Tulsidas (1497-1623 C.E.) was a Hindu saint and the poet. Tulsidas is renowned for his great devotion towards Lord Rama. Tulsidas composed several works but he is best known as the author of the epic Ramcharitmanas, a retelling of the Sanskrit Ramayana in the vernacular Awadhi language.

Tulsidas was acclaimed to be a reincarnation of Maharishi Valmiki, the composer of the original Ramayana in Sanskrit. He is also considered to be the composer of Hanuman Chalisa, a popular devotional hymn in Awadhi dedicated to Lord Hanuman.

Tulsidas spent most of his life in the city of Varanasi. The famous Tulsi Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi is named after him. The famous Sankatmochan Temple dedicated to God Hanuman is believed to be founded by Tulsidas.

According to Hindu lunar calendar, Tulsidas was born on Shravana, Shukla Paksha Saptami and this day is observed as birth anniversary of Poet Tulsidas. Tulsidas is also known as Goswami Tulsidas.

This year, the birth anniversary of the saint-poet falls on August 15.

Tulsidas was born on the 7th day in the month of Shraavana (July or August), in the bright half of the lunar. His birthplace is identified at the Rajapur (also known as the Chitrakuta) at the bank of the Yamuna river in UP. The name of his parents is Hulsi and Atmaram Dubey. The exact birth date of Tulsidas is not clear and different people have different opinions regarding his birth year. According to some scholars he was born in 1554 as per Vikrami Samvat and others say it was 1532. He lived his life around 126 years.

According to a legend, Tulsidas took 12 months to come out in this world, till then he stayed in the womb of his mother. He had 32 teeth from his birth and looked like a five-year-old boy. After his birth, he started enchanting the name of Rama instead of crying. That’s why he was named Rambola, he himself stated in Vinayapatrika. At the fourth night after his birth, his father had passed away. Tulsidas had stated in his works Kavitavali and Vinayapatrika about how his parents’ abandonment him after his birth.

Chuniya (the female maid of his mother Hulsi) took Tulsidas to her town, Haripur, and took care of him. She died after caring for him for just five and a half years. After that event, Rambola lived as a poor orphan and walked door to door begging for alms. It is assumed that the Goddess Parvati took up the form of a Brahmin for taking care of the Rambola.

He himself had given some of the facts and events of his life in his various works. Two ancient sources of his life are the Bhaktamal and Bhaktirasbodhini composed by the Nabhadas and Priyadas respectively. Nabhadas had written in his writing about Tulsidas and described him as an incarnation of the Valmiki. Priyadas composed his writing 100 years after the death of Tulsidas and described the seven miracles and spiritual experiences of the Tulsidas. Two other biographies of Tulsidas are Mula Gosain Charit and Gosain Charit composed by Veni Madhav Das in 1630 and Dasanidas (or Bhavanidas) around 1770 respectively.

The Incarnation of the Valmiki

It is believed that Tulsidas was the reincarnation of Valmiki. According to the Hindu scripture Bhavishyottar Purana, Lord Shiva had described to his wife Parvati that how Valmiki will incarnate in the Kal Yuga.

According to the sources, it is considered that the Hanuman use to go to Valmiki to hear him singing the Ramayana. After the triumph of Lord Rama over Ravana, Hanuman continued to worship the Rama in the Himalayas.

Learning

Rambola (Tulsidas) was given the Virakta Diksha (known as Vairagi initiation) and got the new name, Tulsidas. His Upanayana was performed by the Narharidas at Ayodhya when he was just of 7 years old. He started his first learning at the Ayodhya. He mentioned in his epic the Ramcharitmanas that his guru narrated him the Ramayana over and over again. He came to the sacred city Varanasi when he was just 15–16 years old and got the knowledge of Sanskrit grammar, Hindu literature and philosophy, four Vedas, six Vedangas, Jyotisha from his guru Shesha Sanatana at the Panchaganga Ghat in Varanasi.

After study, he came back to his birthplace, Chitrakuta by the permission of his Guru. He started to live in his family home and narrating the story of Ramayana.

Marriage History

He was married to Ratnavali (the daughter of Dinbandhu Pathak of Mahewa village and Kaushambi district) on the 13th of Jyeshta month (May or June) in the year 1583. After some years of marriage, he had a son named Tarak who died in his toddler state. Once upon a time, his wife went to her father’s home when Tulsidas had gone to the Hanuman temple. When he returned home and did not saw his wife, he swam along River Yamuna in order to meet his wife. Ratnavali was very upset with his activity and blamed him. She remarked that he should become a true devotee and should focus on God. He then left her wife and went to the holy city of Prayag (where he renounced the stages of Grihastha’s life and became a Sadhu). According to some authors, he was unmarried and Sadhu from birth.

How He Met the Lord Hanuman

Tulsidas meet Hanuman at his own Katha, he fell at lord Hanuman’s feet and shouted ‘I know who you are so you cannot get away leaving me’ and lord Hanuman blessed him. Tulsidas expressed his feeling in front of lord Hanuman that he wants to see Rama confronting each other. Hanuman guided him and told him that go to the Chitrakuta where you would really see the Rama.

How He Met the Lord Rama

As per Lord Hanuman instructions, he started to live in the Ashram at Ramghat in Chitrakuta. One day when he went on Parikrama of the Kamadgiri Mountain, he saw two princes on the horsebacks. But he could not distinguish them. Later when he acknowledged that they were Rama and Lakshman by the lord Hanuman, he got disappointed. All these events were described by himself in his writing Gitavali. On the next morning, he met Rama again when he was making sandalwood paste. Rama came to him and asked for a Tilaka of sandalwood paste, in this way he saw Rama clearly. Tulsidas was so happy and he forgot about the sandalwood paste, then Rama took the tilak himself and applied it on his forehead and also on the Tulsidas‘s forehead.

In the Vinayapatrika, Tulsidas had mentioned the miracles at Chitrakuta and lot of thanks to the Rama. He got darshan of the Yajnavalkya (speaker) and Bharadvaja (listener) in the Magha Mela under a banyan tree.

Composition of the Epic, Ramcharitmanas

He started to write the Ramcharitmanas in Ayodhya on the Ramnavami of the Chaitra month in the year 1631. He completed his writing of the Ramcharitmanas in two years, seven months and twenty six days in the year 1633 at the Vivaha Panchami (marriage day of the Rama and Sita) of the month Margashirsha.

He came to the Varanasi and delivered the epic Ramcharitmanas to the Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.