Rāmcaritmānas

The Rāmcaritmānas (“The Lake of the Deeds of Rāma”) is an epic poem in Avadhī, a dialect of Hindi, composed by Tulsīdās between 1574 and about 1577. It retells the story of Rāma, following the outline of Vālmīki’s Sanskrit The Rāmāyaṇa but transforming it into a work of passionate devotion (bhakti): Rāma is not only an ideal prince but the supreme God, incarnate out of love for his devotees, and every episode becomes an occasion for praising his grace. Written in the language of the people, in the rhythmic caupāī quatrains punctuated by dohā couplets, it became the most popular religious book of North India — recited in full in nine-day or month-long readings (pāṭh), sung in the evenings in villages, quoted in proverbs, and performed every autumn in the Rāmlīlā plays that culminate at Dussehra with the burning of giant effigies of Rāvaṇa.

Structure

The poem has seven books (kāṇḍas) following Vālmīki: Bāl (childhood), Ayodhyā, Araṇya (forest), Kiṣkindhā, Sundar (“beautiful”, Hanumān’s journey), Laṅkā (the war) and Uttar (the aftermath). It is framed as a set of nested dialogues — the god Śiva telling the story to his wife Pārvatī; the crow-sage Kākabhuśuṇḍi telling it to Garuḍa; the sage Yājñavalkya to Bharadvāja; and Tulsī to his readers — symbolised as the four ghāṭs of the “lake” of Rāma’s deeds.

How it differs from Vālmīki

Tulsī’s Rāma is consistently divine, and the story is shaped by devotion:

• In the Bāl Kāṇḍa, Tulsī adds a lyrical scene in Janaka’s garden, where Rāma and Sītā see each other for the first time before the bow contest — a love at first sight absent in Vālmīki.
• The Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa — the exile — is the emotional heart of the poem, with its picture of Bharata’s grief and devotion, and of the humble boatman Kevaṭ, who insists on washing Rāma’s feet before ferrying him across the Ganges, in case their dust turns his boat into a woman (as it had turned the stone Ahalyā back into a woman).
• In the Araṇya Kāṇḍa, Tulsī has Rāma ask Sītā to hide in the fire before the golden deer appears, leaving a “shadow Sītā” to be abducted — so that the real Sītā is never touched by Rāvaṇa, and the later fire-ordeal only restores her. This softens the most troubling episode of the original.
• Śabarī, the tribal woman who offers Rāma berries she has tasted, becomes an emblem of devotion that transcends caste and purity: Rāma tells her that he recognises only one kinship — that of devotion.
• The Sundar Kāṇḍa celebrates Hanumān as the ideal devotee.
• The Uttar Kāṇḍa omits Sītā’s banishment and ends with Rāma’s ideal reign, Rāma-rājya, and long teachings on devotion, knowledge and the Kali age.

Teaching

Tulsī’s theology reconciles the formless and the formed God: “There is no difference between the nirguṇa and the saguṇa; the formless, unseen, unborn becomes saguṇa out of love for his devotees, as water becomes ice.” The name of Rāma is supreme; devotion is the easiest path in the Kali age; and the humble devotee is dearer to God than the learned.

Significance

The Mānas is among the most influential books ever written in India. It fixed the image of Rāma for hundreds of millions, gave Hindi many of its proverbs, and shaped the ethics of family loyalty, obedience and devotion in North Indian culture. Gandhi called it the greatest book of devotional literature; the Indian television Ramayan of 1987–88 drew heavily on it. It has also been criticised by Dalit and feminist readers for upholding caste and patriarchal norms.

In conversation

Raghukul rīt sadā cali āī, prāṇ jāhuṃ baru bacanu na jāī — “this has always been the way of Raghu’s line: let life go, but never a promise.” The most quoted line in Hindi on keeping one’s word.