About The Book: The Ramayana of Tulsi Das; On comparing the above sketch with my translation of the corresponding portion of the Hindi poem, it will be seen that the two agree only in the broadest outline. The episodes so freely introduced by both poets are, for the most part, entirely dissimilar; and even in the main narrative some of the most important incidents, such as the breaking of the bow and the contention with Parasuram, are differently placed and assume a very altered complexion. In other passages where the story follows the same lines, whatever Valmiki has condensed as, for example, the description of the marriage festivities Tulsi Das has expanded and wherever the elder poet has lingered longest, his successor has hastened on most rapidly. About The Translator: Frederic Salmon Growse CIE (1836 – 19 May 1893) was a British civil servant of the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Hindi scholar, archaeologist and collector, who served in Mathura and Bulandshahr in the North-Western Provinces during British rule in India. He studied Indian literature and languages, and founded the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart and the Government Museum, both at Mathura. Between 1876 and 1883, he published in series, the first English translation of the Ramayana of Tulsidas. He also wrote Mathura: A district memoir (1880) and a description of the district of Bulandshahr (1884) and of its new architecture (1886). Described as "never a persona grata to his superiors", he was nonetheless gazetted CIE in 1879. At Bulandshahr between 1878 and 1884 he caused a number of buildings to be constructed using local designs and craftsmen. In 1882, he donated a collection of Indian pottery to the British Museum. In Mathura, he became intrigued by the popularity among its ordinary people of the Ramayana of Tulsidas. In 1876 he published his translation into English of the original text by Tulsidas. Growse published a revised version in 1880 as a four-volume second edition and published a full version in 1883. It was the first illustrated version of the complete English translation of the Ramcharitmanas, which he completed in Bulandshahr. He writes in the introduction that the epic Sanskrit Ramayana of Valmiki had been translated into several languages including English, but the more popular Hindi version, a retelling of Rama's life, titled Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas, previously had not been translated into English.
