{{infobox film| name	Hanuman
director	V.G. SamantMilind Ukey
producer	Manmohan Challa
writer	Milind Ukey
starring	Mukesh KhannaSushmita Mukherjee
music	Tapas Relia
editing	Hufeza Lokhandwala
distributor	Hyderabad Innovatives
released	21 October 2005
country	India
language	Hindi
followed by	Return of Hanuman (2007) }}

Hanuman is a 2005 animated feature film released by Sahara India Pariwar of India, Percept Pictures and Silvertoons. The animated film dramatizes the life of its title character, Hanuman, a Hindu God. The animation was created by Silvertoons. It is India's first major commercial family animated feature (there were several earlier ones made by Pentamedia Graphics).

Plot

The screenplay of this animated movie depict the part of Hanuman's life from his birth. The narration is by actor Mukesh Khanna. The movie relates how Hanuman was born to Anjani (a female Apsara) and Kesari, by the blessings of Vayu-Dev, the Wind God. Hanuman, who is the 11th rudra avatar of supreme being God Shiva himself. He was blessed with supreme intelligence, strength and divine powers. As a baby, Hanuman was quite naughty and used his powers to pester the saints living in the nearby forest. Once when he was hungry he leapt to catch the sun thinking it was a fruit.

On the insistence of Vayu, Indra and the other Gods came together to bless baby Hanuman of immortal life. Amongst the other blessing a few are: no fear/harm from the Brahmastra, no harm could befall him from any weapons, fire and water. He could overcome death and he could transform his body to take the smallest form or attain the biggest form of life. Blessed with divine powers Hanuman grew up to be powerful and mighty. He helped Lord Ram and Laxman in their search for Sita. Hanuman burned the golden city Lanka and he with his super powers helped Lord Ram and Laxman defeat Ravana and secure the release of Sita. Seeing his devotion and love towards him, Lord Ram blessed Hanuman with the boon of immortality.

Successor

A companion film, Hanuman Returns (later retitled Return of Hanuman), was released on 28 December 2007. The story is different from that of its predecessor; due to this, a disclaimer is stated at the beginning of the movie.

See also

List of animated feature films

Pentamedia Graphics (an Indian company which has released a number of animated features natraj)

External links

Info at Yahoo Movies UK

Category:2005 films Category:Animated films Category:Hindi-language films Category:Hindu mythological films Category:Indian films Category:Films based upon Asian myths and legends

fr:Hanuman (film, 2005)

Name	Tulsidas(तुलसीदास)
Alt	Stamp on Tulsidas
Birth date	1497 or 1532
Birth place	Rajapur, Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India
Birth name	Rambola
Death date	1623
Death place	Assi Ghat, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Guru	Naraharidāsa
Philosophy	Vaishnavism
Honors	Gosvāmī, Abhinavavālmīki, etc
Quote	I bow down to the whole word by folding both hands, considering it to be born out of Sita and Rama.
Literary works	Ramcharitmanas, Vinaypatrika, Dohavali, Kavitavali, Hanuman Chalisa, Vairagya Sandipani, Janaki Mangal, Parvati Mangal, and others
Footnotes	}}

Tulsidas (Devanāgarī: तुलसीदास, , also spelt Tulasidas, Tulsīdās or Gosvāmī Tulasīdāsa), (1497/1532–1623) was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama. A composer of several popular works, he is best known for being the author of the epic Ramcharitmanas, a retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana in the vernacular Awadhi, which is a popular Hindu scripture often referred to as the Bible of North India. Tulsidas was acclaimed in his lifetime to be a reincarnation of Valmiki, the composer of the original Ramayana in Sanskrit. He is also considered to be the composer of the Hanuman Chalisa, a popular devotional hymn dedicated to Hanuman, the divine monkey helper and devotee of Rama. Tulsidas died in the city of Varanasi, and the Tulsi Ghat in the city is named after him. He founded the Sankatmochan Temple dedicated to Hanuman in Varanasi, believed to stand at the place where he had the sight of Hanuman. Tulsidas started the Ramlila plays, a folk-theatre adaption of the Ramayana. He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest poets in Hindi, Indian, and world literature. The impact of Tulsidas and his works on the art, culture and society in India is widespread and is seen to date in Ramlila plays, Hindustani classical music, popular music, and television series.

