Gosvāmī Tulasīdās
16th–17th century · Awadh & Vārāṇasī · Rāma bhakti
Tulasīdās retold the story of Rāma in Awadhi in the Rāmcaritmānas, “the lake of Rāma’s deeds”. Begun, by tradition, at Ayodhyā, it became the most loved scripture of North India — recited in homes, sung in kathās and acted every year in the Rāmlīlā, first organised, tradition says, by Tulasīdās himself in Vārāṇasī.
His other works include the Vinaya Patrikā, the Kavitāvalī, the Gītāvalī and the Dohāvalī, and tradition attributes the Hanumān Chālīsā to him. He spent his later years at Vārāṇasī, where Tulsī Ghāṭ bears his name.
Tradition says the young Tulasīdās was so attached to his wife Ratnāvalī that he followed her to her father’s house through a stormy night. She rebuked him: if he loved Rāma as much as he loved this body of flesh and bone, he would be free of fear. The words turned his life to Rāma.
Rāmcaritmānas · Hanumān Chālīsā · Vinaya Patrikā · Tulsī Ghāṭ, Vārāṇasī