Though there is no poetic merit at all in my verses, the glory of Rama is manifest in them. This is the confidence which has possessed my soul; is there anything which is not ennobled by good companionship?

Thus smoke abandons its natural pungency and in incense yields a sweet scent. Although my composition is clumsy, it treats of a high theme-the story of Rama, that brings felicity to the world.

The story of Raghunatha, says Tulasidasa, brings good fortune and wipes away the impurities of the Kaliyuga. The course of this stream of my poetry is tortuous like that of the holy Ganga; yet association with the Lord’s auspicious glory will bless my composition and render it agreeable to the virtuous. The ashes of the cremation-ground, when smeared on Shiva’s body, appear charming and purify by their very thought.

My verses will be very dear to everyone, for the glory of Rama is in them. Any wood that comes from the Malaya sandal-groves is valued; who considers what kind of wood it is?

The milk of even a black cow is white and very wholesome and all men drink it; and so, though my speech is rough, it tells the story of Sita and Rama, and will therefore be heard and repeated with pleasure by sensible people.

So long as the jewel remains in the serpent’s head, the ruby on the mountain and the pearl in the elephant’s forehead, they are not so very beautiful; they all take on a wondrous charm in a king’s crown or on a lovely young woman.

Similarly, as wise men tell, poetry is born of one source but finds its charm in another; for it is in answer to the poet’s pious prayer that Sarasvati leaves her heavenly dwelling and speeds to earth.