Etymology

The Sanskrit name of Tulsidas can be transliterated in two ways. Using the IAST transliteration scheme, the name is written as "Tulasīdāsa", as pronounced in Sanskrit. Using the Hunterian transliteration scheme, it is written as Tulsidas, as pronunced in Hindi. The name comes from two Sanskrit words: Tulasī, which is an Indian variety of the basil plant considered auspicious by Vaishnavas (devotees of god Vishnu and his avatars like Rama), and Dāsa, which means a slave or servant and by extension, a devotee. Tulsidas, thus means a servant of the plant Tulsi.

Life

Incarnation of Valmiki

Tulsidas is believed to be a reincarnation of Valmiki. In the Hindu scripture Bhavishyottar Purana, the god Shiva tells his wife Parvati how Valmiki, who got a boon from Hanuman to sing the glory of Rama in vernacular language, will incarnate in future in the Kali Yuga (the present and last Yuga or epoch within a cycle of four Yugas).

vālmīkistulasīdāsaḥ kalau devi bhaviṣyati । rāmacandrakathāmetāṃ bhāṣābaddhāṃ kariṣyati ॥

Nabhadas, the seventeenth century author of the Bhaktamala (literally, the legend of saints), wrote that Tulsidas was the incarnation of Valmiki in the Kali Yuga. The Ramanandi sect believes that it was Valmiki himself who incarnated as Tulsidas in the Kali Yuga.

According to a traditional account, Hanuman went to Valmiki several times to hear him sing the Ramayana, but Valmiki turned down the request saying that Hanuman being a monkey was unworthy of hearing the epic. After the victory of Rama over Ravana, Hanuman went to the Himalayas to continue his worship of Rama. There he scripted a play version of the Ramayana called Mahanataka or Hanuman Nataka engraved on the Himalayan rocks using his nails. When Valmiki saw the play written by Hanuman, he anticipated that the beauty of the Maha Nataka would eclipse his own Ramayana. On Valmiki's request, Hanuman cast all the rocks into the ocean, some parts of which are available today as Hanuman Nataka. After this, Valmiki was instructed by Hanuman to take birth as Tulsidas and compose the Ramayana in the vernacular.

Birth

Tulsidas was born on the seventh day of the bright half of the lunar Hindu month Shraavana (July–August). Although as many as seven places are mentioned as his birth-place, most scholars identify the place with Rajapur (Chitrakuta), a village on the banks of the Yamuna river in modern-day Uttar Pradesh. His parents were Hulsi and Atmaram Dubey. Most sources identify him as a Saryupareen Brahmin of the Parashar Gotra (lineage), although some sources claim he was a Kanyakubja or Sanadhya Brahmin.

There is difference of opinion among biographers regarding the year of birth of Tulsidas. Many sources rely on the testimony of Veni Madhav Das, a contemporary and a disciple of Tulsidas, in his work Mula Gosain Charita which gives the year of Tulsidas's birth as Vikrami Samvat 1554 (1497 CE). These sources include Shivlal Pathak, popular editions of Ramcharitmanas (Gita Press, Naval Kishore Press and Venkateshvar Press), Edwin Greaves, Hanuman Prasad Poddar, Ramanand Sarasvati, Ayodhyanath Sharma, Ramchandra Shukla, Narayandas, and Rambhadracharya. A second group of biographers led by Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras and Sir George Grierson give the year as Vikram 1589 (1532 CE). These biographers include Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, Ramghulam Dwivedi, James Lochtefeld, Swami Sivananda and others. A third small group of authors which includes H. H. Wilson, Tasi and Krishnadatta Mishra gives the year as Vikram 1600 (1543 CE)..

The year 1497 appears in most biographies and popular culture. Biographers who disagree with this year argue that it makes the life span of Tulsidas equal 126 years, which in their opinion is unlikely if not impossible. In contrast, Ramchandra Shukla says that an age of 126 is not impossible for Mahatmas (great souls) like Tulsidas. The Government of India and provincial governments celebrated the 500th birth anniversary of Tulsidas in the year 1997 CE, according to the year of Tulsidas's birth in popular culture.

