पृष्ठम्:श्रीमद्वाल्मीकिरामायणम्.pdf/१६

श्रीराम शरणम्
FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION
ऐश्वर्य पुत्रलाभच भविष्यति न संशयः ।
रामायणमिदं कृत्वं शृण्वतः पठतः सदा ॥
[ रामायणे V1-128-116.]
To be blessed with a lordly fortune and to be happy in becoming and being
the father of a good son-these always, surely, accrue to one who
hcars and reads the whole of this holy text-The Ramayana.
This is still the loving belief of many a Hindu, cultured or uncul-
tured, young or old, man or woman, Brahmana or non-Brāhmaṇa.
Mr. R. Narayanaswami Aiyar, B.A., B.L., the enlightened, large-
hearted and pious proprietor of the Madras Law Journal Press,
Mylapore, is actuated by this happy and healthy belief in making
himself mainly responsible for the meritorious act of bringing out
this handy, reliable and useful edition of the text of the Rāmāyaṇa.
This edition is based on a careful collation of the following manu-
scripts and printed editions :-
(1) An old palm-leaf manuscript, in Grantha script, about 300
years old, prepared by a Sri Vaisnava and got from the Sivagangā
District-Kandas I to VII, indicated by the letter--(.)
(2) An old palm-leaf manuscript, about 150 years old,
written in Grantha script in Malabar-Kândas I to VI-belonging to
Mahamahopadhyāya Vidyāvācaspati Darsanakalanidhi Professor S.
Kuppuswami Sastri, indicated by the letter-(.
(3) An old paper manuscript, in Devanagari script-Kändas
I to VII, belonging to Brahmasri Yajñeśvara Dikşitar of Pakşitir-
tham (Chingleput District)-about 100 years old-indicated by the
letter-(n).