Tulsidas

(1532–1623)

   greatest Hindi poet

   It can be said without reservation that Tulsidas is the greatest poet to write in the Hindi language. Tulsidas was a BRAHMIN by birth and was believed to be a reincarnation of the author of the SANSKRIT RAMAYANA, VALMIKI.

   Tulsidas was born in the village of Rajpur in Uttar Pradesh in 1532 C.E. He died in 1623 C.E. at the age of 91 at Asighat in BENARES (Varanasi). His father’s name was Atmaram Shukla Dube and his mother’s was Hulsi. Tulsidas’s birth name was Tulsiram. The story of Tulsidas’s life is not historically verifiable and many details clearly are intended to enhance the understanding that he was a saint. For example, he did not cry at birth and was born with 32 teeth. His early life was fraught with sorrow because his parents died when he was still young. Some say that his foster parents also passed away when he was young. We know he was married to a woman named Buddhimati or Ratnavali. It is said he had a son named Tarak.

   Tulsidas was inordinately fond of his wife. One day she went to her father’s house without telling her husband. When Tulsidas found out, he could not stay away from her and went to sleep with her in her father’s house. Buddhimati, trying to resist his advances in embarrassment, said that if Tulsi-das had half the love for Lord RAMA that he had for her lowly body, he would most certainly reach liberation from birth and rebirth. Shamed by this, Tulsidas resolved to leave the householder life and become an ascetic.

   He spent the next 14 years visiting the vari-ous PILGRIMAGE sites of North India. Living in the wilderness, Tulsidas would spill the excess water after his ablutions on the root of a particular tree. This pleased the being within the tree, who offered Tulsidas a boon. Tulsidas asked for a direct vision of Lord Rama. The being told Tulsidas to go to a particular temple where HANUMAN, the monkey god, visited regularly in the form of a leper. He was told to approach Hanuman for his request. This he did, and he received DARSHAN of Lord Rama.

   Tulsidas wrote 12 books, but, by far, the most important is the Ramcharitmanas (The Holy Lake of the Acts of Ram), a Ramayana written in old Hindi (Avadhi) couplets. The book was written under the direction of Hanuman himself. It is read all over North India, and particularly during the time of the Ramlila. It is sung aloud in large groups for devotional purposes. Vinaya Patrika is another excellent book said to be written by Tulsi-das, who also authored Gitavali (1571), Kavitavali (1612), and Barvairamayana (1612)

   Several stories demonstrate Tulsidas’s special spiritual status. Once some thieves went to his ASHRAM to steal. They were frightened off by a dark-complexioned guard holding a bow and arrow in his hand. The next morning they asked Tulsidas about this unusual-looking guard. Tulsi-das realized that it had been Lord Rama and was overcome with devotion. In thanks, he gave away all his wealth to the needy.

   In another story it is said that Tulsidas, while visiting BENARES, was greeted by a murderer, asking alms in the name of Lord Rama. Tulsidas invited him to his house and gave him PRASADA, sacred food, from the worship of Rama. The BRAHMINS were angered; they thought it improper to give a criminal such a blessing and to sit and eat with him. The Brahmins challenged Tulsidas; they said they could approve giving alms to a murderer only if the tem-ple icon of NANDI, Shiva’s bull mount, would accept food from the hand of this murderer. Tulsidas took them up on this challenge, and the temple Nandi did indeed eat from the murderers hands.

   In another tale saint Tulsidas restores a poor woman’s husband to life. Finally, Tulsidas is said to have been jailed by the Mughal emperor; when he was freed by a band of monkeys, friends of Hanuman, the emperor himself, though a Muslim, recognized Tulsidas as a saint.

   Further reading: A. G. Atkins, trans., The Ramayana of Tulsidas (New Delhi: Hindustan Times, 1954); S. P. Bahadur, The Ramayana of Goswami Tulsidas (Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1972); S. P. Bahadur, trans., Complete Works of Gosvami Tulsidas (Varanasi: Prachya Prakashan, 1978); S. R. Bakshi and Sangh Mitra, eds., Saints of India (New Delhi: Criterion, 2002); Ramdat Bharadwaj, The Philosophy of Tulsidas (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1979); Sant Vani: Hindi Devo-tionals from Saint Poets (Dum Dum: EMI: His Master’s Voice, 1975); Devendra Singh, Tulsidas (Bombay: India Book House, 1971).