Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Ramchatrimanas, Tulsidas

Mains level: Bhakti Movement

tulsidas

Tulsidas has come into controversy due to some of its verses (Chaupai) mentioned in the Ramcharitmanas.

Who was Tulsidas?

Tulsidas, a Brahmin whose original name was Ram Bola Dubey, is believed to have been born in Rajapur by the Yamuna in today’s Banda district.
He composed the Ramcharitmanas on the bank of the Ganga in Varanasi — he is said to have begun writing on Ram Navami day in 1574, and completed the poem over the next few years.
Tulsidas lived in the time of Emperor Akbar, and some believe that he was in touch with Abdurrahim Khan-e-Khanan, the son of Akbar’s commander Bairam Khan.

The Ramcharitmanas

The poem was written in the 16th century in the Awadhi dialect that is mainly spoken in the areas that are today’s Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Ayodhya districts.
It was written in the Avdhi dialect. The sacred chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ is a part of it.
It is divided into seven chapters (Kand) that tell the story of Lord Ram from birth to his becoming King of Ayodhya.

The Ramcharitmanas is based on the Ramayana, sage Valmiki’s great epic.
It is the holiest book of the Indo-Gangetic region, and among the world’s most read holy books — by one estimate, Geeta Press (Gorakhpur) has sold almost 7 crore copies.
Across the Hindi heartland, a reference to “Ramayan” often actually means Ramcharitmanas.
Tulsidas made the story of Lord Ram popular among the masses because he wrote in the regional dialect that most people understood.

While in the Ramcharitmanas, Lord Ram is maryada purushottam, the epitome of righteousness, his conduct has been criticised by leaders of anti-Brahmin movements like E V Ramasamy Periyar.
One of the 22 pledges that Dr B R Ambedkar administered to his followers while embracing Buddhism in October 1956 was: “I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna, who are believed to be incarnation of God, nor shall I worship them.”
Non-upper caste assertion in politics has sometimes been manifested in criticism of the Ramcharitmanas.
Critics have used these parts of the poem to accuse Tulsidas of being against the non-upper castes and women, and a flagbearer of the idea of Brahminical superiority.