expect that this will assist not only English readers of the Rdmdyana, but the Pandits also who have to teach English scho- lars.”—of Pandit Guru Prasdd, Head Pandit of the Oriental College, Ldhor {received through Dr. Leitner). “The Hindi Rdmdyana is doubly valuable. It is in the first place a key to th© living creed of the modern Hindu who does not know Sanskrit. Secondly, it is in a style of transition, like our Elizabethan English, which shows the scholar and the etymologist what the language was three centuries back, as it passed from the Prakrit of the Suraseni to the modern speech. This is the work to the translation of which Mr. F. S. Growse has recently addressed himself ; and the first book of his excellent translation (the first that has been made) is now before the public The reputa- tion of the translator for accuracy of knowledge and skill is a sufficient guarantee that none who use it will be disappointed.” — Pioneer. “A very failthful, elegant, and animated translation of the Rdmdyana of Tulsi Ddsa, by Mr. F. S. Growse, C.S. The translation is executed in a scholarly style, and is carefully edited throughout with footnotes explanatory of the mythological allusions.” R. T. a. Griffith, Director of Public Instruction, Rorth- Western Provinces and Oudh. “Mr. Growse has published the second volume of his Rdmdyana of Tulsi Dds translated from the Hindi. The Hindi Rdmdyana has doubtless had a greater influence on the popular religious ideas of the Hindus than many more elaborate or masterly works, and the translation will form, therefore, a very good introduction to the study of modern Hindu belief. The author states that the seventh and last book is almost ready for the press, and that he intends next year to republish the whole work in one volume copiously illustrated with really native art, exhibiting the conventional teatment of the favourite subjects taken from this poem. This will be a most interesting method of familiarising English readers with native conceptions of the beautiful both in art and poetry ; and the English reader will be able to follow with complete confidence the English version of so accomplished a Hindi scholar as Mr. Growse.” — Academy, December 18, 1880. “ The second portion of Mr. Growse’s translation is in no way inferior to the first, of which a second edition has, we see, been called for ; while the English is through- out idiomatic, the spirit of the original is carefully preserved.”— Review. .1 S' c'* •A =/ i." '. /A ; \ ' s , ■ :' v:;ir .j;,y ' ) rr> •, • ' .s • ;''vi,.\:i. Al' A «).? 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