Following was written and posted on CH by yours truly several years ago. The plan was to complete the story later but i could not come back to it; it remains an unfinished story.
The Last Vanity
by Rashmun
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Introduction:
Some eight months ago, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Hardwar--who had studied history in university--declared that he was in the possession of a remarkable document. This was a palm leaf maunscript in avadhi (a hindi dialect) apparently written by Goswami Tulsi Das himself since it was signed under his name.
The CJM's family--who were priests-- had zealously preserved this document in secret down the ages, and it was only now when the CJM got possession of it at his father's death that the world got to know of the existence of this precious document.
I use the word "precious" since it is now fairly certain that the document is indeed written by Tulsidas; two most competent philologists have analysed it linguistically and have independently concluded that the document seems to be authentic after comparing it with other writings of the famous author of the Ram Charit Manas.
Through the good offices of a relative of mine--who is the CJM's superior--i, a professional Indologist, managed to first hand examine the manuscript and copy it out in long hand, after which i proceeded to translate it after reaching an agreement with the CJM.
The translation of the entire manuscript will be published later this year. For now, i offer a preview of my translation to my Sulekha friends.
Feedback is solicited, and would be much appreciated.
My apologies in advance if the writing style of what follows is not as masterly as Tulsi Das's original Avadhi prose which is quite vigorous; there is only so much a translator can do and it is impossible to convey the full flavor of Tulsi Das's writings since many words and phrases in Avadhi don't translate well in Engish, but i have attempted to do my best.
-Rashmun
Feb 24, 2002
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Tulsi Das's introduction:
Victory to Lord Hanuman,
who swallowed the sun
thinking it a ripe fruit;
who went on the run
and after countless hurdles
delivered the missive to Sita;
who brought the entire hill
to revive the injured Laxman.
May he who is a bhakta of Rama
He who lives within me
steal away your ills and mine.
The Pandits of Benaras know that when i was giving discourses on the Ramayana, an old man would always attend my lectures. The man would be the first to arrive, and the first to leave, whenever i gave a talk on the immortal story of Lord Ram. After a while, i guessed that this could be Lord Hanuman himself, since he was the greatest devotee of the Lord and it was just possible he had liked my Ram Charit Manas on which i had expended the better part of my life.
After one such discourse, i decided to follow the old man and speak with him.
As the discourse finished, the old man quickly got up and started walking away as was his nature. I got up, made excuses, and followed him as fast as i could.
He was walking swiftly, and after a while--when i wasn't able to catch up even with brisk walking--, i started to run, where at the old man started to run as well. We were running along the Ganges at Benaras for quite a while, and i kept getting starred at by passers by. I persevered on, however, and after quite a while when we reached a secluded place under a Neem Tree--and when i was quite exhausted--the old man stopped and turned. He looked as fresh as ever, and his eyes were shining. I immediately prostrated before him then, and lo! Lord Hanuman was there before me, with a wry smile on his magnificent countenance.
We conversed for a while, and i conveyed the sincere love and admiration i had for him. And then--since this was truly a unique opportunity--i requested him to answer some questions about his adolescent life since it was shrouded in some mystery. He demurred, whereupon i conveyed to him that there were a number of speculations about him--about why he remained a bachelor for example, and how he was born, and what all he did in his youth.
After much persuasion, and many appeals, he started smiling; and then agreed that it was best to dispel rumours about his personal life. "And besides," he said, " i believe the children of our country may just profit from knowing something about my adolescent life."
But he didn't want to answer specific questions, he said, and offered instead to give a brief outline of his early life.
I agreed at once to the Lord's proposal, and from then on, i spent several mornings writing down what he dictated to me.
What follows is an exact word for word account of Lord Hanuman's early life, including his adolescence, as related by him.
I am calling this work "The Last Vanity" at the request of the Lord himself; the reader will realise the significance of the title when he reads for himself the story of Hanuman ji.
Hanuman ji's unworthy servant,
Goswami Tulsidas
Year 1574
(Vikram era)
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