Early life

Childhood

Legend goes that Tulsidas was born after staying in the womb for 12 months, he had all 32 teeth in his mouth at birth, his health was that like that of a five-year old boy, and he did not cry at the time of his birth but uttered Rama instead. He was therefore named Rambola (literally, he who uttered Rama), as Tulsidas himself states in Vinayapatrika. As per the Mula Gosain Charita, he was born under the Abhuktamūla constellation, which according to Jyotisha (Hindu astrology) causes immediate danger to the father of the infant. Due to the inauspicious events at the time of his birth, he was abandoned by his parents on the fourth night, sent away with Chuniya, a female servant of Hulsi. Tulsidas attests to his parents abandoning him after birth in his works Kavitavali and Vinayapatrika.

Chuniya looked after the child for five and a half years after which she passed away. Rambola was left to fend for himself as an impoverished orphan, and wandered from door to door begging for alms. It is believed that the goddess Parvati assumed the form of a Brahmin woman and fed Rambola every day.

Initiation from guru and learning

At the age of five years, Rambola was adopted by Narharidas, a Vaishnava ascetic of the Ramananda's monastic order who is believed to be the fourth disciple of Ramananda, or alternately, the disciple of Anantacharya. Rambola was given the Virakta Diksha (Vairagi initiation) with the new name of Tulsidas. Tulidas narrates the dialogue that took place during the first meeting with his guru in a passage in the Vinayapatrika. When he was seven years old, his Upanayana ("sacred thread ceremony") was performed by Narharidas on the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Magha (January–February) at Ayodhya, a pilgrimage-site related to Rama. Tulsidas started his learning at Ayodhya. After some time, Narharidas took him to a particular Varaha Kshetra (a holy place with temple dedictaed to Varaha - the boar avatar of Vishnu), where he first narrated the Ramayana to Tulsidas. Tulsidas mentions this in the Ramcharitmanas.

maiʼn puni nija gura sana sūnī kathā so sūkarakheta । samujhī nahiʼn tasa bālapana taba ati raheuʼn aceta ॥

Most authors identify the Varaha Kshetra referred to by Tulsidas with the Varaha temple on the second entrance of the pilgrimage of Kamadgiri in Chitrakuta. Some biographers believe this Sukarkshetra is the Soron Varaha Kshetra in modern-day Kanshi Ram Nagar, while some others believe it to be Paska-Rajapur Varaha Kshetra in current-day Gonda. Tulsidas further mentions in the Ramcharitmanas that his guru repeatedly narrated the Ramayana to him, which led him to understand it somewhat.

Tulsidas later came to the sacred city of Varanasi and studied Sanskrit grammar, four Vedas, six Vedangas, Jyotisha and the six schools of Hindu philosophy over a period of 15–16 years from guru Shesha Sanatana. After completing his studies, Tulsidas came back to his birthplace Rajapur with the permission of Shesha Sanatana. Here he found that his family was no more, with his parents dead. Tulsidas performed the Shraddha ceremony (which deals with giving offerings to the ancestors) of his parents. He started living in his ancestral home and narrating the Katha ("story") of Ramayana in Chitrakuta.

Marriage and renunciation

According to the Mula Gosain Charita and some other works, Tulsidas was married to Ratnavali on the thirteenth day of the bright half of the Jyeshta month (May–June) in Vikram 1583 (1526 CE). Ratnavali was the daughter of Dinbandhu Pathak, a Brahmin of the Bharadwaja Gotra, who belonged to Mahewa village of Kaushambi district. Once when Tulsidas had gone to a Hanuman temple, Ratnavali went to her father's home with her brother. When Tulsidas came to know this, he swam across the Yamuna river in the night to meet his wife. Ratnavali chided Tulsidas for this, and remarked that if Tulsidas was even half as devoted to God as he was to her body of flesh and blood, he would have been redeemed. Tulsidas left her instantly and left for the holy city of Prayag. Here, he renounced the Grihastha (householder's life) stage and became a Sadhu (Hindu ascetic).

Rambhadracharya considers the marriage episode of Tulsidas to be a later interpolation, interpreting two verses in the Vinayapatrika and Hanuman Bahuka to mean that Tulsidas never married and was a Sadhu from childhood.

Later life

Travels

After renunciation, Tulsidas spent most of his time at Varanasi, Prayag, Ayodhya, and Chitrakuta but visited many other nearby and far-off places. He traveled across India to many places, studying different people, meeting saints and Sadhus and meditating. The Mula Gosain Charita gives an account of his travels to the four pilgrimages of Hindus (Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and Rameshwaram) and the Himalayas. He visited the Manasarovar lake in current-day Tibet, where tradition holds he had Darshan (sight) of Kakabhushundi, the crow who is one of the four narrators in the Ramcharitmanas.

