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Tulsidas
तुलसीदास
The poet of the Ramcharitmanas — the song that became the people's Bible
Years
c. 1511 – 1623
Known as
The author of the Ramcharitmanas
Birthplace
Rajapur, Uttar Pradesh
Field
Saints & Sages
“The name of Rama is the boat that carries the sinking world.”
— Tulsidas
The Story
Born in Rajapur around 1511, Tulsidas was, according to tradition, abandoned at birth and raised by a holy woman. He was married young and loved his wife intensely — until a separation made him realise that human love was a shadow of the divine, and he renounced the world to dedicate himself to Rama.
His masterpiece, the Ramcharitmanas, written in Awadhi verse, tells the story of Rama in a language and metre that the common people could sing and remember. It is not a translation but a living retelling, filled with the wisdom of the age, and its verses — 'Ram charit manas binu' — have consoled, inspired, and taught north Bhārat for centuries.
He also wrote the Hanuman Chalisa, the forty verses to Hanuman that are now among the most widely recited texts in the world. He died in Varanasi in 1623, and his ashram there, Tulsi Ghat on the Ganga, still bears his name — and his verses are recited on every ghat of the holy city.
Core Ideas
The Ramcharitmanas
The epic of Rama in the people's own tongue.
The Hanuman Chalisa
His forty verses are recited around the world.
The People's Poet
He took devotion out of the scholar's hands.
The Holy City
Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi remembers him.
The Devotion of the Name
The name of Rama as the boat of salvation.
Why it matters today
Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas is the scripture of the Hindi heartland, and his Hanuman Chalisa is recited daily by millions. He is the poet who made the Ramayana the living religion of the common people — and whose verses still sound in every bhajan, every village, every home.