Introduction
Sant Tulsidas popularly known as Goswami Tulsidas was one of the greatest saint poets of Ancient India whose monumental works and devotion to Lord Ram are reflected in his literary prowess and compositions. He was said to be the incarnation of Sage Valmiki who was the author of the original Ramayan written in Sanskrit and Tulsidas’s magnum opus ‘Ramcharitamanas’ is one of the treasures in the spiritual and literary genre of ancient India combining pure non dualistic philosophy and supreme devotion.
Birth and Early Life
Tulsidas was born in 1497 AD (though there are varying records on the exact year) in Rajpur (Chitrakoota) in the district of Banda in Uttar Pradesh and was a Sarayuparina Brahmin by birth belonging to Parashar Gotra. His father was Atmaram Shukla Dube and his mother was Hulsi. According to legend, Tulsidas was born after 12 months in the womb with all 32 teeth and had the looks and health of a five year old boy. Instead of crying at birth, he is said to have uttered Ram hence his parents named him Rambola. It is said that he was born under an inauspicious astrological configuration known as Abhuktamula constellation which is supposed to cause immediate danger to the life of the father hence he was abandoned by his parents a few days after birth and sent away with Chuniya, a female servant of Hulsi. He was then taken by Chuniya to her village Haripur where she looked after him for five years after which she passed away. Rambola then had to fend for himself begging for alms wandering from door to door. After some time he was adopted by one of the disciples of Ramananda named Narharidas (who was directed by the Lord in his dream according to legends) and initiated in the Vairagi tradition with the new name of Tulsidas. His thread ceremony was performed at Ayodhya by Narharidas. At the holy Varaha temple Narharidas narrated the Ramayan to Tulsidas for the first time. Tulsidas was then sent to Varanasi to Guru Shesh Sanatana who was a renowned scholar of philosophy and literature and was a friend of Narharidas. At Varanasi over a period of fifteen to sixteen years he studied Sanskrit grammar, scriptures and the six schools of Hindu philosophy. Later after completing his studies he returned to his birthplace Rajpur where he came to know that his parents were no more. He then performed the Shraadh ceremony and began living in his ancestral home. Many of these events are said to be mentioned in his work Vinayapatrika.
Marriage and later renunciation
Tulsidas was married to Ratnavali who was the daughter of a Brahmin named Dinbandhu Pathak of Mahewa village of Kaushambi district. They had a son named Tarak who is said to have passed away a few years after birth. Legends state that Tulsidas was passionately attached to his wife. Once when he had gone to the temple his wife went to her father’s house without informing Tulsidas. When Tulsidas returned home, missing her presence he rushed to his father in law’s house inspite of heavy rains, crossing the turbulent river and eventually using a snake as a rope in the dark he entered her room. Stunned to see him Ratnavali admonished him saying that the body was only a mass of flesh and bones and if instead Tulsidas had developed love for the Lord he would succeed in crossing the ocean of Samsara. Her words of wisdom pierced Tulsidas’s heart and suddenly a sense of dispassion came over him. Renouncing the life of a householder Tulsidas left for Prayag and became an ascetic. Some accounts state that Tulsidas never married and took up an ascetic form of life right from childhood.
Darshan of Hanuman
After renunciation Tulsidas began travelling to many pilgrimage centres meeting holy persons and pursuing his meditations and penances. While he began expounding the Ramayan it is said that a leper (some accounts state that it was an old man) used to attend the discourses and he was always the first to enter and the last to leave. Tulsidas realised that he was none other than Hanuman and fell at his feet. Hanuman blessed him and the sacred spot is said to be the place where the Sankat Mochan temple stands today. Hanuman asked him to go to Chitrakoota where he would be blessed with a vision of the Lord.
Darshan of Lord Ram
Tulsidas began living in an ashram in Chitrakoota. Once day when he went to perform circumambulation of the Kamadgiri Mountain he saw two princes one dark and the other fair mounted on horseback. Enraptured with their beautiful presence Tulsidas could not recognise them. Later Hanuman asked him whether he had the darshan of Lord Ram and Lakshman. Tulsidas was sad as he had failed to recognise them. Hanuman pacified him that he would meet the Lord again the next day. This time the Lord appeared in the form of a child and Tulsidas who was making sandalwood paste was again entranced but Hanuman guided him and Tulsidas is said to have had the full darshan of the Lord. Before leaving, the Lord put the sandalwood paste on the forehead of the entranced Tulsidas and on himself before disappearing.