Darshan of Hanuman

Tulsidas hints at several places in his works, that he had met face to face with Hanuman and Rama. The account of his meetings with Hanuman and Rama were first recorded in the Bhaktirasbodhini of Priyadas (1713 CE). According to these records and tradition, elaborated in detail by Growse and Lutgendorf, Tulsidas used to visit the woods outside Varanasi for his morning ablutions with a water pot. On his return to the city, he used to offer the remaining water to a certain tree. This quenched the thirst of a Preta (a type of ghost believed to be ever thirsty for water), who appeared to Tulsidas and offered him a boon. Tulsidas said he wished to see Rama with his eyes, to which the Preta responded that it was beyond him. However, the Preta said that he could guide Tulsidas to Hanuman, who could grant the boon Tulsidas asked for. The Preta told Tulsidas that Hanuman comes everyday disguised in the mean attire of a leper to listen to his Katha, he is the first to arrive and last to leave.

That evening Tulsidas noted that the first listener to arrive at his discourse was an old leper, who sat at the end of the gathering. After the Katha was over, Tulsidas quietly followed the leper to the woods. In the woods, at the spot where the Sankat Mochan Temple stands today, Tulsidas firmly fell at the leper's feet, shouting "I know who you are" and "You cannot escape me". At first the leper feigned ignorance but Tulsidas did not relent. Then the leper revealed his original form of Hanuman and blessed Tulsidas. When granted a boon, Tulsidas told Hanuman he wanted to see Rama face to face. Hanuman told him to go to Chitrakuta where he would see Rama with his own eyes.

At the beginning of the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas bows down to a particular Preta and asks for his grace (Ramcharitmanas, Doha 1.7). According to Rambhadracharya, this is the same Preta which led Tulsidas to Hanuman.

;Darshan of Rama As per Priyadas'a and traditional accounts, Tulsidas followed the instruction of Hanuman and started living in an Ashram at Ramghat in Chitrakuta. One day Tulsidas went to perform the Parikrama (circumambulation) of the Kamadgiri mountain. He saw two princes, one dark and the other fair, dressed in green robes pass by mounted on horsebacks. Tulsidas was enraptured at the sight, however he could not recognize them and took his eyes off them. Later Hanuman asked Tulsidas if he saw Rama and his brother Lakshmana on horses. Tulsidas was disappointed and repentful. Hanuman assured Tulsidas that he would have the sight of Rama once again the next morning. Tulsidas recalls this incident in a song of the Gitavali and laments how "his eyes turned his own enemies" by staying fixed to the ground and how everything happened in a trice.

On the next morning, Wednesday, the new-moon day of Magha, Vikram 1607 (1551 CE) or 1620 (1564 CE) as per some sources, Rama again appeared to Tulsidas, this time as a child. Tulsidas was making sandalwood paste when a child came and asked for a sandalwood Tilaka (a religious mark on the forehead). This time Hanuman gave a hint to Tulsidas and he had a full view of Rama. Tulsidas was so charmed that he forgot about the sandalwood. Rama took the sandalwood paste and put a Tilaka himself on his forehead and Tulsidas's forehead before disappearing.

In a verse in the Vinayapatrika, Tulsidas alludes to a certain "miracle at Chitrakuta", and thanks Rama for what he did for him at Chitrakuta. Some biographers conclude that the deed of Rama at Chitrakuta referred to by Tulsidas is the Darshan of Rama.

Darshan of Yajnavalkya and Bharadvaja

In Vikram 1628 (1572 CE), Tulsidas left Chitrakuta for Ayodhya where he stayed during the Magha Mela (the annual fair in January). Six days after the Mela ended, he had the Darshan of the sages Yajnavalkya and Bharadvaja under a banyan tree. In one of the four dialogues in the Ramcharitmanas, Yajnavalkya is the speaker and Bharadvaja the listener. Tulsidas describes the meeting between Yajnavalkya and Bharadvaja after a Magha Mela festival in the Ramcharitmanas, it is this meeting where Yajnavalkya narrates the Ramcharitmanas to Bharadvaja.

