Birth of Sri Athmaram
Sri Atmaram, a great devotee of Sri Rama and a learned scholar of Rajapur, a town on the banks of the Yamuna River, was blessed with a male child in 1532. Sri Atmaram was an official in the ministry of Akbar, the then Mughal ruler. He was preoccupied with the administration of the state and had to travel a lot to Delhi and other places. Therefore, he had left his son Sri Tusidas under the care of his relatives in Rajapur, hoping that he would be brought up as a scholarly person. Sri Tulsidas missed parental care and love, and his relatives had not taken care of Sri Tulsidas. With the feeling of a castaway, Sri Tulsidas was doing things whichever he thought was right. On seeing this, Sri Atmaram got his son married to a pious lady, Mamtha Devi, in order to see that the Sri Tulsidas changes for the better in life. Alternatively, in the other version, the name is referred to as Ratnavali.
Wife becomes the Guru
He was leading a good and comfortable life with Mamtha Devi. On an occasion, his wife went to stay with her parents for a while. Sri Tulsidasji was unable to bear the separation from her. He preceded to his wife's place while it was heavily raining. He crossed the river that was flooded to reach his wife's place. Mamtha Devi was wonderstruck to see him like this and admonished him that he should have loved the God with the same vehemence instead of being lured by flesh. Sri Tulsidasji was stunned at the remarks of his wife, but on contemplation, he realised the truth in the words of Mamtha Devi. On realisation, he left all connections with the family life and preceded Varanasi the Kasipuri.
On hearing the news, Sri Atmaram was happy that his son had changed for good. He and his wife went to Varanasi to see Sri Tulsidasji and requested him to return with them. But Sri Tulsidasji had refused and stayed back in Varanasi and studied Vedantha under the learned scholars. The son of the devotee of Lord Rama, Sri Tulsidasji, was a devotee of Lord Hanuman.
When the script was found intact in the Lord Viswanath's temple, it was realised that the "Sri Ramachritamanas," the Tulsi Ramayan, has the stamp of approval by the Lord Himself.
Wonder work of Sri Ramachritamanas
It is said that Sri Tulsidasji started writing the Ramayana in Sanskrit during his stay at Varanasi. But to his astonishment, each day's work will vanish after his return from the bath in Ganga. He prayed to Lord Viswanath, the lord of Kasipuri, who is chanting the Ramanama all the time as Kathyayini Kamukan in the ears of all people in Kasipuri. Lord Viswanath had directed him to write the epic Ramayan in the language that could be understood by all, so that the Ramanama mahima is spread to every nook and corner of the land. Consequent to the divine direction, he wrote the epic Ramayana in Avanthi, which is now popularly known as "SRI RAMACHRITAMANAS." There was a lot of opposition from the scholars of Kasipuri for this version of Ramayan. It is said that the pundits of Kasi threw the script into Ganga. But to their astonishment, the script was found intact in the Lord Viswanath's temple. Then it was realised that the "Sri Ramachritamanas," the Tulsi Ramayan, has the stamp of approval by the Lord Himself.
Devotee of Lord Hanuman and unifier of Vaishnavat and Saivat
Sri Tulsidasji, the devotee of Lord Hanuman, had dharshan of his Lord. He also had dharshan of Sri Rama, Sita, with his blessing and help of Lord Hanuman. Once Sri Rama and Lakshmana had come to the rescue of Sri Tulsidasji when the robbers entered his ashram. ##
Nabhaji, the author of Bhaktamala, opined that Sri Tulsidasji was an incarnation of Sage Valmiki born again to spread the Ramanama and RamaMahima by reciting the Ramayana in the vernacular language. Further, Sri Tulsidasji had identified himself with Lord Hanuman in spreading the glory of Sri Rama. He had spread the glory of Lord Hanuman as "Sankara sumana, Bhavani nanthana," i.e., son of Sankara and Bhavani. Thus, he had brought in a unification of Vaishnava and Saiva through the glory of Lord Hanuman. He had brought the knowledge and understanding of the Ramayana to every common man and re-established the glory of Sri Rama before he left this world at the age of ninety years.
Siddha Granthas by Sri Tulsidas
There will be hardly any devotee of Lord Anjaneya who is unaware about the forty slokas composed by Sri Tulsidasji entitled "Hanuman Chalisa." This is the most powerful and popular composition sung by the devotees of Lord Anjaneya in the world over. The devotion that this hymn develops towards the Lord is enormous and had to be experienced and enjoyed. If millions could experience the devotion, the power with which the hymn had been sung could be well estimated. The devotion with which the hymn must have sprung from Sri Tulsidasji and his devotion towards Lord Anjaneya are well beyond one's thinking.
Variation to this biography of Sri Tulsidas is given in the other page of our site namely "Sri Sankata Mochan Hanuman Mandir, Rajapur". Viewers are request to kindly read the that varied version also.
||pavana thanaya sankata haran, mangala murathi rupa||
||ramalakaana sita sahita hrithya pasahu surabhup||
## Please see Sankata Mochan Hanuman Mandir Varanasi for more details.
Ed [25th June 2002]