TULSIDAS: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Tulsidas (1532-1623), also known as Goswami Tulsidas, was a Hindu Bhakti poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the Avatar when He appeared as 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. 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 lived permanently and died in the city of Varanasi. The Tulsi Ghat in Varnasi 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 vernacular language, Ramlila plays, Hindustani classical music, popular music, and television series. Here is a collection mainly of his Dohas, a rhymed couplet that is a complete thought in itself. He was with Kabir, Vrind and Rahim a master of this simple form. 116 pages. Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, VYASA, JAYADEVA (approx. 110-120 pages each... others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and 12 screenplays. www.newhumanitybooks.com

The Ramayana, Written In Sanskrit By Valmiki Is Considered To Be The 'Adikavya', The First Ever Poem. Tulsidas Rendered It Into Hindi In The Sixteenth Century. But His 'Ramcharit-Manas' Differs From The Original In Many Ways. It Was Written At A Time When A Very Vast Area Of India Was Under Mughal Rule. Amongst The Hindus, There Were Frequent Controversies Between The Worshippers Of Shiva, Vishnu And The Mother Goddess, And Again Between The Worshippers Of Rama And Krishna. There Were Also Cults Which Were Almost Cut Off From The Mainstream Of Indian Life. It Is To The Credit Of Tulsidas That He Tried To Weave All These Cults Into An Integrated Whole. He Made His Rama Say That He Would Not Tolerate Anyone Who Showed Disrespect To Shiva. He Worshipped Not Only At The Temples Dedicated To Rama But Also At Those Dedicated To Krishna. His Works And Teachings Stressed The Importance Of The Life Of A Householder And Weaned People Away From The Tantric Cults. Tulsidas Hailed From A Poor Family Of Rajapur In Uttar Pradesh. He Was Orphaned Soon After His Birth And Even His Foster-Mother Died When He Was Barely Seven Years Old. When He Was Married, He Became Deeply Attached To His Wife, Ratna. She Was The First Person In His Life Whom He Could Call His Own. One Day Not Finding Her At Home On His Return, He Became Extremely Restless And Rushed To His Father-In-Law'S House In The Dead Of The Night, Braving Heavy Rains And A Storm. But Ratna Rebuked Him And Said, "Had You Loved Rama As Intensely As You Do This Bundle Of Flesh And Bones, You Would Have Overcome All Mortal Fears." This Was The Turning Point In His Life. The Story As Narrated In This Book Is Mostly Based On Legends. A Contemporary Of Shakespeare, Tulsidas (1532-1623) Was Known For Singing The Glory Of Rama, The Prince Of Ayodhya. The Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas Version Of The Ramayana In Awadhi, A Dialect Of Hindi, Consists Of Over 1,0000 Stanzas Of About 12 To 18 Lines Each. Tulsi'S Words Are Musical And Hypnotic. Every Village And Town In The Hindi Heartland Has A Troupe That Enacts The Story Of Rama Based On Tulsida'S Work.

The Life of a Text offers a vivid portrait of one community's interaction with its favorite text—the epic Ramcaritmanas—and the way in which performances of the epic function as a flexible and evolving medium for cultural expression. Anthropologists, historians of religion, and readers interested in the culture of North India and the performance arts will find breadth of subject, careful scholarship, and engaging presentation in this unique and beautifully illustrated examination of Hindi culture. The most popular and influential text of Hindi-speaking North India, the epic Ramcaritmanas is a sixteenth century retelling of the Ramayana story by the poet Tulsidas. This masterpiece of pre-modern Hindi literature has always reached its largely illiterate audiences primarily through oral performance including ceremonial recitation, folksinging, oral exegesis, and theatrical representation. Drawing on fieldwork in Banaras, Lutgendorf breaks new ground by capturing the range of performance techniques in vivid detail and tracing the impact of the epic in its contemporary cultural context.

Believed to be an incarnation of Sage Valmiki, who wrote the great epic, 'Ramayana', Tulsidas is considered to be one of the greatest saints of India. A contemporary of Shakespeare, Tulsidas was also a great poet, who wrote 'Ramcharitamanas', the story of the Ramayana in Hindi. This book on 'Tulsidas' walks you through the life of this saint, who was orphaned at an early age. Through excellent illustrations, this book will also tell you how one scolding by his wife, to whom he was deeply attached, made him renounce the world and become ascetic. This is part of the spectacular WILCO PICTURE LIBRARY (WPL), slated to be a 500 plus titles series, pioneering the innovative way of enlightening on various subjects in a fun-filled way via a comic format artwork, full of colorful illustrations along with simple but interesting narration and dialogues, thereby making story-telling and enjoyable experience.

Description: Kavitavali is an anthology of poems containing 325. verses. The first part comprises Rama-katha (Deeds of Rama) in which some events from the life of Rama are briefly narrated in 142 verses, bringing out the Purushottama aspect of Rama. The second part comprises Rama-guna-gatha (Glory of Qualities of Rama) in 183 verses. Hailing the Glory of Rama is a feature of bhakti sadhana (discipline of Devotion) of which Tulsidas was an ardent exponent.

Radhasoami Reality explores the emergence of a new religious tradition that is expandiong rapidly across North India and throughout the world. Mark Juergensmeyer seeks to explain why the religious logic of Radhasoami, which is based on the teachings of medieval Hindu saints, is so compelling to today's society.

In this volume the authors present the life stories and works of Ravidas, Kabir, Nanak, Surdas, Mirabai, and Tulsidas - six well-known 'saint-poets' of northern India who have contributed more to the religious vocabulary of Hinduism in the region today than any voices before or since.