Poetic career

Tulsidas started composing poetry in Sanskrit in Varanasi on the Prahlada Ghat. Tradition holds that all the verses that he composed during the day, would get lost in the night. This happened daily for eight days. On the eighth night, Shiva - whose famous Kashi Vishwanath Temple is located in Varanasi - is believed to have ordered Tulsidas in a dream to compose poetry in the vernacular instead of Sanskrit. Tulsidas woke up and saw both Shiva and Parvati who blessed him. Shiva ordered Tulsidas to go to Ayodhya and compose poetry in Awadhi. Shiva also predicted that Tulsidas's poetry would fructify like the Sama Veda. In the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas hints at having the Darshan of Shiva and Parvati in both dream and awakened state.

Composition of Ramcharitmanas

In the year Vikram 1631 (1575 CE), Tulsidas started composing the Ramcharitmanas in Ayodhya on Tuesday, Ramnavami day (ninth day of the bright half of the Chaitra month, which is the birthday of Rama). Tulsidas himself attests this date in the Ramcharitmanas. He composed the epic over two years, seven months and twenty-six days, and completed the work in Vikram 1633 (1577 CE) on the Vivaha Panchami day (fifth day of the bright half of the Margashirsha month, which commenrates the wedding of Rama and his wife Sita).

Tulsidas came to Varanasi and recited the Ramcharitmanas to Shiva (Vishwanath) and Parvati (Annapurna) at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Legend goes that the manuscript was kept in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple in the night. In the morning when the doors were opened, the words Satyam Shivam Sundaram (Sanskrit: सत्यं शिवं सुन्दरम्, literally "Truth Auspiciousness Beauty") were found inscribed on the manuscript with the signature of Shiva, and the words were also heard by the people present.

Last compositions

Around Vikram 1664 (1607 CE), Tulsidas was afflicted by acute pain all over his body, especially in his arms. He then composed the Hanuman Bahuk, where he describes his bodily pain and suffering in several stanzas. He was relieved of his pain after this composition. Later he was also afflicted by Bartod boils (Hindi: बरतोड़, furuncles caused by pulling out of the hair), which may have been the cause of his death.

The Vinaypatrika is considered as the last compositions of Tulsidas, believed to be written when Kali Yuga started troubling him. In this work of 279 stanzas, he beseeches Rama to give him Bhakti ("devotion"), and to accept his petition. Tulsidas attests in the last stanza of Vinaypatrika that Rama himself signed the manuscript of the work.

Death

Tulsidas passed away at the Assi Ghat on the bank of the river Ganga in the year Vikram 1680 (1523 CE). Just like the year of his birth, the exact date of his death is something that traditional accounts and biographers are not unanimous about, even though all sources agree that the month was Shraavan (July-August). Different sources give the date as the third day of the bright half, seventh day of the bright half, or the third day of the dark half.

Works

Ramcharitmanas

Ramacharitamanas, an epic devoted to Rama, was the Awadhi version of Ramayana of Valmiki. Apart from "Awadhi", three other languages are also seen in the epic Ramcharitmanas- "Bhojpuri", " Brijbhasa" and "bundeli". Like many translations of the original Sanskrit Ramayana, it is read and worshiped with great reverence in many Hindu homes in India. It is an inspiring book that contains couplets in verse form called chaupai.

It is also called Tulsi-krit Ramayana. Many of its verses are very popular proverbs and have passed into common speech, and are used by millions of Hindi speakers. His doctrine actually forms the most powerful religious influence in present-day Hinduism. Though he founded no school and was never known as a guru or master, he is everywhere accepted as both poet and saint, an inspired and authoritative guide in religion and the conduct of life.

Tulsidas professed himself the humble follower of his teacher, Narhari Das, from whom as a boy in Sukar-khet he first heard the tale of Rama's exploits that would form the subject of the Rāmcaritmānas. Narhari Das was the sixth in spiritual descent from Ramananda, a founder of popular Vaishnavism in northern India, who was also known for his famous poems.