Miracles
Tulsidas was said to have had the darshan of Sage Yajnavalkya and Sage Bharadwaja and a number of miracles were attributed to Tulsidas like bringing a dead man alive and the instance where he was imprisoned by Akbar for not exhibiting miracles in his presence at Fatehpur Sikri and Tulsidas created the Hanuman Chalisa in jail and chanted it for 40 days wherein the entire city was besieged by monkeys and the King realised Tulsidas’s greatness and released him. Another miracle is where he bowed to Lord Krishna with a flute in Brindavan which transformed into Lord Ram with a bow and arrow.
Literary life
Tulsidas began composing poetry at Varanasi in Sanskrit but found to his dismay that that all his compositions vanished at night. This unusual phenomenon occurred for eight days. Then he had a vision of Lord Shiva and Parvati who ordered him to go to Ayodhya and compose poetry in Awadhi. Complying with the Lord’s instructions Tulsidas began composing the Ramcharithamanas and took over two years to complete it. His first recitation of the completed work was at the Kashi Vishvanath temple in Varanasi. The Ramacharitamanas is divided into seven books or Kands and consist of 12800 lines divided into groups of Chaupais or stanzas separated by Dohas. The Brahmins in Varanasi were unhappy that he had written the Ramayan in vernacular and wished to test him. They buried the Ramcharitamanas under a pile of Sanskrit works in the sanctum sanctorum of the Kashi Vishvanath temple before the doors were locked for the night. But on opening the doors of the temple in the morning they were amazed to see that the Ramacharitamanas was placed right at the top of the pile with the words Satyam Shivam Sundaram inscribed on it and the signature of Lord Shiva. But the Brahmins were still unconvinced and sent two thieves to steal the manuscript from his ashram. The two thieves found the ashram being guarded by two guards one fair and the other dark complexioned with bows and arrows. Next day when they related the incident to Tulsidas he realised that they were none other than Lord Ram and Lakshman and was so pained to think of them guarding his humble abode that he is said to have given away the manuscript to his friend.
Later Life
In the latter part of his life Tulsidas is said to have been affected by pain and boils all over his body. He then composed the Hanuman Bahuk and is said to have been relieved of his pain after this composition. He also composed the Vinayapatrika meaning ‘Petition of humility’ which comprised of devotional hymns to various Gods and is in the form of a petition asking the Lord for Supreme devotion against the passions of greed, lust, anger etc with the plaintiff being Tulsidas representing the entire humanity and the judges being Lord Ram and his brothers along with Devi Sita.
Passing Away
Tulsidas passed away in 1623 AD at the Assi ghat on the banks of the river Ganga though the year varies as there are no exact records.
Works of Tulsidas
Tulsidas’s works have been divided into two groups based on the language Awadhi or Braja.
Awadhi works
Ramcharitamanas- The entire story of the life of Lord Ram
Barvai Ramayan- The Ramyan in Barvai metre.
Ramlala Nahachu- The Nahachu or cutting of nails ceremony of the child Ram before the other ceremonies like Upanayana etc.
Janaki Mangal- The marriage of Lord Ram to Devi Sita
Parvati Mangal- The Marriage of Devi Parvati to Lord Shiva
Ramagya Prashna- The non sequential narration of Ramayan with a method to look up the Shagun or omen for astrological predictions
Braja works
Gitavali- Rendering of Ramayan in the form of songs set to different Hindustani raags.
Kavitavali- Rendering of the Ramayan in metres of the Kavita family
Dohavali- Dohas or verses written on various topics like purpose of life, righteousness, political wisdom etc.
Krishna Gitavali- Songs in honour of Krishna, his boyhood sports, miracles etc.
Vinaya Patrika- Petition of Humility
Vairagya Sandipani- Description of Vairagya (dispassion), Jnana (realisation), moral conduct, greatness of saints etc
Besides this Tulsidas composed Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman Bahuk, Hanuman Ashtaka and Tulsi Satsai
Conclusion
Sant Tulsidas’s intense devotion and faith in Bhakti marga as a key to attaining salvation was the hallmark of one of the greatest saints of India. His quest for the Divine absolute took the form of a personal God or Ishta Devta and he firmly believed like Hanuman that the name of the Lord was greater than the persona of the Lord himself. Total self surrender to the Lord with only love as his qualification can be reflected in his writings which show his utter humility and simplicity. Saints such as Tulsidas are born to awaken divine consciousness in society and his forceful, enchanting and touching poetry and love and longing for Lord Ram continues to be a beacon of hope and light for mankind in their quest for truth and self realisation.
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