(.२८१) Banda, as he was trying to make his way towards Kalpi. : ; VIII ( Extract from the District Gazetteer of the United Provinces Vol, XXI, Banda, (1909) pp. 285. ] It is said that in the reign of Akbar a holy man, named Tulsi Das, a resident of Soron in Kasganj tahsil of Etah District, came to the jungle on the banks of the Jumna, where Rajapur now. stands, and devoted himsolf to prayer and meditation, His sanctity soon attracted followers, who settled round him, and as their number increased they began to deyote themselves to commerce as well as religion, This is of course Tulsi Das, the -author of the Ramayan, and his house is still shown in the town. It was a low kachcha building, but has recently been rebuilt and contains a shrine and an old, somewhat muti. lated manuscript of the Ramayan. There is a small muafi attached to the shrine, but the present muafidars are ignorant and quarrelsome and do nothing to further the spirit of religious purity and lofty ideals preached by the vener-