Other works

Besides the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas is also the author of five longer and six shorter works, most of them dealing with the theme of Rama, his doings, and devotion to him. The former are

# the Dohavali, consisting of 573 miscellaneous doha and sortha verses; of this there is a duplicate in the Ram-satsai, an arrangement of seven centuries of verses, the great majority of which occur also in the Dohavali and in other works of Tulsi, # the Kabitta Ramayan or Kavitavali, which is a history of Rama in the kavitta, ghanakshari, chaupaï and savaiya metres; like the Rāmcaritmānas, it is divided into seven kandas or cantos, and is devoted to setting forth the majestic side of Rama's character, #the Gitavali, also in seven kandas, aiming at the illustration of the tender aspect of the Lord's life; the metres are adapted for singing, # the Krishnavali or Krishna gitavali, a collection of 61 songs in honor of Krishna (another avatar of Vishnu like Rama), in the Kanauji dialect of Hindi: the authenticity of this is doubtful, # the Vinaya Patrika, or Book of petitions, a series of hymns and prayers of which the first 43 are addressed to the lower gods, forming Rama's court and attendants, and the remainder, Nos. 44 to 279, to Rama himself.

His minor works include Rudrastakam in Sanskrit, Baravai Ramayana, Janaki Mangal, Ramalala Nahachhu, Ramajna Prashna, Parvati Mangal, Krishna Gitavali, Hanuman Bahuka, Sankata Mochana and Vairagya Sandipini. Of the smaller compositions the most interesting is the Vairagya Sandipani, or Kindling of continence, a poem describing the nature and greatness of a holy man, and the true peace to which he attains.

Tulsidas's most famous and read piece of literature apart from the Ramayana, is the "Hanuman Chalisa", a poem praising Hanuman. Many Hindus recite it daily as a prayer. He's also the author of 'Hanuman Ashtak' which is a eight verse prayer to the glory of Hanuman.

The entire collection of compositions by Tulsi Das, consisting of 13 books, has been translated into English (as poems) by Binda Prasad Khattri (1898-1985). The work is however, yet unpublished.

Sources and manuscripts

In Growse's translation of the Rāmcaritmānas, will be found the text and translation of the passages in the Bhagatmala of Nabhaji and its commentary, which are the main original authority for the traditions relating to the poet. Nabhaji had himself met Tulsidas; but the stanza in praise of the poet gives no facts relating to his life – these are stated in the tika or gloss of Priya Das, who wrote in A.D. 1712, and much of the material is legendary and untrustworthy. Unfortunately, the biography of the poet, called Gosai-charitra, by Benimadhab Das, who was a personal follower and constant companion of the Master, and died in 1642, has disappeared, and no copy of it is known to exist.

In the introduction to the edition of the Ramayana by the Nagri Pracharni Sabha all the known facts of Tulsi's life are brought together and critically discussed. For an exposition of his religious position and his place in the popular religion of northern India, see Dr. Grierson's paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1903, pp. 447–466. (C. J. L.)

A manuscript of the Ayodhya-kanda, said to be in the poets own hand, exists at Soron Shukarkshtra in Etah, his reputed birthplace. One of the Bala-kanda, dated Samvat 1661, nineteen years before the poet's death, and carefully corrected, it is alleged by Tulsidas himself, is at Ayodhya. Another autograph is reported to be preserved at Maliabad in the Lucknow district, but has not, so far as known, been verified. Other ancient manuscripts are to be found at Benares. An excellent translation of the whole into English was made by F. S. Growse, of the Indian Civil Service (5th edition, Cawnpore, Kanpur, 1891).

Pada from Vinayapatrika

The following example composition is the the 45th stanza of the Vinaypatrika composed by Tulsidas, and is sung as the evening Aarti by many Hindus.

:O mind! Worship the compassionate Shree Ramachandra :Who destroys fear of the phenomenal world :His eyes are like fresh lotuses. He is lotus faced. :His hands are like lotuses, his feet are like lotuses. :His beauty excels that of myriad Cupids, :He is handsomely blue-hued like a cloud. :I bow before the one who wed the daughter of Janaka, :Who wears the yellow garment, the pure one who destroys arrogance. :Worship the friend of the poor, :The Sun who destroys the families of demons. :The progeny of Raghu, the son of Dasharatha, :The reservoir of bliss, the moon to Kosala. :Worship the one who wears the crown on his head, :Ear ornaments and crimson mark on the forehead :Whose every limb is decorated beautifully and generously, :Who is tall of stature, well built with strong arms, :Carrying bow and the arrows and victorious over evil demons in battle. :Thus says Tulsidas, worship Him who pleases Shankara and all the sages, :Reside in the lotus of my heart, destroying evil feelings like lust.

