Goswami Tulsidas Jayanti

Goswami Tulsidas Jayanti And Its Importance

Tulsidas, a person who wrote a great religious book of Shri Ramcharitmanas that delineates a detailed account of Lord Shri Rama’s life and which successfully remains placed on top among other divisions of Hindi, is hailed in profound reverence and addressed as a swan of Manas (Manas ke Hans).

Just as there is a swan in a lake (Mansarovar), similarly the one who wrote Ramcharitmanas is none other than Tulsidas. He is said to be like a glowing moon in the gigantic sky whose lights penetrate the darkness and fall on the earth, simmering it with beautiful milky glows and giving a soothing touch to every living thing on it. Such great Kavi Shiromani Tulsidas blessed the earth with his birth on Shravana Shukla of Saptami. His father was Aatmaram Dubey and his mother was Hulsi Dubey. Unfortunately, his parents passed away after a few years of his birth. He was raised by a female servant named Muniya. It is said that Tulsidas has all 32 teeth in his mouth when he was merely a baby. That physical feature of Tulsidas defined him as an ominous child for his parents and family, according to astrology and superstitions. According to the beliefs, a child of such physical features doesn’t have much lifespan, and if it lives anyhow, then it could bear the connotation that the child is fated to become famous worldwide just like the sun and the moon.

When Tulsidas was born, he uttered the words “Ram–Ram”, something that amazed his parents a lot. Goswami Tulsidas was born in 1532 in the Rajapur village of Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh. To earn the knowledge and sense of divinity, Tulsidas travelled to various pilgrim spots and worshipped gods. It is said that Tulsidas, under social pressure, had married a girl named Ratnavali from Mahewa village situated right across the Yamuna River from his village. In another incident related to Tulsidas, he was once severely schooled by his wife about social prestige. According to her, if Tulsidas devoted his love for his wife to the praying of LordVishnu, his life would probably have taken a new turn of happiness filled with divine blessings.

The caustic words of his wife sank deeper into the heart of Tulsidas, finally prompting him to renounce everything to carry out the pursuit of divinity. Eventually, he composed well-renowned Shri Ramcharitmanas. It is also believed that Tulsidas met in person with Lord Hanuman. He also penned Hanuman Bahuk (prayers to Lord Hanuman). In totality, he authored more than dozens of books, which are respectively popular far and wide. However, Ramcharitmanas outpaced all other creations of Tulsidas in terms of popularity. Some people see Tulsidas as an incarnation of Maharishi Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana. Therefore, Goswami Tulsidas Jayanti is celebrated every year with great enthusiasm to honour the man epitomising devotion and reverence.

Tulsidas And His Devotions To Lord Rama

Tulsidas nurtured a boundless degree of devotion and affection toward Lord Rama since his childhood, due to which he is considered a staunch devotee of Lord Rama. He is also said to be blessed by the presence of Lord Rama in front of him. Because of Ramcharitmanas and his attachments with Lord Rama, Tulsidas will forever be alive in the memory of people as long as mythological accounts regarding the characters of Lord Shri Rama, the battles between Lord Rama and Ravana, etc. exists in the world. A great and revered poet of the Hindu religion like Tulsidas is commemorated with deep reverence on his anniversary. People from India and other parts of the world come to seek his blessings.

Tulsidas, The Composition Of Ramcharitmanas And Analysis

The steadfast devotion to Lord Rama inspired Tulsidas to write a great religious book called Shri Ramcharitmanas. He was deeply rooted in Shri Ramchandra’s idealism, patience and bravery, which eventually inspired him to write Ramcharitmanas, an amazing book consisting of countless didactic teachings about parenthood, domesticity, Dharma, society, politics, war strategy, patience, sodality, justice and unity, and many more lessons. These lessons easily impart all types of productive education to people who study and follow them.

As a matter of fact, Ramcharitmanas was gaining increasing popularity not only in India but even all around the world. And it was not only a divine language but also the language of common people. While writing Ramcharitmanas, the more he tried to write in Sanskrit, the words automatically blotted out the next day. Fed up by the experience, he invoked the god and so he saw in the dream that he was being urged to write the book in Hindi. Thus, Tulsidas wrote Ramcharitmanas in Hindi which comprises all essentials, such as stanza, Ras, Doha, Chaupai, Sortha, and Hindi grammar, including importance given to local dialects, such as Awadhi, Bundeli, Kauravi dialect etc.

Thanks to these constituents Ramcharitmanas is still popular. Not only this, there happened an incident questioning the accuracy and sanctity of Ramcharitmanas by critics. They challenged that if the book accurately and explicitly portrays the characters and incidents related to Lord Rama, then place it in the famous temple of Lord Shiva in Kashi, along with other Vedic books, and let Lord Shiva be the judge of its purity. So, unanimously, the Ramcharitmanas book was placed under the bottom of other Vedic books, and the temple’s doors were locked from the outside. Next morning, the temple’s doors were unlocked and everyone was taken aback to see the line “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” etched on Ramcharitmanas.

Thereafter, the book was acknowledged to be authentic and pure by scholars.

Other Details Related To Goswami Tulsidas

Goswami Tulsidas Jayanti is said to be a revered occasion commemorating the contributions he made to educate society through his various compositions. It is celebrated enthusiastically by people. Bhandaras are also organised at various places on this day. Handwritten transcripts of Tulsidas are kept intact in some portions of his native village, Rajapur. People from India and foreign countries visit this place to see these transcripts. Goswami Tulsidas took his last breath on Krishna Paksha of Shravana month in the city of Kashi of LordVishwanath, in the year 1680, while remembering Lord Rama.

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