Doctrine

The philosophy and principles of Tulsidas are found across his works, and are especially outlined in the dialogue between Kakbhushundi and Garuda in the Uttar Kand of the Ramcharitmanas. Tulsidas's doctrine has been described as an assimilation and reconciliation of the diverse tenets and cultures of Hinduism. At the beginning of the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas says that his work is in accordance with various scriptures - the Puranas, Vedas, Upavedas, Tantra and Smriti. Ram Chandra Shukla in his critical work Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas elaborates on Tulsidas's Lokmangal as the doctrine for social upliftment which made this great poet immortal and comparable to any other world littérateur.

Nirguna and Saguna Brahman

As per Tulsidas, the Nirguna Brahman (quality-less impersonal God) and Saguna Brahman (personal God with qualities) are one and the same. It is the devotion (Bhakti) of the devotee that forces the Nirguna Brahman which is quality-less, formless, invisible and unborn, to become Saguna Brahman with qualities. Tulsidas gives the example of water, snow and hail to explain this – the substance is the same in all three, but the same formless water solidifies to become hail or a mountain of snow – both of which have a form. Tulsidas also gives the simile of a lake – the Nirguna Brahman is like the lake with just water, while the Saguna Brahman is a lake resplendent with blooming lotuses. In the Uttar Kand of Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas describes in detail a debate between Kakbhushundi and Lomasha about whether God is Nirguna (as argued by Lomasha adhering to monism) or Saguna (as argued by Kakbhushundi adhering to dualism). Kakbhushundi repeatedly refutes all the arguments of Lomasha, to the point when Lomasha becomes angry and curses Kakbhushundi to be a crow. Lomasha repents later when Kakbhushundi happily accepts the curse but refuses to give up the Bhakti of Rama, the Saguna Brahman. Though Tulsidas holds both aspects of God to be equal, he favours the qualified Saguna aspect and the devotees of the highest category in the Ramcharitmanas repeatedly ask for the qualified Saguna aspect of Rama to dwell in their mind.

The name of Rama

At the beginning of the Ramcharitmanas, there is a section devoted to the veneration of the name of Rama. As per Tulsidas, repeating the name of Rama is the only means to attain God in the Kali age where the means suited for other ages like meditation, Karma, and Puja are ineffective. He says in Kavitavali that his own redemption is because of the power, glory and majesty of the name of Rama. In a couplet in the Gitavali, Tulsidas says that wishing for liberation without refuge in the name of Rama is like wishing to climb to the sky by holding on to the falling rain. In his view, the name of Rama is greater than both Nirguna and Saguna aspects of God – it controls both of them and is illuminates both like a bilingual interpreter. He holds that Rama is superior to all other names of God, and argues that ra and ma being are the only two consonants that are written above all other consonants in the conjunct form in Sanskrit because they are the two sounds in the word Rama.

The Lord is to be approached by faith (bhakti) single minded devotion and surrender of self in perfect love, and all actions are to be purified of self-interest in contemplation of Him. Show love to all creatures, and thou wilt be happy; for when thou lovest all things, thou lovest the Lord, for He is all in all. The soul is from the Lord, and is submitted in this life to the bondage of works (karma); Mankind, in their obstinacy, keep binding themselves in the net of actions, and though they know and hear of the bliss of those who have faith in the Lord, they don't attempt the only means of release. The bliss to which the soul attains, by the extinction of desire, in the supreme home, is not absorption in the Lord, but union with Him in abiding individuality. This is emancipation (mukti) from the burden of birth and rebirth, and the highest happiness. Tulsi, as a Sanaddya Brahmin, venerates the whole Hindu pantheon, and is especially careful to give Shiva or Mahadeva, the special deity of the Brahmins, his due, and to point out that there is no inconsistency between devotion to Rama and attachment to Shiva (Ramayana, Lankakanda, Doha 3). But the practical end of all his writings is to inculcate bhakti addressed to Rama as the great means of salvation and emancipation from the chain of births and deaths, a salvation which is as free and open to men of the lowest caste as to Brahmins.

Critical reception

From his time, Tulsidas has been acclaimed by Indian and Western scholars alike for his poetry and his impact on the Hindu society. Tulsidas mentions in his work Kavitavali that he was considered a great sage in the world. Madhusūdana Sarasvatī, one of the most acclaimed philosophers of the Advaita Vedanta tradition based in Varanasi and the composer of Advaitasiddhi, was a contemporary of Tulsidas. On reading the Ramcharitmanas, he was astonished and composed the following Sanskrit verse in praise of the epic and the composer.

आनन्दकानने कश्चिद्जङ्गमस्तुल्सीतरुः । कविता मञ्जरी यस्य रामभ्रमरभूषिता ॥ ānandakānane kaścidjaṅgamastulsītaruḥ । kavitā mañjarī yasya rāmabhramarabhūṣitā ॥

Abdur Rahim Khankhana, famous Muslim poet who was was one of the Navaratnas (nine-gems) in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, was a personal friend of Tulsidas. Rahim composed the following couplet describing the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas –

रामचरितमानस बिमल संतनजीवन प्रान । हिन्दुवान को बेद सम जवनहिं प्रगट कुरान ॥ rāmacaritamānasa bimala saṃtanajīvana prāna । hinduvāna ko beda sama javanahiṃ pragaṭa kurāna ॥

The historian Vincent Smith, the author of a biography of Tulsidas's contemporary Akbar, called Tulsidas as the greatest man of his age in India and greater even Akbar himself. The Indologist and linguist Sir George Grierson called Tulsidas "the greatest leader of the people after the Buddha" and "the greatest of Indian authors of modern times"; and the epic Ramcharitmanas "worthy of the greatest poet of any age"., The work Ramcharitmanas has been called "the Bible of North India" by both nineteenth century Indologists including Ralph Griffith, who translated the four Vedas and Valmiki's Ramayana into English, and modern writers. Mahatma Gandhi held Tulsidas in high esteem and regarded the Ramcharitmanas as the "greatest book in all devotional literature". The Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' called Tulsidas "the most fragrant branch of flowers in the garden of the world's poetry, blossoming in the creeper of Hindi". Nirala considered Tulsidas to be a greater poet than Rabindranath Tagore, and in the same league as Kalidasa, Vyasa, Valmiki, Homer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and William Shakespeare. Edmour J. Babineau, author of the book Love and God and Social Duty in Ramacaritmanasa, says that if Tulsidas was born in Europe or the Americas, he would be considered a greater personality than William Shakespeare. In the words of the archaeologist F. R. Allchin, who translated Vinaypatrika and Kavitavali into English, "for people of a large part of North India Tulsidas claims reverence comparable to that accorded to Luther as translator of the Bible into the native German". Allchin also mentions that the work Ramcharitmanas has been compared to not only the Ramayana of Valmiki, but the Vedas themselves, the Bhagavad Gita, the Kuran and the Bible. Ernest Wood in his work An Englishman Defends Mother India considered the Ramcharitmanas to be "superior to the best books of the Latin and Greek languages."

Specifically about his poetry, Tulsidas has been called the "emperor of the metaphor" and one who excels in similes by several critics. The Hindi poet Ayodhyasingh Upadhyay 'Hariaudh' said of Tulsidas –

कविता करके तुलसी न लसे कविता लसी पा तुलसी की कला । kavitā karake tulasī na lase kavitā lasī pā tulasī kī kalā ।

The Hindi poetess Mahadevi Verma said commenting on Tulsidas that in the turbulent middle ages, India got light from Tulsidas. She further went on to say that the Indian society as it exists today is an edifice built by Tulsidas, and the Rama as we know today is the Rama of Tulsidas.

Notes

References

External links

Eulogy of Tulsidas by Krant M L Verma

Hanuman Chalisa in English Rhyme

Goswami Tulsidas: Authentic biography of Tulsidasji

Original works of Tulsidas in Hindi (Wikisource)

Swargarohan : Tulsi krit Ramayan - Ramcharitmanas text, mp3 audio, reference on character and places, Gujarati translation and Ramcharitmanas PDF for download

Rāmcaritmānas text in Hindi

Poetic eulogies by Tulsidas -Stutimandal

Tulsi Das finds Sri Ram in Lord Jagannath

Category:Indian poets Category:Hindu poets Category:Sant Mat Category:1497 births Category:1532 births Category:1623 deaths Category:Hindi poets Category:Hindu revivalists Category:Translators of the Ramayana Category:Religious figures from Varanasi Category:Hindu saints

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